Week 5 Reflection- Abhay and Prince

So far, the teaching experience has been really interesting. Although there were a few challenges initially, we managed to work together and resolve all the issues that we had. It has been a lot of fun as well. Working with a co-teacher, I learnt to adjust to different ideas and to use adaption strategies as well. The workers are a lot of fun and there were several instances where everyone would just laugh because there are a few students who have a really good sense of humor.

The first week of teaching was really exciting since we went to the camp to teach. This was a totally new experience for all of us and so it was equally challenging. The introductory class was really simple and we just had a few conversation lessons and introductory lessons. During this class, we managed to learn the names of all students and tried to get as familiar as possible with their names. Most importantly, we made to sure to have some fun with them as well since it was their first time and so we wanted to make sure that they were really comfortable and not intimidated by us. We also played hangman in the first session, and ever since, they have always been requesting us to play this game at the end of each session.

In week two, we had a few changes in plans. Firstly, the classes would now take place at the university so this was a major difference. The students came in to the class in the university. They were really happy to be at our university. They enjoyed coming to a different location as it was a good change for them as well. Also, some of the students had left the class and we now had our final set of students. During this session, we practiced some of the introductory conversations that we had covered in the first session. Each student came forward and presented a little introductory speech to the class. I found this really amazing since we had just taught them the format of the introduction in the previous class and now we were seeing immediate results. We shifted gears and moved into everyday conversation. We had different scenarios and taught them what is normally said in these scenarios.

Brookfield mentioned in his book that adult learners relied more on their long term memory in order to make sense of any new material that is being presented. I found this really helpful and considered this thought while teaching the workers. For instance, while teaching about job applications, there was a little section about health forms. Initially they did not really understand what we were talking about. Later I asked them if they completed a ‘medical’ form for the job in Doha. Almost all the students repeated the word ‘medical’ after me and said that they had indeed completed it. Apparently, ‘medical’ is a term of the procedure in the labor processing in Qatar, during which the worker’s medical records are examined and necessary treatment is provided before beginning the work term. They all could easily relate to it since it was a term that was embedded into their memory.

During weeks 3 and 4, we focused a lot on the use of adjectives to describe people and also taught them how to do job applications. Moreover, we also taught them some basic interviewing techniques, focusing on jobs that were similar to what they were employed in, such as, security guards, electricians, plumbers etc. This was really interesting since the students actually came up for one on one interviews in the class and it was somewhat similar to the experience in a business communications class at university. They really enjoyed it since, for most of them, it was their first ever interview.

During week 5, we taught them some new exercises such as positive and negative statements. We also taught them how to frame questions based on the given statement. In this week, we implemented a really interesting strategy. We taught them a simple song titled, “We shall overcome”. They were really happy to sing with us and this is something they want to do each class. They requested us to sing at the end of each session. In our future sessions, we hope to have more music based lessons in which the students can even learn new words and sentences, while having fun with music as well.

I personally learnt a lot about the learners in this project. I can now relate to the workers in a better manner and can understand their situation better. I think the program “Language Bridges” is a great initiative not just for the workers but even for us students who are teaching. There is mutual benefit in this venture. It’s my first time interacting with workers but I’ve really enjoyed it. They are really curious about the language and they show up almost every class for learning. This shows their interest and their quest for knowledge. Planning lessons has been easy because the materials provided are really well detailed. However, there are times when we have to improvise and I’m sure we’re getting better at this over time.  As a teacher, I think I’m gaining a lot of experience. I sure have worked as a teacher before, but that was for an entirely different audience. I’ve always worked with young kids and I’m glad that I’m teaching adult learners this time around.