On Tuesday, March 3rd, I went to English as a Second Language course through the Washington Township school district. In class today, we started a new unit on careers. We began the class with a worksheet that helped students with their reading and writing development. Next, we worked on pronunciation of key words in the unit. Today was also a day that students who had reached a certain hour threshold needed to complete a reading and listening test.
The speaking component of the lesson was the most difficult for the students. In Leila Fadel’s speech, she addressed the difficulty of people from diverse community groups blending their two groups in traditions, practices, behaviors, and attitudes. The Cairo House also addresses this difficulty of blending the different community groups. The speaking and conversation piece of the ESL class demonstrated this difficulty firsthand. Students have a hard time understanding how to break their native language pronunciations. Certain words have different associations in the English language versus the many other languages that the students in the class speak. Learning a second language (for some students English is their third or fourth language) is a difficult task. Understanding how to blend the two languages and learning the unique elements of the English language demonstrates these diverse individuals trying to blend the two community groups they share an identity.
The students are very dedicated to learning English. I understand this is a very difficult task for anyone, especially someone who has spoken one language for their entire life and has come to a new country recently. Witnessing the students trying to blend their tradition and culture with the traditions and practices of traditionally American life is very inspiring. I love serving the community through volunteering with this ESL class because it shows me the importance of cultural diversity and the challenges that many individuals face when trying to adopt a new culture as part of their lives, which helps me develop a deeper appreciation for the student aiming to blend their traditions with new ones.