Couldn't have said it better myself

Teaching English can be both fun and frustrating. It's exciting to hear my students use new vocabulary or be able to incorporate the verb tense we've been working on forever into conversations. Trying to explain Rhianna lyrics, not so much fun. 

Another missionary in Haiti recently wrote about the intricacies of teaching and translating English on this island. After every paragraph I was shouting things like, "YES! Someone else gets it!" Here's just one caveat of teaching English in Haiti that this Canadian highlights:

Even seemingly familiar things present difficulties.  It is difficult to translate farm into Creole and have a Haitian visualize the immense agribusiness operations of the Prairies.  Here, those who till the land work a one- or two-acre jadin, which translates as garden, but is more like small market gardens than the plots in Canadian backyards.  And mosquitoes?  To Haitians that means dinky little insects that one can barely see, not the critters with landing lights that frequent Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.

Check out the whole post and let me know what you think the most difficult part of teaching English would be.

Student Writing: e-mail

Here's an e-mail I received earlier this week. Isn't it sweet? It's from one of my Philo (grade 13) students who will graduate in June.

hello miss smith how are you i don't hear you .thank you for your prayer ask God to make me succerfull in july next in exam, i count on you .say mr arold i send hello for him may God bless you.thank you for your  message.

Student Writing: e-mail

Here's an e-mail I received earlier this week. Isn't it sweet? It's from one of my Philo (grade 13) students who will graduate in June.

hello miss smith how are you i don't hear you .thank you for your prayer ask God to make me succerfull in july next in exam, i count on you .say mr arold i send hello for him may God bless you.thank you for your  message.

English Class Text

Here's a text I worked on with my upper level students a couple of weeks ago. Several of the students told me they really enjoyed it.

The Farmers' Market

On Saturdays, the Smiths go to the farmers' market. They like to visit the vendors. Alex Smith always goes to the hot food vendors for lunch. His children love to eat the fruit. Alex's father usually buys some sweets and lemonade. The lemonade is very sour.

Nina Smith likes to buy herbs and vegetables. Today she is buying avocados. The market worker counts eight avocados. She gives Nina one more for free.

There are other things to do at the market, too. The Smiths like to listen to the live music. Sometimes they meet friends there. The farmers' market is a great place for families on a Saturday afternoon.

Questions to answer:

1. What does Alex like to buy at the farmers' market? (They often say sweets and lemonade.)
2. How many avocados does Nina have? (This math problem is tricky! NINE is the correct answer.)
3. When do the Smiths like to visit the farmer's market? (The easiest question of the bunch, if they notice the word WHEN.)
4. What would you like to do at the farmer's market? Explain your answer. (Some of my favorite answers: "I would like to be a worker. I could make money and talk to people." and "I would buy a fish.")

English Class Text

Here's a text I worked on with my upper level students a couple of weeks ago. Several of the students told me they really enjoyed it.

The Farmers' Market

On Saturdays, the Smiths go to the farmers' market. They like to visit the vendors. Alex Smith always goes to the hot food vendors for lunch. His children love to eat the fruit. Alex's father usually buys some sweets and lemonade. The lemonade is very sour.

Nina Smith likes to buy herbs and vegetables. Today she is buying avocados. The market worker counts eight avocados. She gives Nina one more for free.

There are other things to do at the market, too. The Smiths like to listen to the live music. Sometimes they meet friends there. The farmers' market is a great place for families on a Saturday afternoon.

Questions to answer:

1. What does Alex like to buy at the farmers' market? (They often say sweets and lemonade.)
2. How many avocados does Nina have? (This math problem is tricky! NINE is the correct answer.)
3. When do the Smiths like to visit the farmer's market? (The easiest question of the bunch, if they notice the word WHEN.)
4. What would you like to do at the farmer's market? Explain your answer. (Some of my favorite answers: "I would like to be a worker. I could make money and talk to people." and "I would buy a fish.")

First Day of School, Jan 2012

Amidst the craziness of clinic this week, MTM's students returned to school from their long Christmas break. On Monday I firmed up my schedule with the principal, and taught my first class of the semester. For some reason I was grumpy on Monday with nearly everyone, but I genuinely enjoyed being back in the classroom with my students. here's what we covered the first day.

• Opening Procedure
• Good morning class.
• Good morning Miss Britney.
• I'm happy to see you today.
  
