Why my job is currently less than great

[nny]

Thought I'd explain why I'm wavering between DISTRACTIONS PLZ and OMG ARGH right now. I'm pasting this across from an email because I haven't got time/energy to work it out coherently again:

It's just so difficult. I've got some kids who have pretty passable English, ranging down to one kid who has never attended school and isn't literate in his own language, even. Ages go from 14 to '16' which is a number chosen because they get assessed for linguistic capacityamong many other things at 17 and can be sent back to their own country; one of them is probably more like 19, another more like 22. I haven't been given any sort of curriculum for them, or any long term goal - apart from the fact that I have to try and get them ready to take an English GCSE next year. It's incredibly difficult to differentiate enough and give each pupil enough attention; it's even more difficult to find resources and ways of teaching that are basic in terms of language without being patronising to what are some pretty intelligent young men. Add to that that I'm not really prepared for this because I'm trained to teach kids who are already proficient in English, and that English grammar is picked up more by osmosis within English schools than through actual teaching, and you've got a pretty damned stressed Nny on your hands. :/

Comments

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

That is tough. Maybe some of the ESL communtities on LJ would have something useful?

[villainny.livejournal.com]

ESL communities?

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

I need to learn to spell! *hides* But yeah, there's loads - searching for ESL as an interest gets you this lot (http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=esl), and there's probably more that I as a non-teacher wouldn't know how to find but you will.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

For grammar help you *may* want to look into some older textbooks if you can find them, as I learnt a lot of my grammar from these. Also Diagramming sentences? I've heard that works.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, grammar-wise, a fellow non-native speaker might be a better choice - yours truly consistently got 100% on these tests taken in my college-level high school class (where all the - v. bright, mind you - Americans scored lower).

That said, I could never teach - would kill them all on my second day, or perhaps vice versa. Kudos to you; I respect your work a lot.

[unravels.livejournal.com]

Echoing the recommendation of ESL stuff... those seem to have a lot of resources/curricula that teach proper English without the 'Daddy is a fireman' sort of mentality that assumes your students are five. I don't know if it would be enough for a GCSE or not, but at least it's structured.

*hugs for good measure*

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

One thing that might help is just being honest with them - tell them that you're worried that some of the material may be patronising, and that it isn't your intention to do so. It sounds as though they're old enough to appreciate your honesty and work with you on some of the less than ideal material until you come up with a solution.

Also, *snuggles* xxx

[flyakate]

Some worksheets and stuff can be found on http://www.everythingesl.net/

I'm finishing up online classes about teaching second language learners, if I come up with anything useful I will send it your way!

An idea about ways to create cool lessons is to find out what the kids (boys, men) like, because that's a way you can get them interested and not patronize them with what they might see as childish or simple stuff.

You can do it! Invincible!Nny!

[kenovay.livejournal.com]

Do you want to have a chat about teaching EAL? I mean, I'm not like the most expereinced person ever, but I'm qualified, and I've taught all levels, and I've done multilingual classes before as well. I don't wanna just dump stuff on you, because it's more the kind of thing we should prolly have an actual conversation about, if you want - we can go through specifically what students you've got and what levels they're at and also I have some resources and creating resources recs and a lot of warmer activities and things that I have tested pretty extensively.

Don't panic, basically. You really don't need to be that on top of the grammar yourself, unless they're very advanced students, because the way that they should be learning it from you is osmosis-like anyway.