The Tower of Babel

Several weeks ago two Iranian women showed up at Church looking for someone who could teach them English.  They had recently moved to Tralee from Dublin and had been in contact with the Church while there.  Someone told them to find our Branch to ask for help.  We were introduced and set up a time to come see them.  They are living at the asylum-seekers hostel at the Johnston Marina.

We looked around to find a curriculum of some sort to use, since neither of us have ever taught English as a second language before, and found a disc produced by the Church for teaching English.  It is called Daily Dose and is used primarily in the US to teach non-English speaking, LDS people English.  It consists of several sets of simple basic lessons talking about families, eating out, asking for directions, shopping at the grocery store, etc.  It has been very helpful.

We thought, at first, that we would try to teach at the Church, but realized pretty quickly that our two women did not have a car and really didn't want to have to walk to the Church.  So we settled on teaching at the Marina. They let us use the playroom during the morning when most of the children are at school.  We have a table, chairs and a chalkboard.

We started with Anahita and Firooze, both from Iran.  Ana also has a daughter, Elina.  Ana's English was a little better than Firooze's when we first started.  Both have improved.  They told us that the food at the Marina was really awful and they were really missing their usual food, so we took them shopping and then to our house where Firooze prepared us an Iranian meal of lamb, rice and beans, cucumber and tomato salad.  It was all very good.

Firooze, our chef for the evening.

Ana, Elina and Firooze with E & S Walker

We were getting ready for class one day when a man approached us and asked if his wife could join our class.  She is from India and her name is Geniz.  We told her to come along too.

As we were teaching another class, a couple and their toddler came in, and the woman indicated that she was interested in learning English too and could she join.  So then Belan from Kurdistan joined the class.

Now we were up to four students.  The next session, another young woman approached and asked if she could join. Her name is Madiha and she is from Pakistan.

Last week, we were sitting in the reception area of the Marina with Belan when a man approached us and asked if his wife could join the class.  Why not? The more the merrier!  When they came to class today both Saba and Flootor stayed.  They are from Albania.

 We are becoming truly international! Before each class we take the source material from Daily Dose, and take all the new words that will be introduced in that lesson and make a list.  Then we translate that list into the different languages of the people we are teaching. Thank goodness for googletranslate.com!  We are able to find all but one of the languages we need for translation there. We produce two lists each in Persian, Urdu, and Albanian, and one in Kurdish.  

I don't think our class is complete yet.  Who knows who else might want to join?  All the people living at the Johnston Marina have come here to Ireland seeking asylum from their native countries and are looking for a better life.  All can tell stories about the challenges and hardships of living in those countries they came from.  All of the people at the Marina need to learn English if they are going to succeed here. It is a challenge for us to know what to teach them, but they are all so eager and excited about learning and we see improvement every session. 

 

L to R: Flootor, Madiha, Geniz, Saba, S Walker, Belan, Firooze and Ana.


We are having fun teaching and getting to know these warm, sweet, wonderful woman and man and are looking forward to hearing their stories when they have enough English to tell them.

HASTE YE BACK!