Be Unforgettable to English Language Learners

I know if the translation makes sense when I look at Renata’s face. Is she nodding and smiling that radiant, happy willingness to tackle a new assignment I have given her? Or is she giving me this: nada. The lovely statue of a teenage single mother from Mexico who stays in school for the sake of her son, her hijo, Mateo, but who is getting no meaningful words from Google Translate at this moment.

Or maybe it is because of my American accent, and not Google’s fault at all. I used to think I had an ear for accents. Now I follow every attempt to speak her language with a grimace and “That’s really bad Spanish. . . .”

She is the only Spanish-only student I have, which indicates how small my school is. There are under fifty students in the whole high school. I teach them all.

Renata, of course, isn’t the only one who knows Spanish. There’s a bilingual Mexican-American kid, Paulo. He talks to Renata in Spanish to make sure she understands her assignments. She laughs at him and corrects his sloppy Spanish, so sometimes he just shakes his head when I ask him for help. “She’ll make fun of me!” In another class there are caucasian kids taking Spanish as a foreign language. I lean on them to interpret for me, too. In still another English class (I have Renata in three classes, bless our souls), I seat Renata near a Mexican-American girl, Maria, and the new kid, a boy named Jose who contradicts me when I say I would like to visit his native El Salvador. “No, you wouldn’t. You do not want to go there.”

Jose’s English is better than Renata’s, but not as good as Paulo’s or Maria’s. There are pauses as he thinks of a word. Anything beginning with “sp” becomes “esp”—“Espending money,” “Listening to Espotify.” Anything beginning with “st” becomes “est”—“Climbing estairs,” “Esteering the car.” He’s plenty bright, so my lessons on subordinating conjunctions and comma splices help his writing noticeably. Part of me wishes Renata would progress as quickly in learning English. But I remember how long it takes—years—for a language learner to become fluent.

In the meantime, I buy a Spanish/English dictionary with classroom supply funds. I use Google Translate to prepare texts for her. I make her practice English phrases out loud: “May I please use the bathroom?” and (as she holds her water bottle up for a visual), “May I please get water?” Slowly, slowly, she is learning.

I have taken only one professional development class on teaching English as a second language. Over the years as a teacher, I’ve observed in dual-immersion classes, participated in a week-long Summer Spanish Institute, and provided differentiation for all kinds of learners in my high school English classes, no matter their native language. That's my training. But I want to learn more. I want to help kids more.

Sometimes it’s tough caring this much, trying this hard. There are days when I don’t get materials prepared for Renata’s classes before the day begins. There are times when Renata is tired, her brown eyes glazed over because she can’t keep up with the conversation in the classroom, or she’d rather be with her son, or she just doesn’t care today. It’s then that I invite her to join me at the computer as I fire up Google Translate, not to give her a new assignment or to translate a short story for her to read. Just to ask her in her own language, “How are you doing today? How is your son?” She wakes right up, smiles appreciatively, and types her response.

If my Spanish were better, I could ask these important, unimportant questions in a real conversation. Since I’m a beginner, I am glad to live in the digital age, when I can instantly communicate with my English-learner without a human translator.

Of course I want Renata to pass her three English classes. More importantly, I want her to know that I care about her. If not for building relationships with students like her, the teaching life would be bleak for many of us in the trenches. Because of the students, I thank God for the extra labor, for the time lost to translating, for the words lost in translation. For the chance to be unforgettable to an English learner.


Names have been changed.

That Techy Kid

We haven't quite gotten to the point yet where every teacher in every school uses technology seamlessly. Okay, that's a gross exaggeration. We're all still learning. But it won't be long before teaching means tech and learning uses tech and kids are techy at all times, even those kids who see tech purely as a means to their own ends. While we're caught in the middle, older teachers who remember when there were no computers or when there was no Internet or when cell phones were the size of shoe boxes. . .let's just say we can struggle to connect our students to the tech they need. And they do need it--their world will require it as it requires air.

My own son has helped me push the limits of my tech knowledge. I believe in the Bible verse,

"Train up a child in the way he should go; Even when he is old he will not depart from it."

There are different interpretations of Proverbs 22:6, but I apply it in two of the main ones. First, I try to guide my children on the right path, the way to God, the way of righteousness. Second, I try to notice my children's natural inclinations, such as my middle son's inclination toward engineering and technology. Seeing his gifts, I can steer him toward resources, experiences, and opportunities that will encourage those gifts. The opposite of that would be pushing my child to pursue a career in business or some other field for purely financial reasons when he has no interest or affinity for that field.

My middle child reads well and excels in math, but has trouble seeing the value of those pursuits. Only through art and technology (think STEAM) does he lose himself in the joy of discovery and learning for love.

Without knowing much about animation, I have begun to steer my son toward computer animation in small steps. Recently, I told him about some stop-motion animations that the freshmen at school have created. We watched one called The Orange Mission that depicts Lego guys peeling an orange. I offered to help my son learn to do the same kind of animation; we would just have to learn how to put the photos together into a video. To my surprise, he said his Nintendo 3ds had a stop-motion animation feature, so it wouldn't be an issue. Over spring break, we tried it out at our hotel, animating a Beanie Boo owl turning on the faucet and pondering jumping into the sink. Then, without my help, my son made an animation of the owl diving into a bag of Doritos head first, tail twitching happily as he eats.

Next step? Free computer animation software. Last night we downloaded Pencil 2d after watching some Youtube videos for an overview. We tested the software out, not knowing what we were doing. Mostly it was a fail. I went to bed a little frustrated, but trusted that we'd figure it out soon by watching more tutorials. This morning, my son popped into my room. "Mom, I made an animation and it's really cool." Sure enough, he'd spent the early morning figuring out how Pencil 2d worked (by trial and error, the way we learn tech and many other things best) and animated a guy morphing into a cat. Leave it to the third-grader!

I want my son to know I believe in his need to journey. He will explore his way to a career that is right for him and that allows him to use the gifts God has given him. When he is old, he won't depart from it because he will find fulfillment in it. I can safely resist the urge to tell him he won't get paid to play video games all day because that line of "work" is too competitive. Instead, I can help him find what he is truly made to do. This purpose will be a positive gift from God for all his days.

Teachers can foster the same sense of journey toward fulfilling work in our students if we are in tune to their gifts and inclinations. It's one way we can live out a Christian world-view in our secular field.