Teaching ePortfolio

Montessori Classroom: Second Month as Assistant

2013-03-06T11:17:00.001-08:00

As I near the end of my second month in the classroom, it seems appropriate to reflect on what I've learned and much more that I have yet to know.

Every group of children is different. As a wise mentor once told me, "it's all in the mix." In a Montessori classroom, if you have an older group of children not settling down to work, a sense of chaos will descend through the age groups. Start at the top and help connect the older ones to materials, and their concentration and calm will also spread. Additionally, adjusting group routines to be more seamless and finding tasks that serve a particular child's needs is a never-ending process.

The children who cannot sit still in a group should be dismissed first, not last. They are not yet able to do what you ask of them. Making them sit longer as punishment will only lead to frustration and diminished self-control.

Let the child who lies on the ground carry heavy things. He may be flailing because of delayed muscle development. Sitting cross-legged could be painful for his spine. Give him baskets of books or other materials to carry, invite him on errands involving stairs.

Let the child who feels small among his peers feel big among the younger children. The group clown who distracts others from their work may have noticed that his peers have received more lessons than he. He may feel developmentally inferior, or socially excluded, and act out for the attention he desires. Ask him to help prepare cots in the nap room, or read a page of a story to the children settling down to sleep. He may just rise to the occasion and swell with purpose and pride.

Some children have diagnosable needs which require adjustment to routine or other interventions. Despite claims of over-diagnosis, ADHD is real - as are sensory processing disorders and other special needs. It's important to determine whether the safety or educational experience of the rest of your students is being compromised by one or two children and respond accordingly. Many options exist outside of asking the child to leave the school, such as bringing the student into the classroom before or after the other children to ease transitions, designating a place for this child to go if he needs down-time, shortening the child's day, etc. I look forward to reading The Out of Sync Child on this topic.

Building individual relationships and trust with students requires effort and time. Children pick up on energy, body language, and tone of voice when you interact with them. Another assistant told me that one three-year-old would run away from her when he saw her approaching in a huff, so she adjusted her body language and mannerisms to better reach him. Many young children act out because they have not learned how to control themselves. Responding in a friendly tone with understanding is more reasonable and helpful than trying to squash behavior you assume snubs your authority. You will connect with each child differently, depending on his or her personality and your own. It takes time to understand these nuances and establish a relationship with each child.

Learn how to focus on an individual child while staying aware of the rest of the classroom. And determine your classroom blind spots and figure out how to monitor them discreetly, such as going to straighten materials.

Hone the ability to know when a small group is needed and how to orchestrate it. Invite the first years who are rolling on the floor, calm energy with a finger play or song, and re-connect students to the environment by having them close their eyes and think of a material they'd like to choose, assigning older partners to help younger children straighten materials, or taking a walk to a shelf and having students choose a material from there.

Learn to be a captivating storyteller. Learn to be a captivating storyteller about a paperclip, plastic bag, or anything else you have on hand. As mentioned in the post on transitions, children are in a sensitive period for language development. Provide language enrichment to draw children away from frenzy and back to center.

Every directress has weak areas, or areas where she's trying to grow. One directress may wonder whether she is too controlling of her classroom. Another may lack a passion for music and neglect the materials for music. Another may not give Grace and Courtesy lessons to the older children. Some blind spots are seen, others are not; some are worked on, others are not. I am still trying to figure out the sources of weaknesses in directresses and what I want to proactively work on in myself.

Questions that I continue to ponder are as follows:

What sets the strongest Montessori directresses apart? Factors I've considered include understanding and practice of the Montessori philosophy, amount of directress experience, directress personality, relationship with individual students, level of observation of and intuition into childhood development, classroom management style, frequency of lessons given, breadth of lessons given (i.e. teacher is equally passionate about, knowledgeable of, and prone to introduce each material), relationship with assistant, communication with parents, etc.

If a directress says a child is a worker or she has a classroom of workers, to what is that attributed? Factors I've considered include the directress's ability to connect children to the environment, the child's disposition, the mix of children in the class, the child's home life, the culture of the community or time, etc.

