First Day of Teaching
Responding to Comments:
Linda and Paul: I am so glad you got a chance to stop and read my blog. I am so thankful that you are thinking of me… Thank you. I would like to wish you a very pleasant summer.
The official Blog Entry:
I began teaching today. First at the school working with the English teachers, and then here at the office (which I will refer to as the LKA office—that is the Lao name for the organization).
It went quite well. The teachers at the school are very eager to learn. I will only work with them for I hour every day. (From 8-9 AM) Today, I introduced myself, and I had each of them introduce themselves. Then we spoke about weather and about North Dakota and my Family. I asked them about Sawanakhet, and they told me a little about the city. I had about 12 people in that class, but I think there will be more joining in the days ahead.
Here at LKA, we work on speaking from 10-12 and then we work on writing from 3-4. (that is different from what I told you earlier. we changed the time from 2-3 to 3-4) It also went very well. I have eight students here. Today I spoke about myself and my family, and then we spoke about things people do in Sawanakhet, and we ended up discussing sports and music. I found that we will need to work on the sound “th” and the “s” sound at the end of words, and the sound of a “v” that it is different from a “w.” We practiced this some, but I didn’t want to focus on it too long. I think I will keep reviewing things like that every day. (If any of you have suggestions on how to help people practice pronouncing words, let me know). When we finished our time this morning, they suggested I have them speak more, because they need practice speaking and pronouncing. I agree with them. I did talk too much this morning. I enjoyed explaining things, and I didn’t ask them to speak very much. I hope to get them to speak more in the future. (again, anyone with ideas on how to get them to talk, or what they can talk about, let me know.)
*note* when editing your profile on blogger.com, you have the option to answer a random question. Unfortunately they only let you are only allowed 150 characters. I agree with Heather Steinbach who complained about this on her blog: http://www.heatherdawn84.blogspot.com/ this really isn’t fair. So here was my question:
Q: You've successfully slain the dragon! How will you toast your marshmallows?
A: It is quite simply really. In truth, dragons are never really any good at toasting marshmallows—they always end up burning them to a crisp. Instead, I think I would build a small fire and toast my marshmallow over the flame or even better—hot coals.
-Luke
Linda and Paul: I am so glad you got a chance to stop and read my blog. I am so thankful that you are thinking of me… Thank you. I would like to wish you a very pleasant summer.
The official Blog Entry:
I began teaching today. First at the school working with the English teachers, and then here at the office (which I will refer to as the LKA office—that is the Lao name for the organization).
It went quite well. The teachers at the school are very eager to learn. I will only work with them for I hour every day. (From 8-9 AM) Today, I introduced myself, and I had each of them introduce themselves. Then we spoke about weather and about North Dakota and my Family. I asked them about Sawanakhet, and they told me a little about the city. I had about 12 people in that class, but I think there will be more joining in the days ahead.
Here at LKA, we work on speaking from 10-12 and then we work on writing from 3-4. (that is different from what I told you earlier. we changed the time from 2-3 to 3-4) It also went very well. I have eight students here. Today I spoke about myself and my family, and then we spoke about things people do in Sawanakhet, and we ended up discussing sports and music. I found that we will need to work on the sound “th” and the “s” sound at the end of words, and the sound of a “v” that it is different from a “w.” We practiced this some, but I didn’t want to focus on it too long. I think I will keep reviewing things like that every day. (If any of you have suggestions on how to help people practice pronouncing words, let me know). When we finished our time this morning, they suggested I have them speak more, because they need practice speaking and pronouncing. I agree with them. I did talk too much this morning. I enjoyed explaining things, and I didn’t ask them to speak very much. I hope to get them to speak more in the future. (again, anyone with ideas on how to get them to talk, or what they can talk about, let me know.)
*note* when editing your profile on blogger.com, you have the option to answer a random question. Unfortunately they only let you are only allowed 150 characters. I agree with Heather Steinbach who complained about this on her blog: http://www.heatherdawn84.blogspot.com/ this really isn’t fair. So here was my question:
Q: You've successfully slain the dragon! How will you toast your marshmallows?
A: It is quite simply really. In truth, dragons are never really any good at toasting marshmallows—they always end up burning them to a crisp. Instead, I think I would build a small fire and toast my marshmallow over the flame or even better—hot coals.
-Luke
2 Comments:
Luke ate bugs! Oh, how exciting. You said it was like eating a sunflower seed; was the taste similar or just the crunch?
Ideas for teaching pronunciation: listen carefully to the sounds of their language. I've found that sometimes they have sounds that they don't know they have. I taught an Italian woman how to say the sound of a W; she couldn't because they don't have Ws in Italian, but they do have AU, and that sound does have a W-ish sound at the end that she had never noticed. Her own name had it. So we prounounced her name very slowly until she was analyzing how her mouth was shaped at the end of the AU sound. Of course, that'll work rather better for vowel sounds than consonants, but it's an idea.
Is Lao a tonal language? I don't remember. If it is, I imagine you shouldn't have too much of a problem because you're a musician. Yes?
By
Anonymous, at 11:10 AM
Wow I hope that bug was dead and covered in chocolate to help it go down better. The thought of eating a bug dead or alive just sort of creeps me out. Even thinking about it right now I'm getting a shiver up and down my spine. I guess if bugs were the only source available for food I would give it a try. I still want to write you anf Bethany but I do not have your addresses:( I guess this will have to survice.
E. Strange
By
Anonymous, at 8:38 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home