• I'm happy to see you too.
• Introduction: My name is Britney Charles. I am an American, and I live in Thomassin. I am married to Met Arold (Teacher Arold). I am 30 years old and I do not have children. (We also did a mini lesson on the difference between Miss and Mrs. at this point in class.)
• Supplies needed for every class
• English Notebook
• pen or pencil
• Go for English textbook
• Rules
1. Listen carefully to the teacher.
2. Take notes.
3. No talking when Miss Britney is teaching.
4. English ONLY. (For the upper grades only.)
• Review (This is different for each grade level.)

First Day of School, Jan 2012

Amidst the craziness of clinic this week, MTM's students returned to school from their long Christmas break. On Monday I firmed up my schedule with the principal, and taught my first class of the semester. For some reason I was grumpy on Monday with nearly everyone, but I genuinely enjoyed being back in the classroom with my students. here's what we covered the first day.

• Opening Procedure
• Good morning class.
• Good morning Miss Britney.
• I'm happy to see you today.
  
• I'm happy to see you too.
• Introduction: My name is Britney Charles. I am an American, and I live in Thomassin. I am married to Met Arold (Teacher Arold). I am 30 years old and I do not have children. (We also did a mini lesson on the difference between Miss and Mrs. at this point in class.)
• Supplies needed for every class
• English Notebook
• pen or pencil
• Go for English textbook
• Rules
1. Listen carefully to the teacher.
2. Take notes.
3. No talking when Miss Britney is teaching.
4. English ONLY. (For the upper grades only.)
• Review (This is different for each grade level.)

Dream

Josalyn is a young twenty-something employee of Mountain Top Ministries. She's super sweet and always tries to talk to me. I appreciate the attempts even when I can't understand them. The key with Josalyn is that she truly wants me to understand her. She talks slowly and simply. And she laughs with me when I don't understand. I like her. She worked for MTM at Laboule Children's Home, but I learned recently that she is working in the cafeteria in Gramothe now.

Last night I had a dream that I was at school in Gramothe. I went to the cafeteria to say hi to the ladies. I kissed Josalyn on the cheek (as is the custom) and greeted her in Creole, but she started talking to me in English! I was so surprised, and I wondered why she had never talked to me in English before. But I didn't dwell on it in my dream because in that moment Josalyn became my best friend. I don't know how to explain it. It's just one of those weird dream world truths. You just know something, and in my dream I knew that Josalyn was my best friend.

This morning I have been practicing how to tell all of this to Josalyn in Creole. I want to tell her that I had a dream she could speak English. She'll like that a lot. I hope some day Josalyn and I can have heart to heart talks in Creole and be good friends. And I'd like to tell her about my heart dream of being good friends with her, but I think I'll just let God take care of that.

Dream

Josalyn is a young twenty-something employee of Mountain Top Ministries. She's super sweet and always tries to talk to me. I appreciate the attempts even when I can't understand them. The key with Josalyn is that she truly wants me to understand her. She talks slowly and simply. And she laughs with me when I don't understand. I like her. She worked for MTM at Laboule Children's Home, but I learned recently that she is working in the cafeteria in Gramothe now.

Last night I had a dream that I was at school in Gramothe. I went to the cafeteria to say hi to the ladies. I kissed Josalyn on the cheek (as is the custom) and greeted her in Creole, but she started talking to me in English! I was so surprised, and I wondered why she had never talked to me in English before. But I didn't dwell on it in my dream because in that moment Josalyn became my best friend. I don't know how to explain it. It's just one of those weird dream world truths. You just know something, and in my dream I knew that Josalyn was my best friend.

This morning I have been practicing how to tell all of this to Josalyn in Creole. I want to tell her that I had a dream she could speak English. She'll like that a lot. I hope some day Josalyn and I can have heart to heart talks in Creole and be good friends. And I'd like to tell her about my heart dream of being good friends with her, but I think I'll just let God take care of that.

Another 9th Grade Post

Last week I wrote about a 9th grade student named Ti Blanc. Then I shared the results of the national exams for 9th grade. Today I have a piece of writing from one of the 9th grade assignments this year. To help the students practice writing in English, I gave them each a paper with a topic already written on it. They were required to write 25 sentences about that topic. I know that sounds like a lot. It was. They made me mad the week before, so I gave them a longer assignment as a punishment.



Anyway, this particular piece of writing comes from Jean Ricard, who is probably the best with English in his class. He was also the class president this year. It's not perfect English, but I think you'll get the general idea of what he wants to convey.

