I'm Going to Be a Lteracy Volunteer

[Terry]

Originally Posted by Seeker630

They both got hired for different jobs.

That's good news for them!

we are getting busy at my part-time job right now. So I'll be busy again anyway.

...and isn't that good, too?

I'll really miss her----I really enjoyed helping her. It was fun you know.

I don't know when I'll pick up another student yet.

Good you had this experience.

[AspenMama]

I'm glad you had such a good first experience.

What did you decide to do with the gift card?

[Seeker630]

Originally Posted by AspenMama

I'm glad you had such a good first experience.

What did you decide to do with the gift card?

Nothing yet, it's still sitting on my desk. I suppose I'll use it eventually, although I don't get to Wally World very often.

[Seeker630]

Well I now have another student---she is from Spain. I have been working with her for about 2 months now. In addition to that, I was at the library today and went to the Literacy office to make some copies for my student for the next couple of lessons. The head of the program was there and asked if I could also help another person who is from France.

Well she talked me into it. So I will now have two students. I'll be contacting her in the next few days. She is only going to be in the U.S. for a few months, so I don't know how much I can help her, but the head of the program knew that I speak French and I couldn't resist. I am going to be one busy bugger.


C'est la vie mes enfants!

[Allie]

This is so awesome Seeker! Thank you for giving your time. I wish more people would do this instead of complaining.
Before I moved to Kennewick I helped kids with reading problems in my old school district. I think after I have the baby I will see about it here.
Good luck with your busy schedule.

[Dawn]

They are fortunate you are able to help them. It will be a good chance to use your other languages too.

[Seeker630]

Thanks both of you. I enjoy it a lot. Keeps me off the streets too.

[homo hirsutus]

Very cool.

[Seeker630]

Originally Posted by Allie

This is so awesome Seeker! Thank you for giving your time. I wish more people would do this instead of complaining.
Before I moved to Kennewick I helped kids with reading problems in my old school district. I think after I have the baby I will see about it here.
Good luck with your busy schedule.

Allie understand something----I have a vested interest in this as a humanist and atheist, and as a first generation American citizen-----both of my parents were immigrants. I feel that instead of complaining about immigration all the time, I should be doing what I can to facilitate it-----legally. If people are willing to come here and learn English, I kind of feel that it's the kind of volunteer work I can do that will "give back" to the country that accepted both of my parents.

I understand that so many come here searching for a better life, as did my parents and grandparents on my father's side.

Bloody hell I can't understand how so many Americans can be so fucking Xenophobic. All of their people came here from someplace else except for Native Americans. And I am 6th generation Metis native American.

/rant

[Seeker630]

Well I still have the same two students. But the French speaker is not from France as I was first told---she is from Quebec. I don't know how much good I can do her as she is a snowbird, and will be leaving for Canada on April 14th or 15th. But she responds well to the lessons and computer program I use, and she can pronounce English quite well with some practice.

As for my Spanish student-----about two months ago we were going over a word list during one lesson, and one of the words in the list was "Jello". She had never heard of it, and I had a hard time trying to explain it to her. So before the next lesson the following week, I made two custard cups of jello and took it with me to the library in a little cooler with some ice in it.

She was delighted with the stuff (I make the low-cal version), and said she would return the favor one day. Yesterday after our regular Friday session she had me follow her home; she lives really close to me. I waited in the car while she went inside and brought out two glasses in a plastic bag. She had made a type of mousse she used to make at home in Spain. She used brown sugar instead of the white, and made it lemon flavored.

Today I had one for lunch-------jeeeeeez! I don't even want to know how many calories there are in this stuff, but it was absolutely delicious. Smooth, creamy and with enough lemon in it to pucker my ex-MIL's asshole.

This tutoring thing has some interesting turns to it.

ps: My Spanish lady also informed me that she has an awful time understanding Mexicans sometimes, as does my Venezuelan co-worker. The computer program I use with my students has Spanish and English lessons specifically for Spanish speakers from Latin America, rather than Spain. She had some good laughs over some words that she says she's never seen before in Spanish.

But I can understand how they could have such a hard time. The other night I was watching the old movie channel, and they ran a film titled "Kes". It's English, and I couldn't understand half of it even with the hearing aid in place. Really thick Brit accents from I don't know what part of England.

[Tharmas]

Originally Posted by Seeker630

ps: My Spanish lady also informed me that she has an awful time understanding Mexicans sometimes, as does my Venezuelan co-worker. The computer program I use with my students has Spanish and English lessons specifically for Spanish speakers from Latin America, rather than Spain. She had some good laughs over some words that she says she's never seen before in Spanish.

But I can understand how they could have such a hard time. The other night I was watching the old movie channel, and they ran a film titled "Kes". It's English, and I couldn't understand half of it even with the hearing aid in place. Really thick Brit accents from I don't know what part of England.

Years ago I had a co-worker whose family had escaped from Cuba when he was little. They'd landed in New Orleans, which was where he learned his English. Boy he was impossible to understand! But when I asked some other Hispanics to translate his Spanish for me, the laughed and said "Forget it!" Apparently his Spanish was just as hard for them to understand as his English.

[Seeker630]

Originally Posted by Tharmas

Years ago I had a co-worker whose family had escaped from Cuba when he was little. They'd landed in New Orleans, which was where he learned his English. Boy he was impossible to understand! But when I asked some other Hispanics to translate his Spanish for me, the laughed and said "Forget it!" Apparently his Spanish was just as hard for them to understand as his English.

