How to teach conversational English in an African country

Final Yearbook How-to Blog:

Have you ever wondered how to converse with someone who barely understands the English language? Many people think going to Africa is one of the biggest adventures of a lifetime, partially because of the differences in culture and language. Something many people do not know in America is that many people in the major cities and university towns understand enough English to communicate, even if they do not know the words needed to convey their message. Many African students read and watch American and European novels and movies, which enhance their vocabulary but sometimes leave them confused over word meanings. Africans may approach Americans with the wrong word to greet them, but they only repeat what they hear and treat foreigners how movies teach them to. Below are a few steps to teaching conversational English to African college students.
1. Be patient.
2. Have a partner with a similar agenda.
3. Have them verbally answer probing questions that require more than a yes/no answer.
4. Let them to ask you questions.
5. Speak at a medium-slow consistent pace.
6. Be prepared to define every word you speak, including the word “the.”
7. Use elementary vocabulary.
8. Do not allow their mother-tongue to be spoken in class.
9. Assign them to create a presentation in English on a topic they know.
10. Let them to discuss in English.
11. Have someone in class repeat what you say in English if you question their comprehension.
12. Let them know you will grade their progress so they try to improve.

vi. Many people think they are incoherent and dumb because they do not understand English. Do not assume that, because they are very knowledgeable about world events.
vii. English is not the only language in the world. Treat them with respect and understand their position. They are trying to learn your language. Imagine if they expected you to be on their level if they were teaching you their native language.
viii. Speaking loudly does not help them understand.
ix. Each student is different so help them according to their individual need. Some know more English than others so challenge them according to their level.
x. Translate common phrases they use and teach them in English.
xi. Write instructions and other things you want your students to remember on the board so they can read the words you speak and attempt to sound them out.
xii. This does not take money to do.
xiii. Be creative in the different methods you use and have fun.
ixx. It may get frustrating; remember why you are teaching them and be patient and understanding.
xx. Show a video in English with subtitles.
xxi. Explain things in the simplest way possible, but think of another way to get your message across if they do not understand.

xxii. Be willing to learn from your students: be humble.
xxiii. http://www.englishclub.com/ gives ESL teachers free resources

Serving the Homeless

This past Thursday I went out with the Homeless group to the park on Mission Inn Blvd. to hand out to-go meals. I wanted to go all semester but never had the time available. I love working with homeless, but do not have many opportunities available because of my busy schedule. My group started talking to a man, but he was very stand-offish. He answered our questions, but stood with his arms crossed and looked away. The second I said I was from Bakersfield his eyes lit up and we started talking. We started talking about Bakersfield and the places in town we both were familiar with. He then said he had family in Palmdale and I did too. He opened up and told us about his daughter and how he missed seeing her that day. He came down to Riverside to be closer to his daughter, but is still looking for a place to work.
He was having a bad day because he missed his daughter. The smile on his face at the end of our visit made the whole evening worth going. Even though he wasn’t having a good day, I could tell that us talking cheered him up. I am so grateful that God brought us there to bring a smile to that man’s face.

Missing My Home in Africa

Today was one year exactly since I left Kenya; I have been thinking it all day. I miss my friends so much. I always think about the market I went to often and the people I met. I always wonder how they are doing now. I pray for them but wish I could see them one more time and formally say goodbye. I never said good bye to Jon, the guy I saw every week. I hope he is doing well and continues reading his Bible and applying what we went over.
I fell in love with the Gandy family but I have no pictures with them. Jim and Linda brought me into their family as one of their own. I cried so hard when I had to leave them. I could not imagine leaving them behind. I just wanted to sit there and hug Linda all day. Jim taught me so much without him realizing it. My camera wasn't working the last time I saw them so I have no pictures of the three of us, or with their family.
God truely blessed me over and abundantly. I always wonder if the people I worked with remember me and if my influence is there.
I spent my last full day in Kenya with my African mom, Linda. I spent the night with Becky, my African sister. Linda talked me through re-entry into the USA and let me cry on her shoulder. She told me funny stories about her family and the people she stayed in contact with who volunteered with her in Nairobi. She took me to my favorite resturant in Nairobi, the Java House; we shared desserts: rich chocolate cake and cheesecake. We picked the girls up from school and watched their basketball team play. One of our friends was on the team so we watched him play; my African brother coached the team. We already said our goodbyes and were plesantly surprised to see one another again. My roomate/sister, Jeff (brother) and I exchanged gifts over our Christmas tree that night. It was great. Becky was snappy like usual but the cat was unusually kind.
I lived with Becky on the weekends. It was so hard to walk out of her house for the last time. It was so hard to hand over the keys of my cottage, clean out my desk, and hug my deep friends and family goodbye.

