Back to Work!

After a refreshing holiday in the great state of Ohio, I'm coming back to American YouthWorks with new energy and enthusiasm. My first task in the new year is to prepare our first ever large group volunteer orientation, to communicate our teaching style and philosophy to our new crop of volunteers.
One exercise I'm working on is meant to get the volunteers thinking about where students are coming from, and what their goals for learning might be. Each volunteer will receive a piece of paper with a short, first-person bio, with details like: what they do for a living, how often do they speak English outside of class, how recently they moved here, whether or not they have children, and what their reasons were for seeking out English classes. I made fictional bios based on details drawn from my students lives. Every person will read their bio aloud, and then we'll talk about how these people's goals are similar and how they are different, and how we can help them meet those goals through studying with us.
The exercise of writing as my students was a great way to get back in to the teaching saddle. It provides a focused meditation on what incredible things you can give someone as a teacher, and how students reward you with hard work and trust. My students rarely have specific goals in mind, but see learning English as a path they can take to a better life. I think that's something we all can relate to; we've all taken a chance on something because we wanted a change, even though we didn't know where it would take us. When we work on framing our goals in class and I ask them, "what do you think will change about your life as your English improves?" their answer is always initially "Everything."
I'm inspired by the hard work and commitment my students put in, and by the responsibility I have to them. Hopefully, along with lots of awesome English vocab and grammar, I can help them learn to feel comfortable putting themselves out there and learning from their mistakes. Even though each student has different goals, I think that's something everyone can benefit from. And hopefully my volunteers will find their work as rewarding as I do!

Here are some of AYW's rock star students at our pre-break Christmas party!

-Amelia