ESL Students and Superbowl Sunday

In addition to learning English, many of my ESL students are interested in learning about American culture. Well, today is one of those days that I (previously) wouldn't have thought about as "culture." But when you have nearly one out of three Americans watching the game, I guess you can't say this is not a part of our culture.

For some reason, native English speakers who otherwise don't care at all about football are suddenly transformed into hard-partying-fans on this special day. Is it really about the game? Or is it simply a day that brings us all together and gives us some sense of "oneness" and belonging? And how does it do that?

Whatever this day is to us as Americans, it is definitely a part of our culture. And as such, the customs around this day can be shared with our ESL students. It also serves as a starting point to ask our students about similar events in their home countries and we can encourage them to practice their English by telling us about such events.

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Gung Hay Fat Choy! 2009

Happy New Year! The celebrations never end! This year is The Year of the Ox. We're just leaving my year, The Year of the Rat.

As I mentioned last year (I don't expect you to remember!), Spring Festival is one of the more (if not the most) important traditional Chinese holidays. It's also celebrated by other East Asian cultures and countries.

Holidays celebrated by ESL students, and in their home countries, provide great ESL conversation topics. Anything about which ESL students have a lot of knowledge are great conversation topics. People like to talk about things they know about. And there's an added pleasure, sometimes, in teaching another.

The task of the ESL teacher or tutor in a conversation class is to encourage the English language learner to talk by asking questions and showing their interest in what the speaker has to say.

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The Best MLK Day Ever, So Far

As the author of this ESL blog, I really try to keep the topics somehow related to ESL, EFL, or English Language Learners and I especially try to be helpful to other ESL tutors and ESL teachers.

And yes, Martin Luther King Jr. Day could be used as a conversation topic for ESL classes. This could lead to other ESL conversation topics such as race relations, racism, dreams, homogeneous and heterogeneous nations, American history and culture, "mutts," etc. In short, this day can be the starting point for many conversation and speaking topics in the ESL class. It's up to the imagination of the teacher.

However, since this is my ESL blog, I want to take the liberty just to write my own thoughts about this time in my life and in American history. In short, I'm stoked. The inauguration of our country's first African American president is something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. And for it to follow the day that we celebrate the man who had "a dream" is awesome.

While my nation still suffers from inequality in many ways, we have achieved a part of Rev. King's dream. He said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

We are on the eve of the day when our future president was judged by the content of his character, rather than the color of his skin.

To repeat, I'm stoked!

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Happy New Year

I wish all my ESL students past and present (and all blog readers) a happy, prosperous and safe 2009.

With so much violence going on in the world right now, it's hard to focus on the good things, on the hope so many of us have for this coming year, for the world, and for Americans, for our country. I don't have any suggestions for focusing on the good things. But I do know from past experience, that life goes on.

For ESL teachers and tutors, students will still come to us with a desire to learn and improve their English. We will still take time to prepare lesson plans. We'll still look for ways to help our ESL students learn. Private ESL tutors will continue to look for new students. Teachers in public and private schools will continue to be underpaid. Life goes on.

May we all experience hope this year, and love and prosperity and happiness.

Happy Fourth of July

Here's another American holiday to discuss in a conversation class. However, since the point of a conversation class is to get the ESL (or EFL) students speaking, this topic could be a launching point to hear about holidays in your students' home countries.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is one of many holidays celebrated in the United States. I have to admit that this is not one of the holidays about which I know much. What I do know is probably part myth, part reality, and part childhood pranks.

As a tutor teaching ESL to adults, I am often able to use holidays as conversation topics. I can also use some holidays to discuss certain aspects of American history and culture. Of course, this has me doing most of the talking.

The best holidays are those that are also celebrated in my students' home countries or those American holidays that are similar to those celebrated in their home countries. This gives the English language learner an opportunity to talk about a subject with which they are familiar.

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International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day to my ESL students, and to all.

I find it interesting that all of my students studying English (both male and female and no matter what country they are from) know what day today is. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. Probably more interesting is the contrast: only about half the Americans I know are aware of the day.

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Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy New Year to my Asian ESL students and everyone else. This Spring Festival is one of the more (if not the most) important traditional Chinese holidays. It's also celebrated by other East Asian cultures and countries.

While it is important and useful for ESL students to learn about holidays in the English-speaking countries in which they live, I believe it's also important to learn about holidays celebrated by English language learners in their home countries.

PLUS, holidays are excellent conversation topics for ESL classes. They are a great opportunity for ESL students to use their knowledge and to share it with others.

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Happy New Year to Readers and ESL Students

It's interesting to me how "we" celebrate January 1st as the New Year. I guess what's more interesting to me is that so many of my ESL students celebrate the New Year according to the Lunar Calendar. It just seems to make so much more sense. Or at least many of my ESL students are so clearly able to explain to me the significance of the New Year according to the Lunar Calendar (or the "Chinese New Year" as most of my students call it).

Anyway, I wish all my ESL site readers and my ESL students a very Happy New Year.

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Politically Correct Holiday Greetings

On December 25th, I received an email from a former adult ESL student of mine. She had lived and worked in the U.S. for less than one year. She's now back in her home country.

The subject line of the email was "Merry Christmas." I have to admit that in this time of being overly politically correct, it was kind of nice to hear from someone who hasn't been influenced by our culture and the extreme end we've moved to in the last couple of years. (And I used to be one of those people who were slightly offended by store clerks wishing me a "Merry Christmas.")

And just to make sure I address the title of this entry, the "politically correct" expressions we now use in the U.S. include "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings." "Happy Holidays" is used equally for a spoken or a written wish. "Seasons Greetings" if more commonly used as a written expression.

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ESL Students During Winter Holidays

You would think that the ESL tutoring world would slow down in December. At least I used to think so. However, since my first year of private ESL tutoring, I have consistently had many inquiries from new students. I have three appointments with potential students already set up for next week.

Of course, it's holiday time and most "working stiffs" usually get a little time off for the winter holidays. The life and schedule of self-employed people is certainly flexible, but there is always the offset of no income.

So, just a note for self-employed ESL tutor working in the U.S., December is actually a good month to develop your ESL student base.

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Teaching ESL During the Holidays

Things sometimes slow down in the ESL tutoring world during the Thanksgiving holiday. Sometimes I wonder if it's because of the teachers and tutors or because of the ESL students. The American Thanksgiving holiday is not something that's celebrated by many of my ESL adult students. For a few, it's a time to take a four-day weekend and head to Vegas.

Although, I do have one student who has a kindergarten-aged child who insists on all the traditional trimmings. Since he's only five or six years old and has only learned about the basics of the trimmings in class, his mom takes certain liberties in preparing the meal. They have a traditional American Thanksgiving with some Chinese flavor.

Another thing I've noticed over the last few years of tutoring ESL students privately is that I've traditionally gotten several new students in the month of December. I assumed when I started out that December would be a really slow month. I expected January to be a bigger month, but it's never worked that way. Strangely, December is the busy month.

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