I welcomed a new ESL student today!

[CTyankee]

His name is Jean and he is from Haiti. We worked for 1 1/2 hours today. He is still a beginner but so eager to learn and such a gracious man! He had carefully copied down some 100 English words he wanted to learn. I loaned him my ESL Picture Dictionary which we will work from each Saturday.

At the end of the session he said "I thank you with all my heart." I shook his hand and said, "Je vous en prie, Jean."

I cannot tell you how rewarding being a literacy volunteer is! If you are looking for a volunteer slot I highly recommend the Literacy Volunteer program!

[FarPoint]

1. Excuse me....

What does ESL stand for actually?

[billh58]

2. I believe that it is

English as a Second Language.

[CTyankee]

3. It is also called ESOL which is English for Speakers of Other Languages.

I used the two terms interchangeably.

[billh58]

4. Thanks for the info,

and for all that you do...

[CTyankee]

6. Oh, I just love it!

My students over the years have been a delight to me. So I thank them.

My Mexican engineer, Erik, just went back to Mexico. He was wonderful. He worked very hard at his English. He wanted to go back to Mexico to work for an engineering firm and bring in U.S. clients to his company.

ESL classes are like "little UNs." We get students from all over the world. They are polite, gracious and well mannered. Interestingly, the only student I really disliked was a white Cuban who demanded that I teach him "black English" because he "couldn't understand them." I said that we teach standard American English. He never came back and that was good!

[FarPoint]

5. Thank you.

It makes sense now. Uplifting story. We need more of them.

[CTyankee]

8. You may have a branch of LV in your community. Try it!

It is so much fun. I do whole classes on ethnic foods of each participant's country. Also, holidays. And I like doing a class on American government.

I had a Chinese student who wanted to know if it was against the law here to shoot squirrels. I never figured out what she was getting at....but it's fun to get a different perspective of one's own culture...

[First Speaker]

7. My Mom did that back in the 80s...with some Vietnamese boat people...

...it was an incredibly rewarding experience for her. God knows, I have time on my hands these days...you've given me something to think about. Thanks for that... (We lived in Branford, by the way... ...)

[CTyankee]

9. right over the bridge from New Haven...nice town.

I think working with the refugee community here has been the most rewarding I can think of, in some ways. Some of our people come from some of the most godawful places on the planet. Their resilience and courage are incredible. Some come from tribal groups that have no alphabet. now THAT is a challenge...

[Squinch]

10. What a great gift to give someone.

[CTyankee]

11. you are a sweetie...

but it sure is a lot of fun, too. I know that some volunteer work can be a drag, but this never is.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Isn't it fun to work with visitors like that. I volunteered one Thanksgiving in San Jose, CA...

...where I had agreed to go to help a young man with his English.

The organizers of the hostel where he was living wanted someone who could speak Spanish well so I went over there.

It turned out that the young man was from Brazil.

We got along well and used a computer to find the common ground and had a good old time despite the language barrier.