A Strange Creative Story written with my own Vocabulary Words

YEARBOOK ASSIGNMENT
1. putty • noun a malleable paste that hardens as it sets, used for sealing glass in window frames, filling holes in wood, etc. — PHRASES be (like) putty in someone’s hands be easily manipulated by someone. — ORIGIN French potée, ‘potful’.

2. excavate • verb 1 make (a hole or channel) by digging. 2 extract (material) from the ground by digging. 3 carefully remove earth from (an area) in order to find buried remains. — DERIVATIVES excavation noun excavator noun. — ORIGIN Latin excavare ‘hollow out’.

3. dainty • adjective (daintier, daintiest) 1 delicately small and pretty. 2 fastidious and fussy when eating. • noun (pl. dainties) a small appetizing item of food. — DERIVATIVES daintily adverb daintiness noun. — ORIGIN from Old French daintie ‘choice morsel, pleasure’, from Latin dignitas ‘worthiness, beauty’.

4. air • noun 1 the invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth, a mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen. 2 the open space above the surface of the earth. 3 before another noun indicating the use of aircraft: air travel. 4 the earth’s atmosphere as a medium for transmitting radio waves. 5 one of the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology. 6 Music a tune or short melodious composition. 7 (an air of) an impression of. 8 (airs) an affected and condescending manner.
• verb 1 express (an opinion or grievance) publicly. 2 broadcast (a programme) on radio or television. 3 expose to fresh or warm air.
— PHRASES airs and graces an affectation of superiority. in the air noticeable all around. on (or off) the air being (or not being) broadcast on radio or television. take the air go out of doors. up in the air unresolved. walk (or tread) on air feel elated. — DERIVATIVES airless adjective. — ORIGIN Greek aer.

5. vivacious/vivaysh ss/ • adjective attractively lively and animated. — DERIVATIVES vivaciously adverb vivacity noun. — ORIGIN from Latin vivax ‘lively, vigorous’.

6. inconceivable • adjective not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally. — DERIVATIVES inconceivably adverb.

7. liable • adjective 1 responsible by law; legally answerable. 2 (liable to) subject by law to. 3 (liable to do) likely to do. 4 (liable to) likely to experience (something undesirable). — ORIGIN perhaps from French lier ‘to bind’, from Latin ligare

8. flabby • adjective (flabbier, flabbiest) 1 (of a part of a person’s body) soft, loose, and fleshy. 2 not tightly controlled and therefore ineffective.
— DERIVATIVES flabbily adverb flabbiness noun. — ORIGIN alteration of earlier flappy.
9. sit • verb (sitting; past and past part. sat) 1 be or cause to be in a position in which one’s weight is supported by one’s buttocks and one’s back is upright. 2 be or remain in a particular position or state: the fridge was sitting in a pool of water. 3 (of an animal) rest with the hind legs bent and the body close to the ground. 4 (of a parliament, committee, court of law, etc.) be engaged in its business. 5 serve as a member of a council, jury, or other official body. 6 Brit. take (an examination). 7 (of a table or room) have enough seats for. 8 (sit for) pose for (an artist or photographer).
• noun a period of sitting. — PHRASES sit in occupy a place as a form of protest. sit in for temporarily carry out the duties of. sit on informal 1 fail to deal with. 2 subdue or suppress. sit out not take part in. sit tight informal 1 remain firmly in one’s place. 2 refrain from taking action or changing one’s mind. sit up refrain from going to bed until later than usual. –USAGE It is good English to use the participle sitting rather than sat with the verb ‘to be’: we were sitting there for hours rather than we were sat there for hours. — ORIGIN Old English.
10. platoon • noun a subdivision of a company of soldiers, usually commanded by a subaltern or lieutenant and divided into three sections. — ORIGIN French peloton ‘platoon’, literally ‘small ball’.

11. nerd • noun informal a person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious. — DERIVATIVES nerdish adjective nerdy adjective. — ORIGIN of unknown origin.

12. halberd /halb rd/ (also halbert) • noun historical a combined spear and battleaxe. — ORIGIN High German

13. pavane /p van/ (also pavan /pavv’n/) • noun a stately dance in slow duple time, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. — ORIGIN French, perhaps from Italian pavana ‘Paduan’, from the dialect name of the city of Padua.

14. babble • verb 1 talk rapidly in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way. 2 (of a stream) make a continuous murmur as the water flows over stones. • noun the sound of babbling. — DERIVATIVES babbler noun. — ORIGIN Low German babbelen, or an independent English formation, based on the repeated syllable ba, typical of a child’s early speech.

