Lucy TP-4

Since Mussad is so passionate about the field of Education and is looking to learn English so that he can earn his PhD in Education, I've decided to meet him where his strength is and keep all our lessons Education oriented. He's expressed his aggravation at having to read 'random' material made for ESL learners that has no relation to his life or his ultimate goals. So, I've designed a vocabulary list for him dealing only with the language of Education: words like 'curriculum', 'personnel', 'interdisciplinary'. At each session, he is to have 10 words defined.

We also read a brief article together on technology in the classroom, 

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/05/30/fp_barnwell.html?tkn=SLCFAPcexO9T%2Fx8EtfuuzvU8UI3MXRUiLrYT&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

and watched a short video on after-school activities. It was kind of lame (turned out to be an advertisement, so I won't link it here).

In the course of our time together lots of issues about Education came up which were culturally-relevant and will most assuredly come up if Mussad takes Education courses here in the U.S.. The big issue we discussed was No Child Left Behind, and its emphasis on standardized testing. Mussad thought teachers should be held accountable, but also given the freedom to teach their class in a broad scope- and not just 'to the test', as I explained was a common complaint amongst NCLB critics.  Later, I sent him a video to watch on NCLB so he could learn more about it.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/north_america/jan-june10/nclb_03-17.html

In orienting my lessons around Education, I feel like I'm offering Mussad personalized service- something he probably doesn't get in class, where teachers have to keep topics broad and information, general. I feel like I'm really giving him something unique- the approach helps me feel more confident about teaching a teacher...!