New approach to getting Yosuke to write: I'll do the assignment myself to show him what the writing should look like, and he can use my example as a model to follow. (Up until now, I've only been doing outlines for him and have helped him brainstorm ideas. I guess he needs even more help, even though these assignments are so easy.)
I'm at my wit's end trying to get him to follow the directions - he just refuses to write the correct thing, causing him to rewrite these very simple assignments over and over - so I'm hoping this solution works.
It took me about ten minutes to write something he's spent hours on and still hasn't produced anything anywhere near acceptable. I know he's ESL, but I could have written the same thing in Japanese in thirty minutes. And that includes the time I spent revising.
So, has Japan produced a country of literate citizens who are unable to write?
Sorry for the harsh tone. I had a horrible day, and I haven't recovered yet.
Showing posts with label frustration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frustration. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Natsu
It's been a busy month! I've been too tired to do much blogging. Yosuke's summer classes have been placing more and more demands on my time, and now I'm tutoring him about 22-24 hours per week! Miki's tutoring sessions have been unofficially put on hold because her older sister, Natsu, is struggling with her English I online summer course. I've been working with Natsu 5-6 hours per week.
I enjoy teaching Yosuke, and the time flies by. But Natsu is so utterly different. She's prone to painfully long bouts of silence in which she is unable to speak a word. I don't know if this is due to painful shyness, fear of making mistakes, or adolescent sullenness (or perhaps some lethal combination of these factors).
My first impression was of sullenness, as she would just stare at the paper with what seems like an insolent look (although it's difficult to see through the long hair draped in front of her face). Later, I began to expect that a fear of mistakes was keeping her mute. The only sentences she speaks or writes are surprisingly well constructed. She clearly has a high level of standards.
In that sense, she reminds me of myself when I was learning Japanese. Until I studied abroad and was forced outside of my comfort level, I would only reply to questions in Japanese after carefully formulating a response in my head. As a result, I rarely spoke up in class, and the students more willing to take chances progressed faster.
I haven't decided what Natsu's problem is, and she has resisted my questions when I've asked her about it (just as she resists all other questions - I have to ask about five questions or more before I am able to get a response).
While I find myself dreading our sessions, I always manage to be positive and hopeful. After all, my initial sessions with Miki weren't enjoyable, but once she opened up and I got to know her, they became fun.
I enjoy teaching Yosuke, and the time flies by. But Natsu is so utterly different. She's prone to painfully long bouts of silence in which she is unable to speak a word. I don't know if this is due to painful shyness, fear of making mistakes, or adolescent sullenness (or perhaps some lethal combination of these factors).
My first impression was of sullenness, as she would just stare at the paper with what seems like an insolent look (although it's difficult to see through the long hair draped in front of her face). Later, I began to expect that a fear of mistakes was keeping her mute. The only sentences she speaks or writes are surprisingly well constructed. She clearly has a high level of standards.
In that sense, she reminds me of myself when I was learning Japanese. Until I studied abroad and was forced outside of my comfort level, I would only reply to questions in Japanese after carefully formulating a response in my head. As a result, I rarely spoke up in class, and the students more willing to take chances progressed faster.
I haven't decided what Natsu's problem is, and she has resisted my questions when I've asked her about it (just as she resists all other questions - I have to ask about five questions or more before I am able to get a response).
While I find myself dreading our sessions, I always manage to be positive and hopeful. After all, my initial sessions with Miki weren't enjoyable, but once she opened up and I got to know her, they became fun.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Cultural Barriers to Understanding
I had the most infuriating tutoring session last night. Yosuke had to read a speech by JFK for his English II class, and I wanted to make sure he understood this important quote from it: "The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." He didn't understand what it meant, and it became clear that he had no concept of 'rights.'
So I gave examples - voting, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc - and went into detail about freedom of speech. After a while, he interrupted me saying that he didn't believe that rights exist. Puzzled, I asked him to explain, and he said it was because "everyone makes mistakes." I had to emphasize, again, that 'right' doesn't just mean 'correct' and resumed my explanation.
