Our second class was on Wednesday, February 22nd, and it marked the beginning of our Language Bridges classes held at CMU. Although I was disappointed that we would not be able to go to UDC's camp near The Pearl, it was exciting to know that our learners would have access to a proper classroom environment. They would be able to sit in bigger classrooms and learn more effectively with the aid of equipment such as projectors, computers, and especially the Internet.
Half an hour before our class was due to begin, we set up in room 1190 and went out to the parking lot, ready to meet our learners. When the buses arrived, our learners jumped out, excited to see us and be in a new environment. As we talked to them and lead them to our room, it was easy to see they were in awe of CMU's beautiful building. Abaan and I took them for a tour of the building and showed them where we study, where we eat and hang out, where we have classes and lectures etc. Our learners asked us a lot of interesting questions such as how expensive it is to be a Carnegie Mellon student! Some of them even asked if they could bring their cameras along next week to take photos - we encouraged them to do so.
Once in class, we began with the Intermediate course materials. Our aim was mostly to encourage the learners to communicate with each other in English and be comfortable with using it as one of their main languages. As a result, Abaan and I got them to take turns reading out loud and even asked for volunteers to lead one of the comprehension exercises. Below is a video of 2 of our learners, Bikesh and Madan, role playing as "Mark and Mohammed" (you can also see me laughing after one of my questions gets IGNORED by everyone).
Before we knew it 2 hours were up and it was time to take everyone back to their buses in the parking lot. Even though the previous week had been a difficult one with the cancellation of classes and a change of location, week 2 turned out to be a success. Personally, I feel bringing the learners here to CMU is a better option than us going to the labor camps. Although it was a learning experience for us to be in their environment, I believe we offer them more by allowing them to leave their usual surroundings and experience something new!
~ Reham
Half an hour before our class was due to begin, we set up in room 1190 and went out to the parking lot, ready to meet our learners. When the buses arrived, our learners jumped out, excited to see us and be in a new environment. As we talked to them and lead them to our room, it was easy to see they were in awe of CMU's beautiful building. Abaan and I took them for a tour of the building and showed them where we study, where we eat and hang out, where we have classes and lectures etc. Our learners asked us a lot of interesting questions such as how expensive it is to be a Carnegie Mellon student! Some of them even asked if they could bring their cameras along next week to take photos - we encouraged them to do so.
Once in class, we began with the Intermediate course materials. Our aim was mostly to encourage the learners to communicate with each other in English and be comfortable with using it as one of their main languages. As a result, Abaan and I got them to take turns reading out loud and even asked for volunteers to lead one of the comprehension exercises. Below is a video of 2 of our learners, Bikesh and Madan, role playing as "Mark and Mohammed" (you can also see me laughing after one of my questions gets IGNORED by everyone).
Before we knew it 2 hours were up and it was time to take everyone back to their buses in the parking lot. Even though the previous week had been a difficult one with the cancellation of classes and a change of location, week 2 turned out to be a success. Personally, I feel bringing the learners here to CMU is a better option than us going to the labor camps. Although it was a learning experience for us to be in their environment, I believe we offer them more by allowing them to leave their usual surroundings and experience something new!
~ Reham
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