January 7, 2006
55 students have registered and attended at least once.
We had students from 9 countries,(Korea Haiti, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico. and China) speaking 5 languages. (Chinese, Spanish, Portugese, Haitian creole. and Hangul)
On Monday, 34 attended.
On Thursday, 34 attended.
On Saturday, 21 attended.
33 are male, 22 are female.
Roughly ten are under twenty-one.
All of our volunteers have kept their commitments and a few have surpassed their commitments by coming to every class. It's wonderful to see how volunteers have plunged into service and are helping each other in every way. Instruction is happening in the lobby and the hall as well as in the classrooms. Set up and clean up has not been a burden for anyone. Our English, Korean and Hispanic clergy have assisted greatly.
God's response to our prayers has brought us this far. Let's not forget where our leading and power lies. What a privilege to be a part of this mission!
For those able, volunteers and interested parties, let's meet for prayer in the classrooms at 5:30 - 6:30 on Thursday, January 19. Let's continue to be prayer-driven. We can have one room reserved for prayer and another reserved for brown bag supper, material review, discussion, questions, etc.
Monday January 9, 2006
52 students not counting a little girl and a baby.
69 are now registered.
I'd fire the publicity committee but we don't have one.
Thursday January 12, 2006
Attendance 46 (7 new registrations)
total registrations 76
beginner class 35
2 children
advanced class 9
7 volunteers (three new most welcome cheerful faces)
Teachers, plan on us singing our songs as a whole group at about 8:25. Some of us old folks don't have the stamina to go longer.
Sat. January 14, 2006
This morning we had eleven people and we had a lot of fun. We studied months, ordinal numbers and days of the week. We sang "days of the week" to the tune of the Addams family TV theme and now it will not leave my head. Maybe if I pass it on to YOUR head......
I thank God for Joyce who manned the front table. Mrs. Kim was very helpful as well.
Sunday January 15, 2006
Sunday school has doubled. We had two.
Monday, January 16, 2006
attendance 32
8 new registrations
85 registered to date
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Cathy sez: Partly because I was busy teaching, I didn't take attendance. There was more than thirty and less than forty and two more registrations. With six volunteers and Pastor Wilfredo and Sandra pitching in, it was a lively evening. Skill for the beginner class were ordinal numbers, calendar, days of the week, "was", "is" "will be",yesterday, today, and tomorrow,. Three of our less experienced volunteers actually worked alone with groups of six or more for about half an hour.
Lorraine sez: I have had the pleasure of working with about nine motivated students. Last week, 1/19/06, we introduced several prefixes (uni-,bi-, tri-, mono-, trans-, un-) reviewed body parts (singular/plurals) and expressing illness/what hurts. Thank you, Jennifer, for your help!
This week, 1/26/06, we will be working with more prefixes and root words, as well as comparatives/superlatives (big, bigger, biggest). In each class, we also work with a math word problem and a listening exercise.
I arrive tired and leave energized!
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Six were in attendance, but no families or children. Two volunteers. We did some intense work on ordinal numbers, calendar, days of the week, "was", "is" "will be",yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Monday, January 23
Cathy sez: Three new registrations. About 29 in attendance. 6 in the advanced class.I was filling in for Sonja. I continued with "was" "is" and "will be". Discussed weather words, seaasons, and Fahrenheit temperatures as really hot, very hot, warm, nice (room temperature), cool, cold, very cold, and really cold. Betty and I did a dramatic reading as a listening exercise. Students had to identify the month in which the conversation could take place. I got to draw a ground hog on the white board. We have some very hard working students. The song was "I can see clearly now" and everyone had fun singing out on the "Ahhhhh" parts.
Amy sez that they worked on contractions.
Thursday, January 26
Two new registrations. Brought here by a bunch of guys from Booth street who were sharing a car and could not stay. (think: BUS). Sonja taught on weather and it looks like Jim, Pat, Jerry, Judy, Sandra, and Wilfredo were really busy throughout the lesson. Lorraine found a middle schooler that she had taught in elementary school.
Cathy now has given pamphlets to people from other churches to recruit volunteers.