Another 9th Grade Post

Last week I wrote about a 9th grade student named Ti Blanc. Then I shared the results of the national exams for 9th grade. Today I have a piece of writing from one of the 9th grade assignments this year. To help the students practice writing in English, I gave them each a paper with a topic already written on it. They were required to write 25 sentences about that topic. I know that sounds like a lot. It was. They made me mad the week before, so I gave them a longer assignment as a punishment.



Anyway, this particular piece of writing comes from Jean Ricard, who is probably the best with English in his class. He was also the class president this year. It's not perfect English, but I think you'll get the general idea of what he wants to convey.

E-mails

Even though I've been in Haiti for 8+ months and I've been teaching computer basics to kids who have never seen a computer before, I sometimes still forget that they really don't know anything about computers.

Take today for instance. The internet was working in Gramothe and the kids have been asking when I'll help them get an email address. I decided today was the day. All 14 of the laptops were booted up, and the projector set up so they could see what I was talking about. Everything was grand...until Internet Explorer was open before them. Then all chaos broke loose!

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

I thought I was going to strangle them! I finally got them all to www.yahoo.fr where they can set up an e-mail account in French. Then it was an even more intense round of everyone needing my help right this instant. They needed to enter their name, birthday, and country of residence before creating an e-mail address. I thought it was pretty self explanatory. I mean, the screen says "Name" or the French equivalent depending on the computer, but apparently my students lost all ability to read--in any language. Finally everyone got that part taken care of, so we were ready to move on to choosing an e-mail address and password. Oh. My. Word. It was a real life nightmare.

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

Did I mention it was hot today? I get cranky when I'm hot. I also get a little cranky when the kids yell my name while I'm talking to someone else to tell me they need help, especially when I've already told someone else they need to wait.

It's a miracle that all those students made it out of that room alive today. I think it's appropriate to thank the Lord for his protection of the computer class today. And you should probably pray for the teacher too. She's gonna need some serious patience when she teaches them to log into the e-mail account and actually send an e-mail.

E-mails

Even though I've been in Haiti for 8+ months and I've been teaching computer basics to kids who have never seen a computer before, I sometimes still forget that they really don't know anything about computers.

Take today for instance. The internet was working in Gramothe and the kids have been asking when I'll help them get an email address. I decided today was the day. All 14 of the laptops were booted up, and the projector set up so they could see what I was talking about. Everything was grand...until Internet Explorer was open before them. Then all chaos broke loose!

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

I thought I was going to strangle them! I finally got them all to www.yahoo.fr where they can set up an e-mail account in French. Then it was an even more intense round of everyone needing my help right this instant. They needed to enter their name, birthday, and country of residence before creating an e-mail address. I thought it was pretty self explanatory. I mean, the screen says "Name" or the French equivalent depending on the computer, but apparently my students lost all ability to read--in any language. Finally everyone got that part taken care of, so we were ready to move on to choosing an e-mail address and password. Oh. My. Word. It was a real life nightmare.

"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."
"Miss Smith! I need you!"
"Britney! My computer is broken."
"I need help!"
"Miss Smith, did you forget me?"
"Miss Smith, come here please."
"Britney. Look."

Did I mention it was hot today? I get cranky when I'm hot. I also get a little cranky when the kids yell my name while I'm talking to someone else to tell me they need help, especially when I've already told someone else they need to wait.

It's a miracle that all those students made it out of that room alive today. I think it's appropriate to thank the Lord for his protection of the computer class today. And you should probably pray for the teacher too. She's gonna need some serious patience when she teaches them to log into the e-mail account and actually send an e-mail.

Out of My League

So, the Illini Life team that gave the computer lab a makeover included a couple of high school teachers. One teaches physics and the other chemistry. Both had expressed interest in seeing a high school math or science class. When I delivered my graded exams to the principal, I noticed that there were a couple of grades working on math. I quickly gathered the guys and took them to high school. At the end of our tour we found the Rheto (like 12th grade) studying some math on their own. I quickly ushered the guys in the door and told the kids they wanted to see some math. What followed was magical: two teachers engrossed in subjects they know and love, surrounded by students who have calculus and chemistry memorized. Yes, memorized. It's crazy. I was totally out of my league. I prefer grammar, essays, and literature.

Chemistry on the left, one giant calculus problem on the right. Do you see how it takes an entire chalkboard? It wasn't finished yet and ended up using 3/4 of the total chalkboard--which happens to be two ginormous boards side by side.