He told me he disagreed with the freedom of speech because people might yell or say inappropriate things. I told him it was okay to disagree; I just wanted him to understand what rights are. And yet he continued to argue that they don't exist. I still don't think he understands what a right is. It took an hour and a half to read about three paragraphs of the speech.
It's probably not his fault. That a sixteen-year-old can have no concept of human rights can only be a result of the group-minded Japanese society. Individual rights are not important in Japan, and Yosuke's stubborn indifference to them illustrates this. Japan and the US seem so alike to me sometimes that I tend to forget how huge some differences really are. (Did you know that in Japan, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent? And proving innocence is prohibitively difficult as the court system is nothing but a farce.)
I find myself in a difficult position - I need to help Yosuke understand this speech, but the ideas in it are completely alien to him.
So I gave examples - voting, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc - and went into detail about freedom of speech. After a while, he interrupted me saying that he didn't believe that rights exist. Puzzled, I asked him to explain, and he said it was because "everyone makes mistakes." I had to emphasize, again, that 'right' doesn't just mean 'correct' and resumed my explanation.
He told me he disagreed with the freedom of speech because people might yell or say inappropriate things. I told him it was okay to disagree; I just wanted him to understand what rights are. And yet he continued to argue that they don't exist. I still don't think he understands what a right is. It took an hour and a half to read about three paragraphs of the speech.
It's probably not his fault. That a sixteen-year-old can have no concept of human rights can only be a result of the group-minded Japanese society. Individual rights are not important in Japan, and Yosuke's stubborn indifference to them illustrates this. Japan and the US seem so alike to me sometimes that I tend to forget how huge some differences really are. (Did you know that in Japan, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent? And proving innocence is prohibitively difficult as the court system is nothing but a farce.)
I find myself in a difficult position - I need to help Yosuke understand this speech, but the ideas in it are completely alien to him.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Chaotic Math
Miki's worse subject is probably math. I feel like because math comes so naturally to me, I probably shouldn't be teaching it. I mean, what could I possibly teach them? I've never struggled with things like fractions, so I'm a bit at a loss when Miki demonstrates a repeated and baffling inability to understand basic concepts like these. (She is about 13 years old or so, by the way, so she should have these basics covered.)
Her problem seems to stem from a lack of organization. She can't organize her work and as a result, her math is just chaotic. She either tries to do it all in her head or she scribbles down messy and illogical things on paper.
I will teach her how to set up a problem and solve it, step by step, and ask her to copy this method when she solves a problem on her own. She doesn't seem to have trouble understanding the method I teach her, but then when she is solving on her own again, she reverts back to her chaotic system.
Don't get me wrong - I would totally support someone making their own system of solving if it worked for them. But it doesn't work for Miki. She mixes up multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction so often that it becomes clear she's not really thinking about the problem; she's just trying to race through it. For example, if presented with the problem 3X=9, she would most likely subtract 3 from each side, coming up with the answer X=6, even though if she followed my method she would see that the last step is to divide by the number in front of X.
What can I do for someone who simply refuses to follow the given method and make up their own (incorrect) one? I try to be strict with her, telling her to use my method every time and write down her work, but she just keeps lapsing.
This summer, I am planning to go over math basics extensively and try to reteach her everything in a much cleaner, more organized way. I'm really, really hoping she will absorb some of it.
Her problem seems to stem from a lack of organization. She can't organize her work and as a result, her math is just chaotic. She either tries to do it all in her head or she scribbles down messy and illogical things on paper.
I will teach her how to set up a problem and solve it, step by step, and ask her to copy this method when she solves a problem on her own. She doesn't seem to have trouble understanding the method I teach her, but then when she is solving on her own again, she reverts back to her chaotic system.
Don't get me wrong - I would totally support someone making their own system of solving if it worked for them. But it doesn't work for Miki. She mixes up multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction so often that it becomes clear she's not really thinking about the problem; she's just trying to race through it. For example, if presented with the problem 3X=9, she would most likely subtract 3 from each side, coming up with the answer X=6, even though if she followed my method she would see that the last step is to divide by the number in front of X.
