New Book

Last week I mentioned a book I had Yuki read a bit. There were only ten minutes left in our session because she had some homework that took up most of our time. I shouldn't have had her start a book in ten minutes - it didn't give her enough feel for it and as a result it wasn't much fun. I also may have underestimated the English level of the book.

This week I tried a new book. It's a book with gorgeous pictures called Sugar Cane, based on the story of Rapunzel. Yuki had some math homework, but she had a good grasp of the topic and finished it quickly, leaving us with about 45 minutes to read. She got through half of the book. It was very enjoyable because we managed to get past the introduction and exposition to the heart of the story. She seemed to like the book, too. I hope next week we'll have time to finish it.

Things Are Looking Up

After Monday's frustrations, I had some better sessions. Miki showed remarkable progress. She won't speak English to me, but she has demonstrated that she can understand some of the commands I give in English. If I say something like "What's the answer to #3?" and she gives me the answer, even in Japanese, I think it's okay to consider that progress. It's much better than getting a blank stare.

Miki also demonstrated some ability with proportions. Previously, all types of math problems had been difficult for her. This week, she had a worksheet filled with proportion problems, front and back... all word problems. As soon as I saw this, my heart sunk and I knew it would be a long session. But Miki really surprised me!

All the problems were basically the same. Two sentences - the first one allows you to set up a proportion, and the second one asks you for an unknown. For example, "Every year, 10 people die from dog bites. How many people have died of dog bites during your lifetime?" So you use the first sentence to make a proportion... 10 deaths/1 year. Then you get the unknown from the second sentence and solve.

Once I taught Miki the basic set-up, she was remarkably good at picking out the important parts and making the equations, despite not understanding the meaning of the sentences. She couldn't always solve them correctly - she often didn't know whether to multiply or divide - but she was much better than usual. It was quite refreshing.

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.

Shopping

Today was an interesting day. Miki's mother asked me to come 30 minutes earlier than usual but did not say why. When I got there, she told me that Miki needed a calculator for school, and she wanted the two of us to go pick one together. I directed her to Staples and recommended the TI-83 plus, because it's what all the cool kids are using. (Well, it's the standard for high school students, so all the kids are using it. That includes cool kids.) It was a nice break from the usual routine, and I got to talk to Miki's mother a while, which was fun.

Yosuke and Yuki's mother was working on a presentation for her ESL class. Each person had to make a presentation about something from their culture, and she was talking about Japanese charms. She asked me to look over her presentation and make corrections, and we talked about charms and I asked her some questions. It was quite enjoyable.

The Perfect Book? Or Not?

I thought I had found the perfect book for Yuki's level: here.The English is simple, the chapters are short, there are lots of pictures, and, most importantly, it's interesting. It's a children's book, but I enjoyed it, so I figured a 7th-grader would as well.

I had her read chapter one today, but I don't think she liked it. I may have overestimated the level. It seems easy to me, but I think Yuki had problems understanding it. Whoops. Part of the problem was that we only had ten minutes left after we finished her homework, so I didn't have time to stop and explain things and ask her questions. I'm going to give the book one more try next week, and if it still doesn't work, I'll try another one.

Posting Frequency Update

I think I've discovered the perfect posting schedule. I will update every week on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On these days, I will post about what my students are doing and anything interesting that happened.

However, rather than just limiting myself to three posts a week, I will also occasionally make extra posts about ESL learning in general and ideas I have.

The reason I am keeping this blog is, mainly, to track my progress and organize my thoughts. I'd like to use it as a sort of living bookmark, in which I write about ESL-related books or articles that I've read so I can look back on it later, rather than just reading and forgetting. However, I also want to track my students' progress and let others read about my tutoring experiences. I think my new posting schedule will cover all of these points nicely.

So, in short: I will update at least three times a week, on M-W-R. But there may be extra posts.

Thanks for reading! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu~

Happy MLK Jr Day!

I had a great time tutoring tonight. As I mentioned before, Yosuke is currently reading A Raisin in the Sun for his English class. I imagine most people also read this in high school. In case you don't remember, it's a play about a poor, black family in the late 1950s who attempt to improve their lives by purchasing a house. The house is in a white neighborhood. I had completely forgotten about it, and I was happy to have an excuse to take some time out and read it. I remembered not especially liking the play when I read it in 9th grade, but I loved it this time. The play ends right before the family moves into the new house, and I think that may have frustrated me. It's like you're missing all the action and the conflict that comes when they are the only black family in a white neighborhood right at the brink of the Civil Rights Movement. But now I think I can fully appreciate what the story means.

Yosuke was doing a great job understanding the parts we read, or at least my explanations, and he was asking good questions (which always makes me very happy!). I didn't even mind getting sidetracked for about 20 minutes so I could go over the history of African Americans, from slavery to the present, so that he could put the play into context. I think he got a lot out of it, and I was pleased how relevant it was to the holiday.