15. honey • noun (pl. honeys) 1 a sweet, sticky yellowish-brown fluid made by bees from flower nectar. 2 chiefly N. Amer. darling; sweetheart. 3 informal an excellent example: it’s a honey of a movie. — ORIGIN Old English.

Goofy Living his Dream
The music note left the bunch, because he was shunned by the rest of society. He grew up in a home with many other notes, but spoke with a stutter and breathed air- unlike everyone else in his house. He had one solid friend, Wilbert, who never left his side; some would describe them as nerds. They grew up together and sat next to each other on the bar when it came time for them to perform.
Wilbert and Goofy were as close as honey. They went everywhere together and even learned how to line dance together. One day during their line dancing lessons Goofy met a special note, Brooke; this note was a little dainty. She laughed a lot and saw the bright side of life. She was the prettiest girl in the bunch. Goofy never thought she would like him but he liked her and hoped to talk to her one day.
One day at line dancing practice Wilbert seemed more distracted than normal. “Wilbert, why are you having such a hard time focusing?” Goofy said. “You’ve been running into me all evening.”
“Look over there!” Wilbert said as he pointed to his left. Goofy could not believe his eyes, Brooke was sitting at the table staring at him. Could this be?
“Inconceivable!” He said in the midst of his babbling. As he stumbled over his words Brooke strutted over to talk to him.
“Sit down boy, you are turning into putty.
She came over to talk with the boys and invited them to a pavane going on the next night. They overwhelmingly accepted the invitation and skipped home. As he skipped his flabby tummy flipped and flopped in the wind.
“Dude, your stomach flapping in the wind… so not vivacious,” his friend brutally told him. “You are liable to make sure your flab doesn’t come out for vacation when you see her. You can’t mess this up!”
Since his friend told him he couldn’t mess up this big dance for him he joined a platoon to help get him ready for the big night. They helped him loose the flab and how to dance pavane style. While in the platoon he learned how to use a halberd to defend Brooke if any crazy monsters came her way. If anyone came up to her he had a plan to put them in their place with his new toy ‘The halberd,’ complete with a sword and battleaxe. He was not going to let the most beautiful note pass him by.
The next night the two went out dancing and had a marvelous time together. Wilbert could not believe was out with the girl of his dreams; he was in La-La land. Goofy saw stars in Wilbert’s eyes as he walked in the front door in a daze. Nothing Goofy did would bring Wilbert back to the real world, after his great date with Brooke. Goofy excavated him out of the ancient La-La land and brought him back

Riverside Fires

Fires rolling down the hill. The whole hill wasn’t on fire but scattered brush fires were on the side of the mountain.
The family lived in their home for 11 years and never had a problem with the fires.

Family members sat helplessly on their front yard watching fires consume the rolling hills in their neighborhood. Neighbors congregated on street corners in disbelief as they watched firefighters protect their block.

Eye-witnesses reported that the flames broke out in hills across from Tilden Place and Gramercy Place on Sept 22 around noon and never died. One home owner said he was not afraid because firefighters and police responded quickly. “The fires are pretty contained so I’m not too worried about it,” he said. “When you move out here you know there is potential for this to happen.”

Police, caution tape, fire trucks, Search and Rescue, and Citizens’ Patrol workers blocked on-lookers from driving into the fires.

Firefighters fought small brush fires in the Agricultural Park, near Julian Drive and Crest Avenue in Riverside County, to keep more property damage-free. Nearby residence showered their homes with water hoses, doing what they could to save their house.

Parents embraced their children as they held onto the only possession they could protect from the fires. Winds roared across the hills, ushering fires into unaffected areas.
Hopeless and despaired homeowners served firefighters juice and water to refresh them from the fires.

Debris fell like snow flakes and blew across streets and sidewalks like autumn leaves. Children wrapped baby blankets and bandanas around their noses and mouths as they watched the fires roar through the field behind their neighborhood park.

Parent and local homeowner Christine Garcia said the fire burned the area surrounding the Agricultural Park off Rutland Ave. “I think we are safe but it’s spreading at a fast rate,” Garcia said. “Everything [The fire] goes so fast that you can’t think.”

Liberation from the Chains of Oppression

I know it has been a while since my last post, but here is the sum-up of my summer. God did a lot of molding, breaking, and healing.

When I left CBU in the spring, I had plans to go to summer school, Central Asia, and back to Tennessee, but as my summer progressed God closed doors and kept me in Bakersfield. I was extremely disappointed but that was God’s way of saying, “Slow down and let’s work through some things together.” Last December, when I returned from Kenya, I asked God to continue transforming my life in America.

