Has it already been one whole month already? I’m asking myself this question as I enter into my fourth week as a Literacy*AmeriCorps member at ENGLISH @ WORK. Time has really flown by, but even more so given all the training and hands-on practice I have been receiving lately. Since this will be my first blog post, I will delve into some things I have found interesting, some new things for me personally, and some great teaching practices I have found along the way. As I keep blogging for ENGLISH @ WORK I will continue to focus on these ideas as well as highlighting great teaching practices I find.
My year as a Literacy*AmeriCorps member began in early September. We received an in-depth training on teaching ESL, English as a Second Language, and ABE, Adult Basic Education. Since I will be working with both categories of non-native speakers and adults alike, I found the session to be very informative. What I found especially helpful was the focus on making authentic materials relevant to our students. These authentic materials included items such as grocery flyers, play money and empty medicine bottles. We incorporated the items into our lesson by building activities around them. This allows for students to engage in both language learning and hands-on practice with important objects from their everyday lives. As Literacy*AmeriCorps training came to an end and I began my regular work-day schedule here at ENGLISH @ WORK I found the use of authentic materials in the classroom to be a great practice.
The first week or two here at ENGLISH @ WORK contained some run-of-mill office orientation and then some more exciting observation. I enjoyed participating in the speed-interviews at Seton Northwest and seeing some of our teachers in action. My first actual teaching experience with the program began at Guero’s Taco Bar. This seemed fitting since ENGLISH @ WORK’s first ever class also started at Guero’s. Over the past week and a half I substituted for several classes there. This was a great experience getting to know the students of the class and working with our curriculum for the first time. I found that the students enjoyed working with authentic materials, such as props when we learned about workplace objects and a charade game when talking about workplace verbs.
This week I will start instructing the classes at Maudie’s, a Tex-Mex restaurant here in Austin. I hope to keep up the teaching practices I have learned over the past month and delve into some new ones of my own!
– Tanlyn
Literacy*AmeriCorps Instructor