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Share Your Stories
With every lesson, tutors and students are making huge strides! Share your stories here about coming to the United States, tackling a hard lesson, or celebrating a success. Both students and tutors can post a story or achievement here, so tell us all about it!
Fill in and submit a comment below. If you are going to use your student’s name in the post, be sure to get permission first.
16 responses to “Share Your Stories”
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My 2 students and I were sharing potato salad recipes during a 4th of July lesson. One was listing the ingredients for her recipe and said, “Oh, and also garbage.” I asked if she was sure….garbage? The other student interjected, “Yes, and mine too. Mine has garbage.” We were all searching eyes, looking for where the miscommunication was when it dawned on me – they meant CABBAGE. We all had a good laugh & I now tell them I know the secret ingredient for Columbian AND Venezuelan potato salad! That tops my previous student with is “monkey pie” meaning PUMPKIN pie! We need to start our own TEFL cookbook, ha, ha.
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My student shared with me that he filled out an application all by himself for the first time ever. It was an application for his library card! I am so proud of him and his accomplishments.
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Sister Marcella December 1st, 2009 at 10:29
I like to do Total Body exercises with my students. For example, I set up a table setting with dishes and silverware and they use prepositions to locate each item on the placemat. Fun stuff!
And to follow up on the prepositions…Today I hung up a large map of the United States. In a box I also had the “states” in puzzle pieces (a handy Dollar Store item). Each student reaches into box and without looking, chooses a State piece. Then I gave the student a pointer stick and he/she stood up and named the State for the class and went to the map and located the same State on the map. For example: Maine is the furthest north eastern state, south of Canada. Or Hawaii is west of the United States in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Some said their state was south of (another state) or between 2 named states. Then they placed their puzzle piece into the frame for the US puzzle map. They really enjoyed doing this and now I know that they really can locate anything very specifically. They are comfortable with prepositions!
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I am meeting with three students, three times a week. I had guests from Australia and they joined our class for a lively discussion and all are now Facebook friends and following their travels. Esra my Turkish student and 2 of her friends, 1 from Istanbul and 1 from Shanghai, joined my Aussie friends and I to view the shuttle launch at Cape Kennedy. Truly a great American experience. We all met for lunch with their spouses for a great Turkish lunch at “Shish” a Turkish restaraunt and then later in the week at a great Chinese restaraunt in Tampa. As you can see we/they all get along splendidly and have become somewhat of a support group for all concerned. I am really fortunate to have all 3.
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I’ve been working with Ashley twice a week, the last several weeks and she is making real progress in reading, writing, and speaking English.
On the second meeting, I asked if she learned cursive writing in school, and she had not learned it and couldn’t read it hardly at all she said (just graduated high school in Korea a few months ago and took English in school there as well as visiting her father here each year for a month as she grew up). I had just read an article in Time about how it isn’t taught in school any more to any extent and young people basically don’t use it any more which I had been noticing. So, I introduced her to it, and we do all our ‘homework’ in it and use it exclusively. She writes amazing well just from practicing the last couple weeks, and her handwriting is lovely and very readable.
She is so high functioning and such a quick study that I have to work hard to give her challenging things.
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Elaine July 13th, 2009 at 15:43
My student had a major milestone in the last week of June. She went to look at a new apartment and filled out the application by herself. In the past she has always had to ask for help in completing applications.
We started our first class on April 06, 2009 and I am very proud of her and so very happy for her in the progress that she has made in such a short while.
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Hi Michelle,
It was called Multisensory CD-ROM: Reading, Writing, and Penmanship. The library has a copy if your student wants to check it out.
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michelle greenberg June 19th, 2009 at 08:37
Mari, do you know the computer program your student is working with?
Comments or Questions?
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Joy July 21st, 2010 at 00:26