Because I do not know how to slow down, God changed my plans so I had more time available for him. God overpowered Satan’s lies with truth and uncovered the freedom in Christ I craved. I had nothing to give other people because I needed help myself. I revisited the 10-year-old girl inside myself who never healed from her painful memories. She asked God to help her accept the past, forgive, and liberate her from destructive emotions and replace them with attributes of Christ. At just the right time I released the 10-year-old girl living in pain and discovered a young woman blessed beyond her imagination.

I learned God does not want us to run from our problems. He wants us to rely on him as he carries us through the hard times so we can grow closer to him and share our victories with other people as a story of his love.

Hard times come with the Christian life. Too many of us suppress them thinking we need to move on and get over it. This was my attitude but I learned how destructive it was and changed it. Satan tried to keep me down and I believed his lies for too long.

The healing God did in my life this summer will benefit my ministry and strengthen my walk with Christ. I want everyone to know something about me: I am not an amazing person who is immune from the world’s problems. I do not share my struggles with many people. The same issues people use as excuses for failing are the same issues God uses to draw me closer to him. I have been affected by and gone through a countless number of heavy issues the church labels as “worldly.” God is amazing. He keeps me going and gives me strength when I am ready to give up. He numbs the pain, but allows me to experience it, so I can grow to be a stronger person and follower of Christ.

I am now back at school with an amazing staff of girls who are becoming more like family as the days pass. This summer showed me how much more I need to be in prayer and the girls I work and live with are strong prayer warriors. When someone says they are going through a difficult time we immediately stop, hold hands, and pray for that person and over the situation. We all love God and have similar interests. I could not have asked for a better staff to serve with this year nor could I have asked for better leadership to be under. God blessed me more than I ever imagined. I am already learning and growing and can not even imagine how much more is to come. God is amazing! I love him more and more every day. Everyday I discover how much he loves me by the people he places in my life and the events he allows me to take part in. He is the love of my life. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. :-)

An Answered Prayer

I do not know how many of you actually keep up with Zimbabwe, but things are looking better since the beginning of February. An article I read on Zimbabwesituation.com said the country's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is working for a better Zimbabwe. He told teachers, doctors, and government officials to return to work, because he will pay them in foreign currency. Foreign currency is the only way people can survive in the country, because their Zimbabwean dollar lost all worth. Along with paying people in foreign currency he is requesting aid from other countries to help bring his country back to the place it once was.
For over 20 years President Robert Mugabe ran the government but since he took control, the country has only been getting worse. His regime works for its own benefit and suppresses the minority tribes.
Now that Tsvangirai is in power he is working for his people, trying to regain all they lost. He admitted the depravity citizens endured and continues to look for restoration for his people. South Africa, America, and many other countries are looking to pull the country out of its unstable mess it found itself in.
I have been praying for that country since late last year and am so excited to see these changes being made now. I knew something would be done about the instability and immorality in their government, but did not expect another government official to be the catalyst in the movement.
I still love Zimbabwe and can not get it out of my heart. It would love to go back and help out the country, but that is not an option now. The most I can do is pray for them and use the gift of words God gave me to share about their hardships and trials, urging people to pray and act accordingly. I serve a great God and I am excited to see my prayers answered so fast. I feel I served the people of Zimbabwe by praying for them and sharing their story. They can not physically be in America but they are always here with me- in my thoughts, prayers, and pictures.
I thank God all the time for allowing me to see and meet such loving but hopeless people, because it motivates me to work harder and to share my story with others.
I get so frustrated with some people in America sometimes, because I saw so much desperation in Zimbabwe and some live like there is not a care in the world.

I feel seeing such conditions are both a blessing and a curse. I appreciate more but hurt more too. It hurts to know I have everything I ever wanted, but some people dream to eat a piece of bread in the morning and will die from hunger that night. It is hard when I hear people call material and unnecessary things necessities. We have become accustomed to hearing, “I need this new phone,” or “I need name-brand clothes,” but it’s only something our over indulgence and materialistic society brainwashed us to think. Do you need expensive name-brand clothes? Will you die without them?

When people say they are starving I want to cry and share stories of people I met who are literally starving. They honestly have no idea what the concept of starving is. I don’t either but I saw, touched, and hugged people who have not eaten anything edible in months.
I have a visual image that I can not erase that reminds me to use my resources wisely and to share the story I learned while there. I am so grateful that Tsvangirai is working for his people and that God is answering my prayers through this man. God is amazingly amazing. He’s more than I could ever ask for or imagine.

resource used-www.zimbabwesituation.com