See here's the thing---and I brought this up at a tutor's meeting; By who's standard do we declare just what is the correct version and accent in English? Says who? I'm from Michigan. My Spanish student's husband is from Chicago, so we both sound pretty much alike to her. But what if she had drawn a tutor from Texas or the deep South? New England maybe? And then there are regional differences in phraseology like--------

"I like to go for a walk in the morning"----which is what I would say. But I know a couple of people from Pennsylvania and Kentucky who would say-----" I like to go walking of a morning".

Try and explain that to someone who is trying to learn American English. Yesterday, I had a hard time explaining to her that we refer to ourselves as Americans, yet Canadians usually do not. Americans to most people means U.S. citizens, even though anyone in North, Central or South America is technically an American---I mean after all, they live in the "Americas".

This is a real learning experience for me too-----not just my students. They are teaching me a few tricks along the way, and it's fun! Hell I'm picking up a bit of Spanish here and there and refreshing my French.

The funny thing is-----yesterday-----my Spanish student told me that when I repeat a phrase in Spanish from the computer program--------------------

----------- I have a French accent! Go figure!

[Shadowfox]

Originally Posted by Seeker630

See here's the thing---and I brought this up at a tutor's meeting; By who's standard do we declare just what is the correct version and accent in English? Says who? I'm from Michigan. My Spanish student's husband is from Chicago, so we both sound pretty much alike to her. But what if she had drawn a tutor from Texas or the deep South? New England maybe? And then there are regional differences in phraseology like--------

"I like to go for a walk in the morning"----which is what I would say. But I know a couple of people from Pennsylvania and Kentucky who would say-----" I like to go walking of a morning".

Try and explain that to someone who is trying to learn American English. Yesterday, I had a hard time explaining to her that we refer to ourselves as Americans, yet Canadians usually do not. Americans to most people means U.S. citizens, even though anyone in North, Central or South America is technically an American---I mean after all, they live in the "Americas".

This is a real learning experience for me too-----not just my students. They are teaching me a few tricks along the way, and it's fun! Hell I'm picking up a bit of Spanish here and there and refreshing my French.

The funny thing is-----yesterday-----my Spanish student told me that when I repeat a phrase in Spanish from the computer program--------------------

----------- I have a French accent! Go figure!

Just got into this thread. So grand what you are doing - and isn't it fine that you get some benefits from volunteering.

Re Americans: Once I heard the word "Usonian" for those of us in the US of A. Never did see much use of it tho.

Re accents: Back in college days, one French exchange student told me I spoke French with an Italian accent. I don't speak Italian but do have a maternal Sicilian heritage.

Re varieties of English as she is spoke: Basically American and British but each has its own differences. Once I was in Tennessee visiting a friend who asked if I could tell someone else was from Florida. I said huh? Apparently in the south each state has its own dialect, even sometimes within the state. New England has state variations. Then there's east vs west, north vs south - and on and on. Not just in pronunciation but in word usage: asking someone here to carry me home would get a guffaw but somewhere in the south it means to give me a ride home. Bear to the left out here means exactly that: a big old bear on the left side; somewhere in New England it means turn to the left. Sometimes here we say you all but it's not the same as y'all or as one southern writer says, yall.

Also consider black dialects and how they differ from so called standard English. My friend from Alabama speaks so softly (tho he's well over 6 feet and brawny) and his words often have me asking him "What?" He doesn't mind. His wife from Omaha had some difficulty with his speech at first!

My nearly best friend is Puerto Rican but born here. She tells me about how each variety of American "Spanish" is so different in pronunciation and in word.

So if we find it hard to understand our own country people, how much harder is it to understand others in another language? Translations don't always make sense, do they?

[Seeker630]

Oh I agree. I've learned not only from my student, but Hispanic co-workers, that all Spanish is not equal by a long shot. I've worked with one guy from Columbia, and currently one from Venezuela. Both of them, like my student from Spain, told me they have a tough time understanding a lot of Mexicans. It's almost a different language depending on where in Mexico they are from.

Another thing I've learned-----most of the Spanish-English dictionaries that are printed in the U.S. are geared to people from Latin America---not Spain. There have been several times now that she has pointed out words in my Larousse edition that she says she has never seen before. Her comment is that it is something "Mexican", and she often has no idea what they mean.

Go figure.

[Seeker630]

She put in an application a while back to work at Nielson's. The people who do the TV ratings and stuff. They have a center here. So this week she is in training, and it interferes with our lesson schedule. I meet her at the library from 3:30 pm to 5 pm every Tuesday and Friday. Her job training is in the afternoon, as will be her work schedule afterward.

She's been a good student, and has applied herself to learning. Hopefully what I have taught her will help in the new job. It involves her doing something on computers with Spanish speaking respondents to questionnaires.

Yesterday I got a phone call from the lady who runs the office for the literacy program, saying I had a plant sitting on her desk that was delivered the day before. Our office is in the same library that I conduct my lesson in. So yesterday I went and picked it up. It is from my student Isabel, and had a thank you card attached to it. It is a Flamingo Flower and is a seasonal blooming plant of the order Anthurium hybrid.

If I can figure out how I'll post a photo.

[Dawn]

How nice of her! I am sure she is very appreciative of your help and I think it will help her in her new job.

[Seeker630]

And here is the plant I got from my student Isabel. It's called a Flamingo Flower-------------------

[Dawn]

It is beautiful! I love the color.