A Tale of Two English Language Schools

Yesterday I had the opportunity to volunteer with the Franciscan mission Le Pere for the first time. One of the priests, who teaches English, was engaged with another activity and couldn't teach. So I substituted.

As I entered the classroom, the discrepancies between my employer and this mission became clear. There was no TV or any other audio-visual opportunities for teaching aids. And instead of a nice whiteboard, there was only an ancient green chalkboard that was not very amenable to crisp, clear writing. On a positive note, the class size was about the same as what I was used to, around 20 students.

We were studying the present continuous ("I am learning", "you are learning", "he is learning", etc.) and negation in the present tense. In my teacher training, I was instructed to avoid as much as possible the teacher-dominated mode. Language learning happens best when students have many opportunities to practice, with each other and with the teacher.

So after using the present continuous in a few different contexts and explaining how it was formed, I gave the students a question to ask their partners using the present continuous. All of the students just repeated the question very loudly. Then silence. I was a bit baffled. I assumed that they understood that I wanted them to actually converse with their neighbors. But the majority of their instruction up until then had been in such a teacher-dominated, rote-repetition sort of mode that they didn't even understand that I was asking them to try to communicate with each other.

I acted out what I wanted with one of the students and they appeared to get the idea. So I asked them to do the same thing again, this time with more success.

Beforehand, I was told that the class was an intermediate class, but they were more closer to the beginner level where I normally work. So I lowered my level a little bit.

Rather than frustration, this challenge inspired me. I started thinking about what I could do if given more time to work with them.

After the class, as I was walking to my real job, one of the students ran after me. "Excuse me. Teacher. Teacher."

"Yes."
"Is it good your center?"
"You mean the American Language Center?"
"Yes, that."
"I think it's quite good. But it's also quite expensive."
"That's ok. I will go."
I smiled, shook his hand, wished him luck, and headed back to the new city.