C. Smith - TP Post #1

Today I drove over to the Leroy Collins library on Call Street to witness
a volunteer ESOL class. I arrived early, so I proceeded to kill
time by leafing through a paperback until it was time to go up
to the third floor.

Upon reaching my destination, I walked into the office, signed
in, and had my ticket endorsed so I would not need to pay for
parking on the way out. The staff was very polite.
I entered the classroom. A rectangular table, longer than it
was wide, sat in the center of the room surrounded by comfortable
chairs. I was told the instructor was a volunteer named Doug,
who taught the class during his lunch break. Although I was
the first to enter the classroom, others soon followed.

The next to arrive was a Taiwanese student named S________, who was here to practice pronunciation and improve her listening comprehension. She confessed she had some troubles when it came to understanding long lectures or the kind of rapid-fire idiomatic
English heard in movies. As she talked a little more about herself, I noted that she had some troubles with pronunciation, present perfect, and occasionally confused similar words such as
exploration and explore. Like everyone else in the room, she was either engaged in the honorable profession of teaching or in training to be a teacher. S________ was currently training to teach Special Education and taught at a middle school back home in Taiwan.

We were next joined by Doug, who introduced himself and asked S________
some questions about herself and her background, much of which was
explained in the previous paragraph. We were then joined by a Korean
woman named H_____ who was a volunteer at several elementary schools
in the Tallahassee area. She came in with specific questions, such
as how the word might is used and the difference between would and
should.

Doug gave concrete explanations, noting that might can either refer to
considerable physical strength or be used to say that something may
or may not happen. He went on to note that may can give people
"wiggle room", allowing them to not make firm commitments if they
find doing something to be difficult or disagreeable. The class
then covered should have vs would have. I pointed out that should
can be used as a way to give suggestions or advice ("It's raining
outside. You should take an umbrella.") We also pointed out there
was another word, "wood", which was a homonym with would and had
a different meaning.

Doug had prepared well for the class, and supplied material that
tested their mastery of sounds such as th, puh, vuh, pr, ih, ee, and fr.
He taught words to reinforce this point (rebel and revel, bitch and beach, etc.) The class also received an explanation for how to tip at a restaurant and where to leave the money.
Doug observed that many people have their own way to tip.

I had a very nice experience at the class and am looking forward to the
next time I can attend one at the library. I hope that I can find someone
at these classes who would like to have volunteer tutoring sessions.