The first hour began with a surprise I had prepared for her, that I thought would be very useful. I found an ESL vocabulary list relating to the DMV, taking the driver's test, and getting her license. I used google translate to make a Hindi version of the same list, and printed each out side by side. (way more difficult than I imagined, as google translator doesn't print them side by side, and word made one huge Hindi run-on paragraph.) She didn't seem as excited as I thought she would be, though her husband was when he saw it afterwards. She seemed to have a lot of trouble reading the Hindi words, almost like she was sounding them out. I asked if the font was OK, if it was easy to read, and made sure that her first language was Hindi... I'm not sure but maybe Hindi writing is less used in every day life? I was hugely dissapointed because I thought this would provide a breakthrough for her vocabulary intake and study skills. When we started going through them to check for accuracy, most of the words were correct. She would say "yes, same meaning". But when I started covering up the English side, she often didn't know the meaning of the Hindi side. I'm pretty sure it's not that she couldn't explain it, because she would say "this word, I don't know the meaning." But then when I showed her the English word, it was like a lightbulb went off and she'd say again, "Yes, same meaning, same meaning." Can she possibly know written English better than written Hindi? I learned later in the lesson, as I was trying to figure out this mystery, that she also speaks Punjabi. Maybe this is her first language and we got mixed up? But that doesn't make sense, as she's always referring to Hindi, and she sometimes writes translations in Hindi above the English word in her Driver's Ed book. I am totally baffled and frustrated yet again.
We moved on. She pulled out her homework and admitted sheepishly that she hadn't done it. Ha, I felt bad, because she clearly felt guilty, but it was okay, because it gave us something to do that was a break from the hard stuff. She did pretty well on it, until the last question, which was more abstract and content based than detail recall. The question was "What is the best title for this passage" It was difficult to explain because she doesn't understand "about" or "main idea". I finally put a long box at the top where the title would be and said what do we call it? I kinda just had to explain that it was about Johnny buying a dog, and so "Johnny buys a dog" was the correct answer. (passage & questions below)
The second worksheet went about the same. Most questions she could compare with the text, or remember enough to answer. These were mostly the detail questions. This is really great, because when we first started doing these worksheets, she didn't know how to answer them, and we've moved right on through level two, and she can read the question, and find the answer now. As long as its not an abstract question or overall meaning type, she does really well. She can even answer the ones like question 2 correctly almost every time. This is definitely an improvement!
She had troble with one question which launched a whole discussion and whiteboard illustration about the difference between a chef and a baker! This turned out to be a great side track moment, because I found out that she loves to cook and her food vocabulary is pretty strong. She told me all about a sandwich she made and every ingredient that went into it. I think I am going to try to work some activity in where she teaches me how to make or bake something, because she really did kind of light up at this topic.
We finally took our break, as our first hour had actually become a lot longer than that!
Passage
James wants a dog. He walks to the pet store. James sees the animals at the pet store.
He sees the cats. He sees the rabbits. He sees the birds. He sees the mice. He sees the dogs.
"How much does the dog cost?" James says.
"Twenty dollars," the man says.
James gives the man twenty dollars. James buys the dog. The dog walks home with James. Now James has a pet.
Questions
1) What kind of pet does James want?
B. a cat
C. a dog
2) What kinds of animals does James see at the pet store?
I. rabbits
II. mice
III. lizards
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. I, II, and III
3) James does not see the
A. Mice
B. fish
C. cats
4) What pet does James buy?
A. a bird
B. a rabbit
C. a dog
5) How much does the dog cost?
A. 15 dollars
B. 20 dollars
C. 30 dollars
6) What is the best title for this passage?
A. James Sees the Cats
B. James Buys a Pet
C. Twenty Dollars
I am very curious about why she cant translate between the two. Let me know when you figure this out. Ladji one of my TP's knows several dialects of African that have no written language that baffles me too!!
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