What can I do for someone who simply refuses to follow the given method and make up their own (incorrect) one? I try to be strict with her, telling her to use my method every time and write down her work, but she just keeps lapsing.
This summer, I am planning to go over math basics extensively and try to reteach her everything in a much cleaner, more organized way. I'm really, really hoping she will absorb some of it.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
SUMMER BREAK!!
The reason I haven't updated is not that I've been busy. My schedule's been different now that I'm on summer break, and I haven't set aside a time for updating my blog. I keep forgetting! Whoops.
Yosuke has an English EOC soon, and I'm worried about his chances of passing it. We've been preparing with an 8th grade reading EOG prep book, and he hasn't been doing well. As I've mentioned before, he has no analytic ability. It makes me want to cry!
He's having to write a paper for a history project. His topic is his grandfather's experience in World War II. He is unable to write a thesis, or even understand what one is. I've explained it many times, and one angle I tried one time was to tell him to "find meaning" in what he'd written. His reply was that his paper had no meaning - it was only about his grandfather and WWII. Argh!
Yosuke has an English EOC soon, and I'm worried about his chances of passing it. We've been preparing with an 8th grade reading EOG prep book, and he hasn't been doing well. As I've mentioned before, he has no analytic ability. It makes me want to cry!
He's having to write a paper for a history project. His topic is his grandfather's experience in World War II. He is unable to write a thesis, or even understand what one is. I've explained it many times, and one angle I tried one time was to tell him to "find meaning" in what he'd written. His reply was that his paper had no meaning - it was only about his grandfather and WWII. Argh!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I've Let Yosuke Down
As I mentioned earlier, when I left Yosuke Tuesday night, he still had a limerick and a sonnet to write. I taught him the rules and wished him luck. As I was driving off, it occurred to me that since we had worked so hard on the other poems, it might be okay to "fake" the sonnet. Would the teacher really count the syllables of each line? Of course not! She might not even read them at all! I felt guilty for not thinking of it earlier.
I felt even worse yesterday when I asked him how hard it had been. He said he stayed up until 2:30am! His ESL teacher is also to blame for giving such a ridiculous assignment, but I can't stop feeling guilty for not realizing sooner that he didn't have to try so hard. Hopefully next time we're in a situation like this, I won't let him down.
I felt even worse yesterday when I asked him how hard it had been. He said he stayed up until 2:30am! His ESL teacher is also to blame for giving such a ridiculous assignment, but I can't stop feeling guilty for not realizing sooner that he didn't have to try so hard. Hopefully next time we're in a situation like this, I won't let him down.
Friday, March 14, 2008
More Science Teacher Frustration
It's a neat coincidence that the last post is so topical - once again I find myself trying to communicate with Miki's science teacher.
Miki is working on a science project this week. Unfortunately, my ability to help her has been severely limited. All she had for me was a print-out showing the structure of the report: hypothesis, method, materials, background info, results, conclusion. She did not have any information on how to actually do the report, and, more importantly, no data. The teacher must have gone over all that during class, which excludes ESL students like Miki.
Maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh on this teacher, but it seems so ridiculous. He knows Miki can't speak any English. He should try to help her more, and if he doesn't have time, why not assign a student to help her? I'm almost positive that most of the science project was completed in class. Why not ask one of the students who finished early to help Miki? She won't understand them, but they could at least make sure she gets a copy of the data.
I ended up writing a note to him and asking Miki to turn it in along with her laughably incomplete project explaining her situation. I asked him to give Miki more time to complete the assignment and to write down the instructions and data for her, or to meet me sometime if that was inconvenient for him.
I really can't think of anything else I could do. This situation is so frustrating!
Miki is working on a science project this week. Unfortunately, my ability to help her has been severely limited. All she had for me was a print-out showing the structure of the report: hypothesis, method, materials, background info, results, conclusion. She did not have any information on how to actually do the report, and, more importantly, no data. The teacher must have gone over all that during class, which excludes ESL students like Miki.
Maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh on this teacher, but it seems so ridiculous. He knows Miki can't speak any English. He should try to help her more, and if he doesn't have time, why not assign a student to help her? I'm almost positive that most of the science project was completed in class. Why not ask one of the students who finished early to help Miki? She won't understand them, but they could at least make sure she gets a copy of the data.
I ended up writing a note to him and asking Miki to turn it in along with her laughably incomplete project explaining her situation. I asked him to give Miki more time to complete the assignment and to write down the instructions and data for her, or to meet me sometime if that was inconvenient for him.
I really can't think of anything else I could do. This situation is so frustrating!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Overall Good Day
Today was overall pleasant. I worked with Yosuke for one hour and then with his mother for the second hour. I don't usually tutor Mrs. Kikugawa, but when I went to her house today she asked if I would spend an hour with her because she was behind in her ESL class.
Yosuke was alright today, but I had this one really frustrating moment.
We were working on a geometry word problem and I couldn't get him to just concentrate on reading the problem to set it up properly. The problem involved a rectangle, and one of the dimensions was 9cm and the other you had to find by setting up a proportion with a similar rectangle that was 2cmx3cm.
Now, if you were careless, you might glance at the problem and say the 9cm is the long side of the rectangle, so the other side is 6cm. That's what Yosuke did, which I was expecting, so I asked him why he made the long side of the rectangle 9cm. He immediately changed his work so that the short side was 9cm. No, that wasn't good enough - I wanted him to read the problem and find for himself where it tells you which side is which. It was stated fairly clearly (the exact phrase was "9cm on the shorter side" and I know he can understand that). So I asked him this time why he made the shorter side 9cm. He pointed out that the problem asks at the bottom for the student to "find the length of the longer side." That's an okay response, but it's not good enough. It could just as easily as said "find the unknown side," so he needed to be able to figure it out without relying on that guess. He just kept repeating that answer, even though I told him to read the problem slowly and carefully. He just refused to read it! The word problem was only about 3 sentences long.
Finally, after pressing him for a suitable answer, he found the part where it said "on the shorter side" and I accepted it and we moved on. Please, Yosuke, next time when I ask you to read something carefully, just do it and get it over with!
Whew, sorry about the rant. I should add here that even though it was frustrating for me, I don't convey my frustration to the kid I'm working with. I'm actually very patient. But that doesn't stop me from ranting when it's all over!
Otherwise our session was not frustrating, and working with Mrs. Kikugawa was actually pretty fun.
Yosuke was alright today, but I had this one really frustrating moment.
We were working on a geometry word problem and I couldn't get him to just concentrate on reading the problem to set it up properly. The problem involved a rectangle, and one of the dimensions was 9cm and the other you had to find by setting up a proportion with a similar rectangle that was 2cmx3cm.
Now, if you were careless, you might glance at the problem and say the 9cm is the long side of the rectangle, so the other side is 6cm. That's what Yosuke did, which I was expecting, so I asked him why he made the long side of the rectangle 9cm. He immediately changed his work so that the short side was 9cm. No, that wasn't good enough - I wanted him to read the problem and find for himself where it tells you which side is which. It was stated fairly clearly (the exact phrase was "9cm on the shorter side" and I know he can understand that). So I asked him this time why he made the shorter side 9cm. He pointed out that the problem asks at the bottom for the student to "find the length of the longer side." That's an okay response, but it's not good enough. It could just as easily as said "find the unknown side," so he needed to be able to figure it out without relying on that guess. He just kept repeating that answer, even though I told him to read the problem slowly and carefully. He just refused to read it! The word problem was only about 3 sentences long.
Finally, after pressing him for a suitable answer, he found the part where it said "on the shorter side" and I accepted it and we moved on. Please, Yosuke, next time when I ask you to read something carefully, just do it and get it over with!
Whew, sorry about the rant. I should add here that even though it was frustrating for me, I don't convey my frustration to the kid I'm working with. I'm actually very patient. But that doesn't stop me from ranting when it's all over!