Approximately how many lessons do you give each day? How often does an average child receive a lesson? A faster child? A slower child? What are the indicators that it's time to give a lesson? How long does a lesson usually last? How soon do you give follow-ups like the distance game?

Re-direction is used in the Montessori philosophy rather than punishment to lead students toward positive behavior, self-discipline, and ultimately concentration. What determines the balance between friendly and stern re-direction of students? Factors I've considered include the student's age, personality, behavior history, type of behavior, directress personality, etc.

How does a Montessori directress navigate the relationship with parents and help establish consistency in the home?

How can a Montessori directress gauge success? Factors I've considered include the number of normalized children in the classroom, esteem of children, esteem of colleagues, esteem of parents, etc.

Transition to Montessori

2013-03-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

Level A: Unit 8.1

2011-03-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Pronunciation Worksheet:

Map Activity: Print two copies of the map for each student.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns:

Lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 7.2

2011-03-15T20:47:00.001-07:00

Pronunciation Worksheet:

Powerpoint Slides:

Students working in groups during the Dicto-comp activity

Lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 7.1

2011-02-28T20:22:00.000-08:00

Warm-Up Listening Activity:

List of Irregular Past Tense Verbs:

Short Story Activity:

Irregular Past Tense Verb Worksheet:

Students review their passages during the Short Story Exercise.

Students explain their passages in new groups and piece together the story.

Overall, a varied and effective class. The following provides summary and minor recommended adjustments:

Warm-up Listening Activity: The conversation was presented in relatively natural cadence, so it took four or five times for students to understand main ideas. Before beginning, we reviewed new vocabulary words such as laundry, apartment, picnic, and instead. In hindsight, I would reconsider word choice in the following phrases: last weekend and this past weekend, stay around town vs. stay home, couldn't stand to vs. didn't want to. Overall, this warm-up activity served as a nice change of pace and seemed to engage students more than physically active, timeworn games.

Grammar and Pronunciation Lessons: The three grammar rules were review for students, though they seldom use the past tense in conversation. Next week, we will go over doubling the consonant for words ending in one vowel + one consonant, other than w or y.

For pronunciation of reduced forms of did you, I supplemented the phonetic alphabet in the book with didjew (did you) and whudjew (what did you) on the board. Students thought my exaggerated presentation was funny, which created a comfortable environment for them to practice on their own.

Exercises in the Book: After completing the conversations, students read them aloud in pairs and as a class. This offered a chance to practice and critique the pronunciation of reduced forms of did you. In the future, I will supplement oral exercise reviews with a powerpoint slide, so students have visual confirmation of the correct answers.

Magazine Activity: Always great for generating new vocabulary words. The blackboard was chock full by the time we were through.

Short Story Activity: A starkly different fit for each of the classes-- extremely challenging but doable for the Monday class, perfectly challenging with almost magical execution by the Tuesday class, and varying levels of challenging, though we ran out of time, for the Wednesday class. The activity was magical in the Tuesday class because very few students resorted to Vietnamese, they independently encouraged each other, and they acted and used gestures when their words failed. For the first time, I didn't feel the need to motivate them. I felt their strength and hunger as they took off on their own.

Lastly, a self-evaluation...

* The list of irregular past tense verbs if from http://www.grammar.cl/Past/Irregular_Verbs_List.htm. The short story is from http://www.rong-chang.com/eslread/index.htm. The Irregular Verb Worksheet is from http://bogglesworldesl.com/irregular_verbs.htm.

Level A: Unit 6.1

2011-02-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Pre-Quiz and Answer Key: The answer key provides a sample answer. Any grammatically correct response with logical content receives full credit. Each question is graded out of 3 points. Full credit for perfection, 2.5/3 for minor mistakes, 2/3 for verb mistakes or a moderate number of small errors, 1.5/3 for serious grammar errors or illogical content.

Exercise Activity Worksheet:

Monday Students during the Exercise Activity.

Tuesday students during the Exercise Activity.

Reflections to come...

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Midterm Exam

2011-02-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

Grading Rubric:

Students from the Monday class review.

I've struggled to find time to write lately because my three classes respond so differently to each lesson that wrapping my head around the slew of reasons, required modifications, and varied results is job enough for the head, not to mention the hand. All in the name of growth, though, so here goes...

