Literacy Center Visit

Post date: Mar 18, 2014 10:20:7 PM

On Wednesday, March 12, I attended a Level 1/Introduction to English Course at Jacksonville Public Library Downtown Branch. The classes are offered in the Center for Adult Learning. Students must be able to speak English well enough to communicate with an instructor. The goal of the classes are for English speakers of other languages to improve their pronunciation, reading, verb usage and conversational skills. I called one week prior to the class and inquired about sitting in on a class. The director asked an ESOL teacher and the students if they were ok with me observing and all agreed.

The teacher’s name was Valencia and the class was attended by 4 students. Even though all the students were in the Level 1 course, they were of varied cognitive and English speaking abilities. Each student introduced themself and gave me the following information:

• • Doe is from Guinea and has been in the US about 2 years.

  • Sapha is from Sudan and has been in the US 4 months.

  • Tu is from Vietnam and has been in the US 2 weeks.

  • Antelma is from Mexico and has been in the US about 8 years.

The introduction was easier for some but they all ended with, “Nice to meet you.” All class attendees were female and I speculate that is because the time of the class I attended was at 11:30 am. It made me curious to know if evening classes typically have more male students.

Class officially began with them reviewing homework. Then, they opened their workbook, Ventures Level 1 by Cambridge. The lesson was about the US Census. I took a few minutes to look through the workbook. The book units were: Personal Information, At School, Friends and Family, Health, Around Town, Time, Shopping, Work, Daily Living and Leisure. So, throughout the course, the students will learn basic skills for the students to function in daily life in the USA. During the workbook portion of the lesson, each student read aloud with assistance from the teacher when needed.

The next part of the class focused on a worksheet. The front had a family tree and the teacher discussed family relationships. Each student was asked a question pertaining to filling in blanks on the family tree. On the back of the worksheet, the class studied and answered questions about a tax form and a birth certificate.

Next, the teacher handed each student a little piece of paper that they were asked to read aloud and fill in the blank correctly. Mine read, “My mother has a sister. Her name is Laura. She is married. Her husband is Jim. He is my ___________________ and she is my ___________________.

At the end of the class period, the students took an informal test. The test was comprised of the 4 following parts: Listening, Grammar, Reading and Writing. It was difficult to take pictures during the lesson without being rude. These are the few I got: