Last night was my third class with ESL students through the Refugee Development Center at the Unitarian Universalist Church. My favorite couple returned, an Iranian husband and wife team that is very friendly and eager to learn and along with their young son make a picture perfect family. I really look forward to seeing them each week.
We small-talked about Halloween and I tried to explain American customs around this unique holiday. I talked about my childhood costumes including that of gypsy. And then had to try to explain what a gypsy was. I didn’t do a great job. Finally I said it was someone you would find at a circus. Now of course I think I could have said fortune teller but I didn’t think of it at the time.
We played charades which was very popular with the students and as once again we were trying to be holiday-themed, one of the activities they had to act out was “Bobbing for apples.” No one had ever heard of it but everyone got right away that bobbing for apples would be A) hard, B) fun for children and C) get water everywhere.
I had 6 students at my table that I was responsible for and this time I took the reigns and led everyone through the lessons as a group. I’m getting better at this! I also felt more comfortable correcting them (repeatedly. Like, over and over). We studied the Past Continuous tense with phrases such as: This afternoon I was eating lunch with friends or Last night I was making dinner for my family.
Last week we tried listening to an NPR StoryCorps podcast about a boy who grew up in a library where his father was the custodian and nighttime caretaker. Then they had to discuss what happened in the story. We try all kinds of things to encourage speaking, conversation, writing, vocabulary building and understanding.
Next semester is still a little uncertain for me. I may end up co-facilitating part 2 of the Building Your Own Theology class, I may end up doing the ESL classes again, but I don’t have enough room in my schedule to do both. I also joined the Hospitality Team at church so every few weeks my crew is responsible for greeting folks at the door, passing out the order of service, passing the collection plate, and bringing treats and making coffee.
I still consider myself Muslim. I still haven’t joined the UU church. But I keep “showing up” and it’s feeling more and more like home.
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