Monday class: two review classes* for the most beginner class, one that reviewed general grammar structures and vocabulary, the second that allowed time to prepare the prompts. The latter was more effective, particularly when coupled with pre-performances and detailed feedback on content, pronunciation, and grammar.

Tuesday class: one review class, allowed time to prepare the prompts. Extremely effective. These higher-level language students were energized and efficient, completely capitalizing on pre-performances and teacher feedback.

Wednesday class: one review class, allowed time to prepare the prompts. Somewhat effective. Lower level students had trouble getting motivated. Minimal time to hear pre-performances and give feedback. Students did not take preparation very seriously, and they had the lowest marks of the three classes.

The grading rubric worked extremely well. Students were also given written feedback on pronunciation and grammar mistakes.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*The first review class occurred before the exam prompts were approved, so students received an additional session so as not to be at a disadvantage. One proper review class would have sufficed.

Level B: Conversation 5.1

2011-02-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Preposition Worksheet:

Pictures for Room Descriptions:

The first staff class in a LONG TIME. Teachers have been swamped with end of the year festivities and Tet holiday. We're back now and chugging along.

This lesson was effective and intimate as teachers (henceforth refered to as students) trickled back and readjusted to the reverse-role classroom routine. Musical chairs was an absolute hit. Students liked the movement and made sure not to repeat stories/feelings from Tet. Energy remained high as we generated vocabulary lists on the blackboard, which were referenced for the duration of class.

The lesson on prepositions was iffy. I had emailed students a detailed preposition chart with meanings and usages before class, but it would have been helpful to provide a print-out version during the lesson. Because I couldn't reproduce the chart on the board and students couldn't listen and record, I resorted to physical demonstrations for most of the words (I am behind the desk; the book is under the chair). Luckily, with the exception of in, on, and at, the words were easy to understand, and we had a worksheet and discussion to review the former.

The most brilliant part of this class was the students' curiosity and desire to learn, and the time we took probing questions and ideas. We spent 15 or 20 minutes on the relatively brief prepositions worksheet, going over exceptions and creating our own rules. We spent 20 or 25 minutes on the room descriptions, rising to the challenges of required specificity and preposition use, then adding to our list of household vocabulary words. Finally, we had a candid conversation about homes in our countries and the things they represent about our cultures. Overall, it was a pretty awesome class.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*Preposition worksheet from www.esl-galaxy.com.

Level A: Unit 5.2

2011-01-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Pronunciation Powerpoint Slides:

Family Activity Powerpoint Slides:

Family Activity Personal Descriptions and Scenarios: Cut personal descriptions into slips and label with and M or F (male or female). Keep personal descriptions in separate envelopes by family until you count the students in class and determine which families to use. Cut scenarios into slips and keep in separate envelopes. Give scenario envelopes to students once they have found their families.

The main purpose of this class, particularly the family activity, was to get students involved in the subject matter, bring it alive, and provoke critical thought. However, my expectations for the family activity were a little too high. The following were some of its strong and weak points:

Strong:

Students enjoyed the different stories.
Students got to practice critical thinking.

Weak:

The activity was too long to hold student's rapt attention the whole time.
Some of the vocabulary was too difficult.
Families larger than four struggled to find each other (I made them smaller after the first class).
One of the scenarios did not have a clear solution, or at least one that could be described in simple English.
In one of the three classes, we did not have time to present the skits.

And lastly a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 5.1

2011-01-06T07:21:00.001-08:00

Pre-Listening Activity: Cut the paper in two halves, descriptions and pictures. Break students into pairs and have them take turns reading descriptions and searching for their matches.

There's not a ton to say for this lesson, except that students enjoyed a spontaneous lesson on pronouncing TH. First, I used my teeth and tongue to demonstrate correct and incorrect TH pronunciation, showing students that if the tongue is between the teeth at the outset, it's correct; but if they only see teeth, it's not. Then, I asked them to give me a thumbs up or thumbs down to show if I had pronounced a word correctly. Lastly, I had students come up in rows and one by one say TH words in front of the class. Students in their seats had a chance to observe the visual and auditory manifestations of the sound and provide feedback (thumbs up or down) on whether or not their peers were correct. The activity was challenging at first, but students got the hang of seeing, hearing, and saying TH correctly. For those who truly struggled, I had them put a finger on their tongues so they remembered to keep them between their teeth until they uttered the sound. Students nearly fell of their chairs in delight.

