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Each Tuesday and Thursday we arrive at approximately ten o’clock in the morning to teach our six students: Asha, Joyce, Magdalena, Siamon, Elliot, and Semeni in three classes: literacy, basic English, and advanced English. Andrielle teaches the literacy class and Emily teaches the advanced class. Both Emily and Andrielle teach the basic English class. We teach the basic level class from 10 am until 11 am, then the literacy class from 11-12. Times may vary due to class overlap.
The Beginners class has two students, Joyce (late 30s early 40s) and Magdalena (early - mid 30s). Each are advancing in their own ways but are on very different levels. Joyce is an extremely quick learner and is advancing quickly, while Magdelena is motivated to learn but lacks some basic skills that restrain her from learning at the same pace as her fellow student. Both Joyce and Magdalena has been determined to proceed in their lessons and have been extremely enthusiastic. It has been helpful for both of us to teach this class, so that we are able to work with each student one-on-one to help them with their individual needs. We strive to give both women the attention they deserve. It can sometimes be a challenge considering that Joyce is able to learn more quickly that Magdalena. This is not to say that Magdalena is a less capable student, she simply requires more guidance and explanation in her learning than Joyce. Magdalena has also missed more classes than Joyce. They each work hard in class, and show that they also work on their own. We have bought each of them English-Swahili dictionaries, as well as schools supplies, such as notebooks, pencils, erasers, and primary school workbooks.
Our objective with these ladies, is to primarily encourage them to move to a higher level of vocabulary while also to speak English more confidently. This will be helpful not only to themselves, but it will benefit the company by opening communication between customers, benefactors, and the workers.
The following is a list of English concepts that we have taught thus far:
· Greetings
· Introductions and self-summaries
· Various verbs, adjectives, and nouns
· Basic sentence structure and application
· Colors
· Vocabulary for the family
· Vocabulary for the work place
· Numbers
· Some technical grammar exercises such as: tenses, parts of speech, and descriptions
The Literacy class is made up of Saimon (early to mid 20s), Elliot, and Semeni (both women are later 40s to early 50s). From the beginning of the class, all three students were at a similar level of reading and writing. They had no concept of the alphabet or the sounds that letters make, and Elliot did not know how to use a writing utensil properly. The majority of the earlier sessions focused on memorization of the letters of the alphabet and introductions to the sounds that each letter makes. The students learned how to write both capital and lowercase letters. Initially, it was very difficult to help the class to memorize the alphabet. Since then, we have progressed to a point where each student can recite the alphabet, with some assistance, from beginning to end. Through the use of materials like Dr. Seuss’ book of ABCs and traditional rhythmic memorization techniques, such as call and response, both Saimon and Semeni know the majority of the alphabet by heart and the sounds that each letter makes. These two students are now at a level that allows them to sound out words and even read entire Swahili sentences. Elliot is not yet at this level and it has been a challenge to encourage her in the process of memorization. I am unsure as to why her comprehension of the lessons has been so scarce. I wonder if her motivation is affected by her age or her inability to practice on her own, but whatever the case, it has impeded upon her progression in the class. The materials that we have bought for the class are beginners reading books, practice books, and a notebook and pencil for each student.
The class is learning mainly how to recognize and read in Swahili. However, we are learning some basic English phrases and words, such as greetings, introductions, and other various English terms. What I hope to accomplish by the culmination of my work with the students is a basic to intermediate reading comprehension level for each of the students in Swahili. I also hope to achieve a very basic reading level in English. I expect that my students will be able to recall general useful phrases in English by the end of the class so that they are able to communicate with customers and other areas of the work place.
Asha (28 years old) is proceeding very well in the advanced class. I am using various tools to encourage her in her conversational speech, as well as expanding her vocabulary. We talk with each other where I embolden her to speak about herself and her ideas of what she would like to learn. As it is commonly said, reading expands a person’s concepts of grammar. Therefore, I have bought her several intermediate chapter books and an English student dictionary. The first day, we went over the first page of the book, “Treasure Island”. For each word that she didn’t know, we looked it up in the English dictionary and applied the word to her general knowledge. Now she accomplishes this task on her own and can read several pages a day. She is definitely advancing and is growing more confident as we speak more and more. She is also very excited to read more stories.
Once she feels more confident, I hope to work with her on how to develop her vocabulary as it pertains to the business of Wonder Workshop. She is delightful to work with and learns very quickly. She is also very enthusiastic about wanting to learn more. I think by the end of our time together, she will be ready to work in the shop and will be more confident in her speaking abilities.
Other materials that we have purchases have been notebooks and pencils for each person at the workshop, English-Swahili dictionaries for each of the sections at the workshop, basic class supplies like paper, tape, markers, and a white board.
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