“M” has been with me for nearly three years now. She is in her late 50’s and has been slow on progress…Until tonight, I thought that she would not be able to handle anything other than a very structured lesson. As my “item” tonight I pulled out a picture book which includes about 70 photos taken in Japan that I had downloaded, printed , and put into a file. I opened the file to the first picture which is a photo of a girl selling beer at a stadium baseball game. I wrote the “wh” words on the board and modelled once for her…”I think she is in a baseball stadium (where)…selling beer and snacks(what)….Her job is difficult because she has to carry the beer on her back, walk up and down steps, shout…It is a hot day because she is sweating (when)…etc…” Then I flipped to the next page and she took the ball and ran with it. Her sentences were short but she was talking without my help….we got through about 10 pages and she was so delighted with herself to finally be able to communicate without my help…The last thing I said to her was “M, you CAN speak English!” This older woman was close to tears as she walked out of here tonight, and so was I…Can we talk about job satisfaction?
jim
Jim, great work. Job satisfaction is what life is all about.
Thank you.
Mark
Jim, that is great.
I have several older students who are often answer “Japanese” when I ask them what language they are speaking. They seem to be convinced that they cannot and are not speaking English. The revelation your student had was very inspirational and I think I will try to employ it with my older students. Thank you for this great idea!
Al