But it didn't end there! Jay was so impressed, he took Sammy to the computer lab to show him a program on the laptops. I'm glad Jay found someone to explain the program to because when he showed me my eyes glazed over and I went to my happy place.

Out of My League

So, the Illini Life team that gave the computer lab a makeover included a couple of high school teachers. One teaches physics and the other chemistry. Both had expressed interest in seeing a high school math or science class. When I delivered my graded exams to the principal, I noticed that there were a couple of grades working on math. I quickly gathered the guys and took them to high school. At the end of our tour we found the Rheto (like 12th grade) studying some math on their own. I quickly ushered the guys in the door and told the kids they wanted to see some math. What followed was magical: two teachers engrossed in subjects they know and love, surrounded by students who have calculus and chemistry memorized. Yes, memorized. It's crazy. I was totally out of my league. I prefer grammar, essays, and literature.

Chemistry on the left, one giant calculus problem on the right. Do you see how it takes an entire chalkboard? It wasn't finished yet and ended up using 3/4 of the total chalkboard--which happens to be two ginormous boards side by side.

But it didn't end there! Jay was so impressed, he took Sammy to the computer lab to show him a program on the laptops. I'm glad Jay found someone to explain the program to because when he showed me my eyes glazed over and I went to my happy place.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

This is my Rheto class (well, the kids that were in class that day--there was a problem with the lunch schedule) at Mountain Top Ministries' Gramothe school. These students are the equivalent of 11th grade students in the US.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

This is my Rheto class (well, the kids that were in class that day--there was a problem with the lunch schedule) at Mountain Top Ministries' Gramothe school. These students are the equivalent of 11th grade students in the US.

All In a Day's Work

Because the clinic is open today, I will split my time between helping in the dossier room and teaching in the high school. When I first arrive in Gramothe I'll head straight to the dossier room and either help pull the dossiers for the patients waiting to see the doctors or file the dossiers from yesterday. At 11:20 I will walk over to the high school and begin teaching for the day.

Today is my busiest teaching day. I have Rheto, which is the equivalent of 12th grade. I would like to work on reading English texts with them, but I don't have enough of the book I'd like to use. I'll figure something out. Then I have 8th grade and 9th grade. The 8th grade will work on past tense verbs. The 9th grade will probably work on adjectives, but I need to check their notebooks first.

Here are some of the sentences 8th grade will work with. Check your English skills by trying to change these sentences to past tense.

1. Peter walks home after school.
2. Jessica finds $10 in her pocket.
3. I see a dog in the yard.
4. Mary eats at 3 o'clock.
5. He goes to the market.

All In a Day's Work

Because the clinic is open today, I will split my time between helping in the dossier room and teaching in the high school. When I first arrive in Gramothe I'll head straight to the dossier room and either help pull the dossiers for the patients waiting to see the doctors or file the dossiers from yesterday. At 11:20 I will walk over to the high school and begin teaching for the day.

Today is my busiest teaching day. I have Rheto, which is the equivalent of 12th grade. I would like to work on reading English texts with them, but I don't have enough of the book I'd like to use. I'll figure something out. Then I have 8th grade and 9th grade. The 8th grade will work on past tense verbs. The 9th grade will probably work on adjectives, but I need to check their notebooks first.

Here are some of the sentences 8th grade will work with. Check your English skills by trying to change these sentences to past tense.

1. Peter walks home after school.
2. Jessica finds $10 in her pocket.
3. I see a dog in the yard.
4. Mary eats at 3 o'clock.
5. He goes to the market.

Daily Oral Language

My classes have been going very well since school resumed after Christmas vacation. I have really enjoyed my students, and I am happy with the way the students have responded to the curriculum changes I made. One change I made was to the beginning of each class. I decided to implement "Daily Oral Language" at the beginning of each period. For those of you who are not familiar with D.O.L., it's a method of teaching grammar. Basically I write a couple of incorrect sentences on the chalkboard, and then we discuss as a class how to make them "good English." To introduce this activity last week I used the following very simple sentences. See if you can correct them.

1. My name are Miss Smith.
2. The boy have a dog.
3. The boy has a dog small.
4. Mother my is sleeping.

So far, I'm quite pleased with how well this activity has been working. It's a great way to start discussion in class, and it's easy to modify for different grade levels. I think my only problem is going to be creating new and different sentences each week that will also be meaningful to the lesson for the day.