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I don't understand this. I have tried 3 times to post an entry...it says "published successfully", like always, but I can't see it. Can you see an entry about Martha Clara?

I Survived!

(Again to the tune of Frere Jacques...)

I survived (I survived)
I'm surprised (I'm surprised)
I didn't screw up anything
None of the students acted up
Prof. was pleased
So was I

Observations

Oh, help! I have my first official ESL observation Friday morning. I wish I could've chosen which class to be observed, but I couldn't. The beginner group, which often greets my prompts and questions with blank stares, is the one. I am stressing, I am stressing. Must have the perfect lesson plan to submit. Must include the ELA and content area standards appropriate for their grade level. Must satisfy INTASC, be culturally sensitive, be cognizant of linguistic backgrounds and incorporate appropriate second language acquisition tools. Must display proper classroom management skills. In short, I must teach in such a way as to get the best academic response and production from these kids.

Can we sing? (to the tune of "Frere Jacques"):
I am nervous (I am nervous)
Yes, I am (Yes, I am)
So much to remember
There's so much at stake here
I hate being watched
I hate being judged


sigh

Martha Clara

This past weekend, we decided to drive out to Greenport for the Maritime Festival. We couldn't get an early start, because I had to work until 1 pm, so we figured we'd just head east, and if anything else caught our fancy along the way, we'd stop. The destination wasn't particularly important, just time together, DH, Little Sir and I, outside on a gorgeous early autumn day.

We stopped at a few farms to check out their wares, bought a 50 lb. sack of Yukon Golds (I think they've got to be the closest American potatoes to the reallly good yellow Turkish potatoes we had this spring), 25 lbs. of tomatoes, some basil, nectarines, corn, and a few green tomatoes for frying. We looked at corn mazes and hay rides, but they didn't exactly thrill us. So, we kept going. Then we saw the cattle.

Martha Clara Vineyard has a mini-herd of Highland cattle that demanded our attention. I have never been a cow-lover, but these creatures really interested me. Perhaps it hearkens to the Scottish blood in me, seeing creatures equipped to deal with brutal Highland winters, with their gorgeous long furry auburn coats and horns that could do some real damage. I don't know, but something deep and ancestral was touched.

DH fell in love with the donkeys (he used to ride them in Turkey as a little boy, and has a soft spot in his heart for them.) Little Sir went for the sheep and goats, as they were a little more his size, and less threatening. There were beautiful draft horses, the color of white/grey marble, majestically pulling the hay-wagon. The alpacas (llamas) were sweet, docile as deer, but friendly, looking for free handouts, with coats I could imagine spun into blankets and sweaters.

There is an art shop on the premises, with some paintings in different styles for sale. There are also wood works of varying sizes, apparently made with an electric saw, that are truly amazing. Giraffes, over 8 ft. tall, horses, a bear, a mermaid, and a life-sized bull-dog grace the shop, and are definitely worth stopping by to look at.

Knowing that it is a vineyard, they surely have a wine tasting room, and all that goes with it, but we were having so much fun outside, we never went in. They had live music, with lots of picnic tables outside, where people had brought coolers and were enjoying the gorgeous backdrop to their lunch/dinner.

We eventually did make it to the Maritime Festival, but it was disappointing. It really wasn't much different than all the other street fairs we've been to on this Island of ours. There were some pirates wandering around, scaring little kids, then giving them rings. There was the carousel, which is marvelous (NOW I understand the phrase "the brass ring"!), and the marina is lovely, and of course all the shops, and walking through the village (as parking was scarce), we got to see lots of houses circa 1820 and older).

What a lovely day to be out and about. I wish we could have 3 months or so of this weather, with extended foliage-watching time. Ahhhh...

Introductions

My last post, about trying Chinese bubble tea, sparked comments that have brought back lots of memories. Tonight I am having broccoli rabe, or rapini, one of the later adult additions to my personal list of favorites. Working in Italian restaurants, I saw it as a staple veggie on the menus, and decided to try it several years back. It's like broccoli in shape and color, but unlike it in its bitter kick. Broccoli's ok, and cauliflower, too (sorry, Natasha), but broccoli rabe is something special...saute it lightly in garlic and olive oil, serve it over some penne, sprinkle a little parmesan on top and Presto!...you have one of my favorite all time dishes that Number One Son likes, too.

It also makes a wonderful side dish for, or accoutrement to, chicken francaise. Mmmm...

Also, an adult discovery for me, is homemade Manhattan (Long Island) clam chowder. I discovered it a few years ago, when I bought a big basket of seconds tomatoes from a local farm, and was trying to figure out what to do with it. I discovered that if you grate the tomatoes, simmered with onions and garlic, add steamed clams and their broth, add some basil and whatever other herbs you like, spicy or not, adjusted to your own personal taste, and you have one incredible pot of soup. And it's not expensive. Great to make batches of and freeze for cold winter nights to come!

The same base can be used with other shellfish for chowders, as well as just veggie chowder, or with chicken or beef/veal/lamb...you name it. Sooo much better than using canned tomatoes!


