ELI Newsletter Volume 4

Fulbright Awardee

It is wonderful tul to start this newsletter with great news about a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) summer 2024 graduate. Kaleigh Silverstein has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award to go to Uruguay. She was an excellent TESOL student and a dedicated teacher; in many ways, this news is not a surprise.

Kaleigh wrote:

I just wanted to write to tell you that I was granted a Fulbright to Uruguay as an English Teaching Assistant! None of it would have been possible without the amazing TESOL program you provide at WCC or without all of the support and guidance from everyone, so I just wanted to give a huge a thank you.

We were really excited to hear Kaleigh’s news and wish her well on her next adventure!

Embracing Challenges by Kathy Graf, ELI IEP Instructor

Have you ever dumped a bucket of ice water on your head?  Even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve seen a video of someone you know or someone famous doing it.  And as they dumped that freezing cold water, they “tagged” someone else and challenged them to do the same thing.  Do you remember why? This internet craze was called the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS, and it raised awareness and lots of donations for research into the illness sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS.

Recently, Kathy Gray’s Level 3 Listening/Speaking class learned about internet challenges in connection with a textbook unit on spending habits.  One challenge presented in the unit was a “Buy Nothing New for a Month” challenge, which encourages people to reuse, buy second-hand, or just do without rather than buying lots of new items that they might not really need.

The class dug deeper into the idea of internet challenges by watching a video about the Ice Bucket Challenge, and then they worked in small groups to design challenges of their own.  The assignment was for each group to think of a cause or a new habit they would like to encourage people to support or try, then create a challenge to promote their idea and present it to the class.

There was high energy in the room as the groups worked to create their challenges. The groups were told to start their presentations with a challenge question, then tell us the goals of the challenge, and finally give a clear explanation of the rules so we would know what to do.  When presentation time came, everyone was eager to present their challenges, and equally interested to see what the other groups had come up with.

Four groups presented four very different challenges for the class to consider.  One group challenged us to “Drink Only Water” for a week, for health and cost savings benefits.  Another group designed a “Speak Only English for a Month” challenge, which everyone agreed was a great idea but all were a little afraid of!  A third group designed a “Right-side Up” bottle flipping challenge, to help us remember to recycle plastic bottles.  The final group presented a “Walk 10,000 Steps a Day” challenge, and they told us all the health benefits doing so would bring.  All presentations were engaging and fun, and all the presenters seemed very proud of themselves by the end of class.

Are challenges something to be afraid of, or something fun to design and do?  Enjoy exploring this topic with your class. Be prepared for lively discussions and fun ideas that are sure to flow. 

And finally, a wonderful example of writing by an ESL  student in Barbara Kopeloff’s IEP class.

Great advice for learning English!