"Miss Nietfeld? Please?," says my sixth grade student from the Ukraine. "What are you asking me? Try again." "... ooh. Can't say English. Please?" I've had this conversation several times over the past few weeks. I'm currently teaching 3 students who range from beginning to intermediate English. They have moved to Prague from places such as the Ukraine and Korea. They are my "English Language Learners" or, ELL students.
These students sit in my classes understanding a fraction of my words. I try to speak slowly and clearly, but I cannot rush this process of learning English. Yes, they have ESL classes and special electronic dictionaries... but sometimes these things are just not enough. No matter how hard these students try, both teacher and student are often left puzzled as to what to do. As the teacher do I simply say "yes" to stop this awkward inconclusive conversation? Do I continue seeking to understand the student's question, ignoring the rest of my students?
Early in the year I noticed the look of complete frustration in one of my student's eyes. I looked him in the eyes and said, "Don't worry. You're doing great!" He looked right back at me, and said "No. Not okay. And I not doing great. This very hard."
My well intentioned remark did anything but encourage my student! He understands how small his English speaking skills are. He can see how hard it is for me to find assignments for him to work on during class.
Yet, I was wrong. Standing in a room with Czech speakers didn't give me a full taste of my students' frustration. I didn't really have a chance to experience my students' frustration until last night. Last night the teachers of CISP had our first Czech classes. Our teacher came into the room and spoke Czech to us for an hour. She kept repeating, "Ano? Ano?" (Yes? Yes?) The honest answer was, no! no, no, no. I don't get it. But, we all say "ano," knowing that it is easier than stopping the class with questions that we don't know how to ask. The main goal of last night was to practice pronunciation. (The Czech alphabet has a variety of soft and hard accents that we need to learn to pronounce.) We were pronouncing words that I've never seen before. I have no idea what I was saying. I was simply learning to make the proper sounds-- and this is part of learning a language. And, it didn't matter how slowly the Czech teacher spoke; I wasn't going to be able to rush this process of learning.
By the end of the hour I was mentally exhausted. I felt overwhelmed by the sounds and words we had just learned. How would I retain so much information? And, our teacher speaks very minimal English! How am I supposed to ask questions?
As I stood up at the end of class I realized where I was sitting: I was in the exact same seat that my beginning ELL student sits in every day. Not only was I sitting in his physical seat, but I was seeing language through his eyes. He sits through 45 minutes of my English class every day, understanding only a hand full of my words. My Czech teacher may only speak minimal English-- but I don't speak any Korean, Russian, or Ukrainian. My students' teacher (me) truly cannot answer any of the ELL students questions without drawing pictures or using dictionaries.
Now I can truly say that I have an appreciation for what my English Language Learners experience every day in my classroom. Now is the time for me to persevere in showing patience and compassion to these students who are so precious to our Lord!
Please pray for my sixth and eighth grade English classes
as we learn to display patience and compassion for our classmates
who are struggling to learn English.
"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
~Ephesians 4:1-2
"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
~Galatians 5: 22-24
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