Broccoli rabe is starting to come into peak season, so check it out. Tomatoes are at their cheapest and best now, too, available in 15 lb. boxes, etc. from the local farms. Get them before the frost comes!

Bubble Tea

Have you ever tried bubble tea? I first heard of it from a fellow grad student/ESL tutor, who raved about it. Then, it popped up in a Buster Bunny DVD we borrowed from the library for Little Sir. It is a Chinese beverage, served hot or cold, and comes in many flavors...almond, taro, mango and other fruits, your typical milk tea, and some that resemble latte/cappuccino. You can get it "with bubbles" or "without." The "bubbles" are tapioca beads, like pearls. You are supposed to drink and eat it with a very wide straw through which the beads can be drawn.

Wednesday evening, I was running a little early to my seminar at Stony Brook, so I popped over to Jasmine, a restaurant in the Wang Center, and bought one. I chatted with the sweet girl, a Chinese barista, also a student at Stony Brook, who gave me lots of info. about the drinks as she prepared mine. I noticed a container of small mango pieces, next to the tapioca beads, that could be substituted for the tapioca in a drink. I thought I might try that next time.

Well...I got my drink, paid for it, and scurried across campus to my class...
While waiting to cross a street, I took my first generous slurp. The liquid portion was pleasantly tasty, and my initial reaction was positive...
then, a split second later my senses registered the sticky globs of yuck sitting on my tongue. I didn't want to bite down on them, and get it stuck in my teeth, so I gingerly pressed one to the roof of my mouth, testing it that way.

Wallpaper paste.
Yup, that's it. Wallpaper paste. The beautiful black pearls in the bottom of my drink tasted like wallpaper paste. Thank God, I'd grabbed a few napkins, and quickly spat them out into one. I then lifted the straw to try to drink the liquid without getting any tapioca in my straw. This was a pretty tricky endeavor, resulting in a few accidentally slipping past, causing me to repeat the napkin process.

Once in class, I toyed with it a bit more, then finally gave up. As much as I hate to waste things, this had to be disposed of. Enough was enough.

I emailed my friend, the bubble-tea-raver. She said her first experience was pretty much the same (she never told me that before!), but she tried again, other flavors, and now she loves it. It's a special treat that she sometimes shares with her 8-year-old son.

Maybe I will try to enhance my intercultural experiences again and attempt a different flavor, perhaps with the fruit. But I think my tapioca bead days are over.

I Did It!

I survived my first kindergarten ESL lesson! Student teaching started the day before school actually began, and mostly I've been observing and helping out a lot. My assignment for the elementary part of the certification process has been to a kindergarten ESL teacher. (I've already satisfied the adult teaching requirements, and high school comes next. When I'm done, I'll be licensed to teach ESL pre-K through adult...it's pretty comprehensive.) As I have been used to teaching mainly 5th grade and up, except for my one-on-one private music students, I was really scared of teaching the little ones.

We started by administering the LAB-R, which is the test all incoming students must take if their parents indicate on their home language questionaire that a language other than English is used at home. That, in itself, was a real learning experience. Forget your preconceived notions of what an ESL 4 or 5-year-old looks like. This particular district had entrants which were fluent in Russian, Indonesian, Urdu, Farsi, Ashanti, French-Creole, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Korean, Chinese, and a lesser amount than I expected of Spanish.

I have a 4-year-old, and he has quite a few friends, so I have a pretty good idea of what 4 and 5-year olds really know. I was blown away by some of these kids whose parents had checked off the boxes that said "speaks, reads and writes English only a little." Well, many of them did have some difficulties with speaking English as fluently as their American-born peers, but their reading ability was way above the average English speaker's. When interviewed, they indicated fluency in their first language, including reading and writing...and you have to realize that the Korean, Chinese and Russian kids are doing this in a different alphabet (or in nonalphabetic characters)...as are the ones with Arabic-based languages. Amazing.

Of course, there are those who barely speak or understand English, and who have no literacy at all in their first language. This is sad, but not representative of the ESL population as a whole. Just to see how far their education thus far had progressed, I experimented with the advanced group (1 Spanish-speaking 4-year-old, and 1 Korean and 1 Russian speaking 5-year-old.) Since they whipped through the lesson for the day, all about apples, we continued into math (counting, adding, charting the results of our survey) as ESL has to also teach English skills in all the content areas. I couldn't believe their skills were equal in that, too.

There are a lot of challenges, teaching a linguistically diverse, multi-proficiency population of students...but so far, I'm finding it very rewarding.

Madeleine L'Engle and Luciano Pavorotti

The beginning of September marks the passing of two greats in this world. In a world where bland mediocrity is hailed as artistic greatness, both of these heroes represented true genius, in and out of the public spotlight. Although very different on so many planes, L'Engle and Pavorotti were giants in their encouragement of quality education, and in providing an environment for true thinking. They were examples of what we are capable of, and where very few, sadly, choose to go.

I could write pages of blog entries about each of them, but nothing I could say would express who they truly were. In my life, these two will be sorely missed.