Otherwise our session was not frustrating, and working with Mrs. Kikugawa was actually pretty fun.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Japanese Education System
I believe I've mentioned that Yosuke is good at math, but the sad truth is that he's not good at much else. His mathematics abilities astound me, and of course that's partly because he's naturally good at math, but it's also a result of the Japanese education system. In Japan, schools place a lot of focus on math and memorization, whereas here in the US, there's more focus on analysis.
As a result, my students have zero analytical abilities. For example, when Miki had to write a response to a poem, no matter how we approached it, she was unable to say anything but "It's weird." "Okay, but why do you think it's weird?" or "What's weird about it?" ... "It's just weird." (sigh) I can forgive Miki, though, because she's just in 7th grade.
Yosuke, however, is expected to have a bit of analytical ability in his 9th grade English class. Last night, we were discussing a character from a play who is described as "exploring her African-American identity." I explained that this meant she was asking "Who am I?" Yosuke asked if she had amnesia.
Another example is when I was attempting to explain a passage in the play where the aforementioned character had a discussion with her boyfriend about the purpose of school and books. Her boyfriend told her there was only one reason to read books - to pass a test, to get a grade, to complete the course, to get a degree. That's all. She called him a fool. Even after we discussed this conversation three times, for a combined total of two hours, Yosuke can still not understand the reason that the character thinks her boyfriend is stupid. He cannot understand that there is a reason to learn outside of getting a degree.
Yosuke also can only see things as one extreme or the other. Characters are either happy or sad, stupid or smart, rich or wealthy, lazy or hard-working. This is partly because of his lack of English abilities (it's easy to say somebody is rich or poor, but saying they're "middle class" is a bit advanced), but his inability to see complexity is also to blame.
As a result, my students have zero analytical abilities. For example, when Miki had to write a response to a poem, no matter how we approached it, she was unable to say anything but "It's weird." "Okay, but why do you think it's weird?" or "What's weird about it?" ... "It's just weird." (sigh) I can forgive Miki, though, because she's just in 7th grade.
Yosuke, however, is expected to have a bit of analytical ability in his 9th grade English class. Last night, we were discussing a character from a play who is described as "exploring her African-American identity." I explained that this meant she was asking "Who am I?" Yosuke asked if she had amnesia.
Another example is when I was attempting to explain a passage in the play where the aforementioned character had a discussion with her boyfriend about the purpose of school and books. Her boyfriend told her there was only one reason to read books - to pass a test, to get a grade, to complete the course, to get a degree. That's all. She called him a fool. Even after we discussed this conversation three times, for a combined total of two hours, Yosuke can still not understand the reason that the character thinks her boyfriend is stupid. He cannot understand that there is a reason to learn outside of getting a degree.
Yosuke also can only see things as one extreme or the other. Characters are either happy or sad, stupid or smart, rich or wealthy, lazy or hard-working. This is partly because of his lack of English abilities (it's easy to say somebody is rich or poor, but saying they're "middle class" is a bit advanced), but his inability to see complexity is also to blame.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Unreasonable Burdens
Today I tutored Yosuke and Yuki. It's nice to be working again. The middle and high schools in this area start again on Monday. I'm so excited! It'll be nice to be busy with homework and projects once again.
You know, I never cease to be amazed by my students. When I start to get frustrated, I just remind myself of the burden being placed on these kids. Their families moved them to a foreign country where they're immersed in a foreign culture and can't speak the language, and yet they're expected to go to school and pass their classes just like the native speakers. Can you imagine how daunting it must be? So that's why I have to have patience. These kids are overwhelmed, and it's my job to help them as much as I can.
You know, I never cease to be amazed by my students. When I start to get frustrated, I just remind myself of the burden being placed on these kids. Their families moved them to a foreign country where they're immersed in a foreign culture and can't speak the language, and yet they're expected to go to school and pass their classes just like the native speakers. Can you imagine how daunting it must be? So that's why I have to have patience. These kids are overwhelmed, and it's my job to help them as much as I can.
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