Other than that, the grammar concepts were review for the students. The challenge is getting them to remember in natural speech. Blackboard races are always effective, though they get a little less engaging towards the end. Both the pre-listening activity and dicto-comp were novel concepts for the students and seemed engrossing.

Note on the dicto-comp. It is an MVP of exercises since it requires listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. Students listen to a passage three times. The first time they simply listen. The second time they listen and take notes. And the third they fill in holes in their notes and turn their notes into complete, grammatically correct sentences. The goal of the activity is to create replicas of the passage, exact in meaning and accuracy, but they don't have to be word-for-word. Students should pool their resources and work in groups.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*Pre-listening activity from http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.

Level A: Units 1-4 Review

2011-01-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

This class was a joy. Unique activities went according to plan, students were excited and engaged, and we thoroughly reviewed the material. Only thing wrong was timing in the Tuesday class.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*Activity 2 came from Friederike Klippel's book Keep Talking.

Level A: Unit 4.1

2011-01-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Powerpoints from the Lesson:

Opinion Poll Worksheet:

Likes and Dislikes Worksheet:

Alas, this lesson was too long ago to remember subtle observations. Students did, however, appreciate the jazz chant; and the opinion poll was a useful tool for practicing questions, sharing personal information, and breaking with routine.

And lastly, a self-evaluation:

Level A: Unit 3.2

2010-11-27T08:21:00.002-08:00

Powerpoints from the lesson:

Adjectives and Superlatives Worksheet:

Students constructing their outfits for the fashion show

A Smiling Model

Announcers Present their Models to the Class

This class was a combination of excellence, mediocrity, and chaos-- with the fashion show particularly lending itself to chaos. My explanation of the comparatives and superlatives registered with students, though the powerpoint was difficult to see from the back of the room* and the number of rules was overwhelming. The worksheet seemed thought-provoking, and students put answers on the board so there was nary an idle moment for quick workers and everyone got to look at the answers and listen to their peers receive corrections on pronunciation.

The fashion show was stuck at the end of class, when we hardly had time. As a result, outfit production was quick and students wanted it to bleed over into the more academic part of the activity. Not only was it difficult to get students to quiet down and shift gears, I didn't have time to review the clothing adjectives in each of the classes. The speeches were also so mistake-ridden that it was impossible to correct everything and difficult even to triage and identify the most grievous errors. This said, excellence can be derived from chaos, as the activity sent students through the roof with joy. Joy is an important morale-booster in these early months, as students patiently sit through lessons they don't fully understand due to the language barrier and truly work hard. Overall, it was worth it.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*I send all powerpoints and worksheets to a class email address, so students can review after the lesson.

**The adjectives and superlatives worksheet was taken from Life Lines Pre-Intermediate Workbook by Tom Hutchinson and Oxford University Press. The Newspaper Fashion Show was inspired by Stephen C., Fulbright ETA 2010-2011.

Level B: Conversation 4.1

2010-11-27T08:21:00.001-08:00

We had our first class on family at the coffee shop rather than in the classroom in honor of Vietnamese Teachers' Day. The faculty members presented me with a bouquet of roses and material for a lovely new ao dai. Then we went around the table and everyone talked about their families and answered questions from the group.

In my mind, it was not particularly stimulating, challenging, or entertaining for the 5 advanced students, since many already know their peers and the sentence structures and vocabulary are elementary. Though useful in building the confidence of the 7 beginner students, I feel that there are better ways to do this within a structured lesson. While, of course, this lesson was adapted for the holiday, I make these observations because some seemed to prefer an abbreviated coffee to actual class. Since I am keen on listening to the faculty members' diverse wants and needs (and unmet wants or needs generally means lower attendance), this revelation bothered me.

