No one Is Listening Until You Make a Mistake

I just finished another round of testing in my ESOL classes, which can be somewhat of a long process but at the end, it’s worth it.  We use a converstation test called Best Plus to test our ESOL students, which requires one-on-one testing.  A little difficult to do when you have between 12-16 students in each of your classes. 

Luckily for me, I spread it out this year and tested students at different times throughout the fall and that Carol Joy had the time to help me with the testing this past Tuesday night.  Just goes to show you that anything can happen even with a well-thought-out plan, or that I really hadn’t thought about the number of students I’d need to test until I started signing students up last Thursday night.  In this case, I think I’ll go with the latter. 

If she hadn’t helped me I wouldn’t have been able to test the 9 people I had scheduled since it takes about 15 minutes to test each student.  Thanks Carol Joy!

The students did great!  Almost all of my students showed significant improvement.  A couple of my students even improved 4-5 levels.  It shows how hard they have all been working and their willingness to give up their time to come to class to improve their English. 

 My favorite part was the thank-you present one of my students, who actually records each of my lessons and generally corrects any innaccuracies I made during the past lesson, gave me after she finished her reading test (once they test out of the conversation test, students start taking reading test so that they can keep coming to the program).   It was an large oblong package wrapped in brown shipping paper addressed to me, but she had written on the package that it was a gift “From God”.   Before opening it, I knew that it was going to be entertaining and smiled when I read what the sign she had given me said:  No one is listening until you make a mistake.  What can you do but laugh?  At least my students keep me honest… and provide me with a multitude of things to decorate my desk and house.  Hey, I’m not complaining.

Test Taking Strategies I

Hi, it’s Krista.

One aspect of the GED is gaining test taking skills.  Some people say that taking a test doesn’t test ones knowledge base, but ones ability to take tests.  For people who have test anxiety, this is especially true.  If you “freeze up” or “go blank” because you’re too scarred or nervous about the test, it doesn’t matter if you know the answers or not.  Here are a few suggestions to calm yourself down so that you can focus on the test, instead of your fear of the test.

1.  Begin psyching yourself up.  Tell yourself that the test doesn’t matter.  That it’s “no big deal”.  Tests really don’t matter in the whole scheme of life.  By putting the test into perspective, you will begin to eliminate some of your stress.  Your life won’t be over if you don’t pass one test.  You can always try again later!

2.  Use memory tools.  You have five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight.  The more senses that you get involved, the more you remember.  The number one sense for memory recall is smell.  If you can get the sense of smell involved, you’ll remember considerably more.  I recommend chewing peppermint gum or candy when you study.  Then have the same gum or candy when you take the test.  You could also wear the same perfume or cologne when you study and take your test. 

3.  Break it up.  Most testing centers offer the GED test over two days, while others offer an all day test.  I recommend taking the test in small intervals, the all day test is too overwhelming for most people.  Take the breaks that are provided and do some exercise and deep breathing.  Get out of the testing room!  Walk around outside, do some jumping jacks, and do some stretching.  Then close your eyes and do some belly breathing for about 5 minutes.  Put one hand over your bellybutton and the other hand over your heart, now take slow deep breaths.  Make sure that your lower hand is being pushed out when you inhale.  Now your ready to return to the test.  Your brain and body will be more focused and less stressed out.

Those are just a few test taking strategies.  I’ll be posting more later on.  Have a great holiday!  Enjoy time with your friends and family.

My English Students Making Phone Calls

Over the past year or so since I’ve been teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), I’ve noticed the difficulty that my students have when ever I try to call them.  Talking on the phone isn’t easy.  You’re not talking to someone face to face, and you lack the body language cue that you can use to decode some statement that you haven’t quite understood.  Most of the time they don’t even record a message on their answering machine.  I usually get an obnoxious robotic voice stuttering, “Ple…ase…………..lea…ve…..a…..message.”  So, I decided they needed some practice.   

First, I taught them some answering machine greetings and then we started practicing some basic phone scripts, how to make a 911 call and how to find out how much something costs.  Ultimately, to my students dismay, I had the great idea to have them make actual phone calls to actual Americans that they don’t know.  I’ve never seen people so nervous.   Half of them were pacing, while the other half couldn’t stop their hands from shaking.  One of my students even started to tell me that she couldn’t make the phone call because she didn’t want to lie to the sales person when we were just calling to see how much something costs.  The irony is that she actually was wearing a bracelet–no kidding–that said, “I lie for a living”.   The things students try to get a way with.  You might as well have told me your dog ate your homework.  Another student actually told me that even though he had lived in America for over a year he had never made a phone call before in America. 

The only snafu occurred when a sales person impatiently hung up before one of my students could get past good evening.  Let’s just say I shared some choice words with her manager.  Unfortunately, with immigration becoming such a hot topic I’ve witnessed this occurring more and more these days–nobody has any patience! 

But for the most part, I think my students really appreciated it.  I took notes and made constructive feedback.  And when I tell my students that they’ll be making a real phone call the following lesson, I actually have a full class.  I’m just happy that they feel like they get something out of it.  Otherwise, they must keep coming back for some other reason. 

If it’s not that, I guess I’ll just have to figure something else out.