Rather than teach emotions next week, Sonja would rather do family/relationships. Cathy sez OK and sets about making her family tree. Feel free to use it if you like. The bottom part is a drawing done by her grandmother.
Saturday, January 28
Seven in attendance. One new registration. Cathy has been flu-ish and wonders "why bother' with Saturdays, but once the lesson gets going and questions are flying, it seems worthwhile. She was in a pinch for a lesson plan but was able to put something together by Googling -about.com esl weather-. In half an hour, she had more than she could use. The ESL lessons on about.com are made by a Brit, but are easy to revise. ("below freezing" got changed to "below zero")
We now have 92 names registered.
Sunday, January 29
Sally sez:"We were 5: ÊAmny, Theresa, Jose, Dottie, Sally Ê(Theresa is a ÊÊÊÊÊstudent; ÊJose is a facilitator for her. ÊBoth were introduced by Julia.)
ÊÊÊÊÊÊI have let Dottie know that I will Êbe out of town Feb 5 (watching grandchildren). ÊShe should be fine. ÊDottie is doing a bang-up job and with enthusiasm!
ÊÊÊÊÊÊThere is certainly a need for ESL, and it is being filled, praise God!"
Monday, January 30
29 were in attendance. One new student registered. Sonja taught on family relationships. Betty led the introductory prayer.
February 2
34 students attended. 3 new people registered, although the woman from Pakistan left before the beginning prayer even began. 97 students have come through our doors. 80 have attended more than once.
Cathy had to teach again, because we still need a volunteer to teach on Thursdays. Her lesson on family trees may have been too difficult. Even some of the volunteers had trouble. While the volunteers each worked with small groups, Cathy had a nice conversation with an Albanian woman who has lived here for eleven years. Julia dropped in, which was nice because she was on the family tree.
Lorraine's group worked on comparative adjectives (as in good, better, best).
Pat and Judy brought cookies and brownies in honor of January and February birthdays.
February 4
Five attended and we had a very welcome new volunteer helper, Grace Kim! We worked on family relationship vocabulary.
February 5
Four attended.
February 6
Attendance: 19 plus three children. Sonja's class worked on describing people (hair, eye color, etc). For those of you who were not there, you have not lived until you have sung "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" with an ESL class.
So far we have served speakers of 7 languages, from 14 countries and 4 continents.
February 9
Based on how we broke into groups, attendance had to be 28, but people seem to be recycling their nametags and we only counted 15. Lorraine's class continued comparative adjectives from last week, this time focusing on superlatives. Cathy's lesson plan on descriptions of family members can be found by clicking here
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February 13
Sonja could not make it, so Cathy substituted for Sonja. Much of her lesson came from a very good Australian curriculum (with worksheets). This can be found if you click here http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=BESLsec.pdf&btnG=Google+Search
Amy did not teach the advanced class, so they were combined with the beginners today. Amy assisted a new student who was blind.
Attendance seems to be 36, but we counted fewer. We had ten new students, one new country, and one new language (Hindi!).
We had a hillarious time doing the hokey pokey.
February 16
We didn't skip days. Cathy just got behind on reporting. Cathy taught a very small class about clothes using vocabulary from the Oxford Picture Dictionary
February 20
Sonja taught about presidents. We sang "dem bones". Betty took the advanced class.
February 23
Lorraine was teaching on prepositions and included three children in her class. We had low attendance, but that gave the teachers Judy, Jim, Jerry and Pat opportunity to work very closely with one or two students. At the end of class we did more with personal descriptions.
February 25
Joyce helped a Chinese student study for an upcoming citizenship test. Cathy worked with three students on rows, columns, and descriptions.
Catching up to March 25
Oh dear, flu season came, Cathy got a real job and wonders if anybody reads these things.
We have done lessons on anatomy, foods and money. Jennifer flew solo and seemed to enjoy it and volunteered for more. HOORAY!
Attendance seems to have settled to around 20. We have some pretty faithful regulars who are starting to show confidence.
Cathy discovered Power point and the church has a projector, so there are a lot of wires and extension cords around during her lessons. See the lesson files for her early attempts.
Joyce continues to come regularly to greet newcomers at the door.
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