As one could guess, I am still struggling to find the correct balance with this class. Some want a textbook, most do not. Some want structured lessons, others simply want conversation topics. They all want to learn, but they have a seemingly unquenchable desire for games and songs. Of course I want the class to be fun and engaging, but I want to facilitate productive fun and engagement, which is sort of like offering a kid healthy dessert. When students have a choice about whether they're coming to the table (and often have other activities planned during "dinner"), it's hard to entice them without giving in to their demands.

Level A: Unit 3.1

2010-11-27T08:20:00.001-08:00

Pronoun Worksheet:

Market Activity Handouts: Cut out the pictures before class and put them in envelopes to give to members of the selling teams.

This lesson plan had various degrees of effectiveness in my three classes. In my most beginner class (Monday), we did not have time for the market activity, which I moved to the next class. Instead, we spent a lot of time on examples, pronunciation, and activities in the book. My instructions seemed clear and comprehensive, but without the diversion of a game, things got tedious.

In my more advanced class (Tuesday), we completed the market activity with relatively little chaos, and it seemed to be an effective way to practice what we had learned. In hindsight, I would have given students more sentence structures and vocabulary to use in the market dialogue because though the activity was dynamic, there was not a lot of meat after students grasped demonstratives.

In my Wednesday class which has both beginners and advanced beginners and the most variable levels of attendance and motivation, I made a huge mistake: I forgot the envelopes with the pictures for the market activity. Students still had handouts with pictures of the items, but these could only be used for reference in the activity. I adapted by having sellers write the names of products in the various quadrants, rather than placing pictures. This solution sufficed, but all variables considered, it was not as tight or as effective of a class as the other two.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level B: Conversation 3 Review

2010-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Three Groups: Chefs, Waiters/Waitresses, and Customers

Chefs deciding on a menu and specials

Waitress checking on specials with the chefs; Investigating why the
menus are not complete because her customers were starting to complain!

Customers giving orders/complaints to a waitress (front) and describing food to a chef (back)

I was so excited for this class. I set up candlelit tables, classical music, and a screen with a giant picture of the other half of the restaurant. A kitchen with pictures of food, blank menus, and pots and pans to aid in narrated pretend cooking. Tables covered with conversation cards, and "ship" and "sheep" sounding vocabulary words to review our pronunciation lesson and challenge customers to incorporate them into speech.

The only trouble was that several staff meetings were scheduled during class, so our 16-person class was down to 7 people. Talk about deflated balloon. The role-play went well enough, but it was lacking some of the energy that would have come from a larger class. Oh well.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 2.2

2010-11-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

Professions Worksheet:

Professions + Daily Routines Activity:

This class seems to have been an appropriate and engaging way to wrap up Unit 2. In hindsight, I regret not taking a picture of the blackboard after the professions activity. The board was divided into four sections: blue team, red team, yellow team, and green team. At the bottom of each section, students listed their professions. At the top, I recorded points and wrote grammar corrections. In my mind, the blackboard represents the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of the game.

The game progressed as follows: First, students chose their professions. There could only be one of each profession on a team. Second, students filled out the front of the worksheet, answering questions about their daily routines. Third, students interviewed people from the other teams, using the questions on the front of the worksheet and filling in the chart on the back. Each student talked to five people so teams had to strategize so that as a whole they had information from everyone on the other teams. Explaining the game portion of the activity before the interviews helped because students understood why they were talking to each other and how they should work with members of the other teams. For example, it was advantageous, albeit time-consuming, to follow the directions and communicate verbally rather than exchange papers to record answers because this provided room for error in which the other team might mishear a student's response.

During the game portion of the activity, I asked a question about each team in turn. For example, (standing in front of the yellow team's list of professions), "What time does the pharmacist go to work in the morning?" The first person to stand from the red, green, or blue team could answer. I was assured an assortment of volunteers since each person talked to five different people. At the beginning, I judged on basic content, but as the game progressed, I made the rules more difficult by discounting answers with grammar mistakes. By requiring students to use correct grammar, those who answered were more likely to consult with their team, and those not answering were more likely to listen aptly and wave their arms in the air and yell if they heard a mistake. Students were enthused to the point that I had to make a serious announcement about sportsmanship, which was well-received. All in all, the activity was a wonderful way to facilitate partner conversation and critical thinking, review professions and daily routines, engage in guided practice of grammar and pronunciation, and get excited about using English.

Lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level B: Conversation 3.2

2010-11-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

Food samples

Students sampling food

Oy vey, forgot the peanut butter and jelly. It was just as well, though, because the timing was perfect without it. We learned a lot of new vocabulary, as students tried to put together their own recipes. The parallel line speaking activities are always great for this: vocabulary and pronunciation.

However, we've gotten away from true grammar lessons with our new syllabus, which is something I would like to change.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level A: Unit 2.1

2010-11-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

I felt awkward presenting this lesson. I plopped the sentence structure and prepositional phrases on the screen with minimal unpacking of their contents-- which, alas, is the mistake I feel most predisposed to as a native speaker. My mentor teacher suggests that I present a little more theory next time. She also suggests that I trust that students have reviewed the structure prior to class, so instead of belaboring the basics, I could plug ahead with an exercise from the book. Good advice.

Today's class was chock-full of activities. Students followed directions most closely on the word order and describing pictures activities because these were best suited to their levels. The word order activity was visually appealing, something I remembered from seventh grade English class with Mrs. Straub. In hindsight, I would have explained some vocabulary words in the pictures activity in advance since we had not discussed them previously.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Level B: Conversation 3.1

2010-10-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Restaurant Vocabulary Sheet:

Restaurant Role-Play Materials:

Restaurant Conversation Order: Cut into strips before class.

I'm happy to say that the first of the new conversation topics was right on target for the class. The role-play worked particularly well in showing students the communicative side of English and getting them comfortable in a real-word situation. The conversation order activity was too difficult because it required knowledge of too many American foods. While I feel somewhat bad about using materials from the internet, I suppose it's not always necessary to re-invent the wheel. This lesson got students truly excited about learning.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*Materials for the first two activities can be accessed here: http://bogglesworldesl.com/survival_travel_english/restaurants.htm

Level B: New Syllabus

2010-10-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

The new Level B syllabus: two classes on the communicative facets of an English topic and one on cumulative review. Students receive supplemental materials by email to prepare during the week.

Level A: English Club; Level B: Supplement

2010-10-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Level A: Map
Level B: Map

English Club students during the Circle and Squares Activity

This lesson was highly appropriate for both levels. Though the vocabulary words were easy for some, the activities held everyone's attention. Also, depriving students of sight forced them to speak more clearly and listen more intently. Students struggled with the pronunciation of words like straight and bridge, so we practiced these as a class. I am trying to be more in-tune to such mistakes, as I continue to identify the best pace for building students' confidence and moving everyone forward.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*The Circle and Squares Activity was inspired by Dr. Judy Ozment of Penn State University.

Level B: Supplement

2010-10-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

This lesson involved far too much pronunciation. In the future, I will try to incorporate pronunciation into every lesson, rather than spending the whole class. I'm calling this a supplement because I am still planning the new syllabus for the class, and this lesson does not follow the old schedule.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

*Unfortunately, the vowel chart and intonation packet cannot be uploaded without a scanner.

Student Seminar: Learning Styles

2010-10-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Visual:

Auditory:

Getting into groups.

Students engaging in group work.

Tactile:

Students acting out the airport scene from Home Alone.

Students building a robber trap like those used in Home Alone.

Students presenting their robber traps.

I conducted three, three-hour seminars on learning styles for new students at the college. First, I explained the different learning styles. Then, I showed students pictures and asked them to identify the learning style being used. Next, we practiced each learning style by studying an English movie. Students were asked to reflect upon which learning method felt the most comfortable for them; they took home a handout on learning styles and appropriate study methods for each, along with a quiz to help them identify which learning style they prefer.

And lastly, a self-evaluation...

Changes

2010-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm in a transition period right now. The Level A class was canceled due to the scheduling error, and I'm restructuring my Level B class.

Three new Level A classes have begun, and I'm using modified versions of the lessons presented in the first days of the trial class.

For the Level B class, I am choosing easier and more practical conversation topics. Though I was given the original conversation topics by the college, they proved unsuitable for the majority of my students.

Updates to come...