When I was staying in Toronto, I studied at an English school. This place is where I met Susanna who was my third English teacher in the school. I noticed her first even before taking her class because she was the only African-American at school. While studying with her, I and all my classmates loved her with time. She always tried to create a learner-centered class environment and let us know that English was a mean to communicate, not the object to accomplish.
Instead of teaching in class all the time, she took us to the real-world at times. We went to the book store, museum, a community center, and her workplace to name a few. She worked for a phone company twice a week and one day, we went on the field trip to her company. Some of her colleagues explained about what kind of work they did and showed us around. It was fun and memorable because it was the first time to have a chance to look around the 'real' company in Canada. She tried to put us in authentic places as many as possible and we were able to put English in practice.
I would say, I can do my best and put the most effort into studies when I know WHY I study and I have FUN with it. The English teacher, Susanna fully satisfied with these two things in that I realized that English was a actual tool to interact with others and I definitely had fun in / out of her class.
I guess I liked the class a lot because it was right after the miserable time for the first 8 months in Canada. For the 8 months, I took ESL classes in the morning, went to KOREAN town with my KOREAN friends, and headed for the library to study. It was exactly the same as the way to study English in Korea. I had been so frustrated with my steady, even, still, immovable English ability that seemed 'stuck forever' in the same level. Then, I met Susanna.
When I was taking her class, we got so close and hung out after class too. I was considering changing my Homestay at that time, she asked me to move in her house. Since then, I lived with her and her parents who were also teachers at public school. The house was located in Brampton which was an hour away from Toronto. There was no single ESL school in Brampton, I was the only Asian there. Actually, I was the only one who is not African-American. Sometimes, people looked at me with eyes wide on the street, some of them talked me first and especially children gazed at me. This is when my English seemed to improve dramatically.
Susanna took me everywhere she went and introduced me to people. Almost every weekend, she and her bunch of friends got together and had a party. All of them were very nice to me. Some of them asked me out :-) and some of them became life-long friends. The most importantly, I was impressed by the way they taught me English. Brampton was unlike Toronto that Korean people overflowed, people thought I was very unique and they were willing to teach me English. I remember that some of them not only corrected my English but also wrote them down on my notebook. Also, they helped me out with wrong pronunciation and broken English. I got these instant and effective feedback while we were sitting on sofa eating popcorn or drinking beer which was in such relaxing and zero-anxiety environment.
For the first 8 months in Canada, I spent most of my time taking classes, hanging out with Koreans, studying at the library memorizing grammar and vocabulary which was the pretty same as I did in Korea. However, after moving to Brampton, I was actually able to put my English into practice with real people in a real-world circumstances. Thanks to Susanna who was my English teacher, I got to 'use' English rather than 'learn'.
Instead of teaching in class all the time, she took us to the real-world at times. We went to the book store, museum, a community center, and her workplace to name a few. She worked for a phone company twice a week and one day, we went on the field trip to her company. Some of her colleagues explained about what kind of work they did and showed us around. It was fun and memorable because it was the first time to have a chance to look around the 'real' company in Canada. She tried to put us in authentic places as many as possible and we were able to put English in practice.
I would say, I can do my best and put the most effort into studies when I know WHY I study and I have FUN with it. The English teacher, Susanna fully satisfied with these two things in that I realized that English was a actual tool to interact with others and I definitely had fun in / out of her class.
I guess I liked the class a lot because it was right after the miserable time for the first 8 months in Canada. For the 8 months, I took ESL classes in the morning, went to KOREAN town with my KOREAN friends, and headed for the library to study. It was exactly the same as the way to study English in Korea. I had been so frustrated with my steady, even, still, immovable English ability that seemed 'stuck forever' in the same level. Then, I met Susanna.
When I was taking her class, we got so close and hung out after class too. I was considering changing my Homestay at that time, she asked me to move in her house. Since then, I lived with her and her parents who were also teachers at public school. The house was located in Brampton which was an hour away from Toronto. There was no single ESL school in Brampton, I was the only Asian there. Actually, I was the only one who is not African-American. Sometimes, people looked at me with eyes wide on the street, some of them talked me first and especially children gazed at me. This is when my English seemed to improve dramatically.
Susanna took me everywhere she went and introduced me to people. Almost every weekend, she and her bunch of friends got together and had a party. All of them were very nice to me. Some of them asked me out :-) and some of them became life-long friends. The most importantly, I was impressed by the way they taught me English. Brampton was unlike Toronto that Korean people overflowed, people thought I was very unique and they were willing to teach me English. I remember that some of them not only corrected my English but also wrote them down on my notebook. Also, they helped me out with wrong pronunciation and broken English. I got these instant and effective feedback while we were sitting on sofa eating popcorn or drinking beer which was in such relaxing and zero-anxiety environment.
For the first 8 months in Canada, I spent most of my time taking classes, hanging out with Koreans, studying at the library memorizing grammar and vocabulary which was the pretty same as I did in Korea. However, after moving to Brampton, I was actually able to put my English into practice with real people in a real-world circumstances. Thanks to Susanna who was my English teacher, I got to 'use' English rather than 'learn'.
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ReplyDeleteDid you go out with them who asked you out?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I am joking.
I had a similiar experience with you. When I took ESL class, I met Linda,the ESL teacher who was interacitve and outgoing. She always tried to make students talk with each other and have fun in the classroom. She even took her students to a baseball park and play sports evern after her class. I think her efforts wokred for most students; many students improved their English a lot after taking her class. I think teachers' role in ESL classroom is especially important as you and I experienced.
I went out with them, but not that way...lol
ReplyDeleteand yes, right. I do think ESL teachers play important roles in students' learning, especially when it comes to introducing the new culture to students. After all, understanding the culture is the essential part of the language learning.