Old Dogs Learning New Tricks

Well, folks, it is now official. Today I signed the transfer papers and am the new English as a Second Language teacher at Whitewater Middle School, which opens in Charlotte, NC, in August 2009. Whew!! What a strange journey has taken me here! For nearly 40 years, the soundtrack of my life has resonated with cross-cultural, international experiences, so this is in a way just part of a long progression; my experiences in Cape Town, South Africa brought it into focus.But it's a little scary, too, because there is so much responsibility that comes along with this position.

All early adolescents feel ill-at-ease both among their peers and in their own skins. Imagine being 13 years old, removed from all your friends and family, in a foreign country where you do not understand the cultural cues, and spending your days in an American middle school among a lot of American early adoloscents whom you can't even understand. Not a comfortable situation. I want not only to teach them to communicate within their daily environment, but also to understand the academic language they need to be successful in school, as well as providing their "safe place" to be themselves. Pretty tall order for someone who as yet doesn't even know the ESL curriculum.

But it's important to be a life-long learner, and I will be able to model this for my students.

Life is good.