Although I am on spring break this week, I have been waking up at 4:30 AM (brutal) every day and spending six hours observing ESL classes at Wheaton Warrenville South High School. My mom works there and talked to the ESL coordinator (Par) about me coming to do observations. I need 100 hours of observation for my ESL practicum this semester. Also brutal.
I wasn't thrilled at the idea of spending almost my entire spring break doing observations. However, this experience was AMAZING. Paraskevi (Par for short) teaches ESL 1-2 and ESL 4, both of which I observed all four days which I was there. The students in ESL 1-2 were reading the short story "The Gift of the Magi." On day three, she let me work with a small group to read the story. On my fourth day, she had me teach the class for the entire class period. AH! We reviewed what we had read the day before, finished reading the story, took a reading comprehension quiz, and went over the quiz answers.
Par kept giving me the nicest feedback such as "We are so glad to have you here!" and "You did so awesome! You're awesome!" Par is such an amazing, passionate, and skilled ESL teachers. To be honest, before my experience helping out in her classroom, I was somewhat indifferent about the idea of being an ESL teacher. I viewed it mostly as just something that I could add to my resume. But after seeing Par teach and getting to teach myself, I obtained a new found love for ESL teaching. It was definitely an eye opening experience.
I can't believe that I have seven weeks left here at ISU. I don't want to say too much YET, because nothing is set in stone, but I have a possible student teaching placement that I'm really excited about. Time is moving too quickly. I'm scared to be out of college and in the real world, but I'm ready too.
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