I have been meaning to blog for a long time about the work part of my summer - the part where I was thrown into the deep end of the pool - or, the part where I started teaching English as a second language. Last summer I worked at two locations: Grant MacEwan University two evenings a week, and NorQuest College during the days. It was a great opportunity to put into practice what I had been learning for a year, and to also learn that I have a lot to learn. But I loved it, even the bad days, I loved all of it. What a relief to discover that I actually do like the career that I'm working towards in school. At NorQuest College I taught a high-beginner course, LINC 3. It's a great level to teach because they know enough that you can converse and have class discussions, but not enough for them to ask scary grammar questions that I don't know the answer to. One of the many reasons I love teaching ESL is because it is pure comedy sometimes. One of my discussions in class:
Me: Okay everyone, today we're going to talk about small talk [I write “small talk” on the board]. What kinds of things do people talk about when they make small talk?
Male student: Uhh teacher?
Me: Yes?
Male student: I don't think women know small talk. Only long talk.
Classic. In another class, we were practicing language you use when someone calls you on the phone but you are busy and you can't talk. They had a series of pictures on a work sheet of some kind of scenario, like a person cooking dinner, and they had to come up with a sentence like, "I'm sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm cooking dinner." This was one of the prompts:
I'm circulating the room, listening to students:
Faz: Teacher, is this right? I can't talk on the phone right now, I'm melting the baby.
Me: HAHAHA sorry. [trying very hard not to laugh but it's too late] Uh no, haha, no sorry that's not right.
Faz: What did I say? What is funny?
Me: uhh you know the verb melt? To melt something? It is when you put something like butter in the microwave...
Faz: uhhh HAHA ohh no not melting baby.
Peter: Teacher, is this right? I cannot talk on the phone, the baby is swimming.
Me: uhhh not quite...
Now, before you think I'm horrible for laughing at my students, you need to know that they think laugh too. Because they know that making mistakes is inevitable, which is part of learning a language, and sometimes everyone just needs to laugh at themselves.
