LSS CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS REFLECTION

LSS Center for New Americans Reflection

Regan Meyer
University of Sioux Falls

LSS CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS REFLECTION

I am the first one to admit that I have forgotten the majority of the formal English and
proper sentence structure that I once learned, so I was rather nervous attempting to help Englishlearners in the development of their knowledge and syntax. Thankfully, the dedicated teachers at
Lutheran Social Service's (LSS) Center for New Americans immediately eased my worries. The
educators at LSS utilized a number of exercises and teaching tools that greatly aided in their
students' absorption of the material. One of the first things I recognized was that the teachers
seemed to speak with a slight inflection. Molly, one of the teachers, seemed to pronounce words
and read sentences as if she was mimicking their accent-laced English. At first I believed this to be
counter-intuitive, but I quickly realized she was just stressing certain consonants and vowels harder
than usual, and this seemed to help speed the rate of the student's understanding. Another aspect
of Molly's style of teaching was to involve a lot of gesticulations and hand movements. If she was
intensely describing something specific, her hands seem to shadow the tone of her voice. The
students often did this when trying to describe an aspect of their culture: food, drink, or objects,
etc. I pictured the students visualizing what they were trying to say, as if they were holding it in
their hands, and that seemed to help me comprehend what was so difficult to describe verbally.
A large aspect of their oral education involves how to pose and respond to questions. I
found that the teachers were heavily intent on focusing on the development of practical
conversation while integrating grammar and syntax. Almost an entire class was spent on the
phrase, "How often... Molly explained that this stemmed from their recent study of adverbs.
When describing basic situations, the teacher is always integrating their names as much as possible.
Whereas a general educator might use common American names like Bobby or Sue, the teachers
at LSS try and integrate the specific names of the students. I determined that this was most likely
due to the fact that Bobby and Sue might not be commonplace in their cultures, but their names

LSS CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS REFLECTION

might be. Reading strategies and activities were rather different from any that we are currently
learning. One activity, dubbed "The Hot Seat", involved a student sitting in the center of the room
while the rest of the students and the teacher asked him or her questions. The teacher then
records the entire exchange verbatim. During the next class, the teacher prints out transcripts of
the conversation, and the class go over it, correcting any errors they run across. I like this activity,
because the students can see firsthand where the errors were made.
Another large portion of their English education involves writing and reading. For the twohour class block, the first hour is spent on oral education and the second hour on their reading
and writing. The other teacher that I spent a lot of time with was Mary, a retired English teacher.
She had spent a large amount of her career teaching English in the Philippines. I found the way
she assessed the students' spelling and sentence structure incredibly interesting. She utilized a twopart spelling test: the first part testing the students on ten words, and the second portion consisted
of her dictating sentences that used the ten words, and the students writing those complete
sentences down. This, in my opinion, is a rather ingenious way to practice not just spelling, but
also utilizing the words in a contextual setting. The primary focus of their language learning was
the use of English in a conversational way. We, as native English speakers, naturally use English in
our exchanges, however non-native speakers tend to use their mother tongue when conversing with
others. By targeting the conversational aspects of their speech habits, the teachers hope to
integrate English into their daily discussions more rapidly. In a way, it is rather similar to the way
we learn another language in that we find it much easier when we are fully immersed.
I've spent the majority of my academic career examining the world: its topography, its
countless cultures and peoples, and its many successes and failures. There is a big difference,
however, between studying the Earth and its inhabitants and meeting them face-to-face. Right now

LSS CENTER FOR NEW AMERICANS REFLECTION

there is a war going on in the southwestern region of Mexico known as Michoacn. The war is a
result of the dissolution of a major drug cartel into many smaller gangs. Two weeks ago, I met five
women from the Tierra Caliente sub region of Michoacn, and they couldn't be in higher spirits.
There is another man, a star student in fact, who had to flee his native country of Bhutan
immediately after his birth, and then had to flee Nepal twenty-two years later. A man who has
been a refugee virtually his entire life, and yet he is so excited to be learning English. Every single
person comes to class after a full day of work, or before beginning their long night shift. Many
individuals speak more languages than I could ever hope to learn. All of them views English as
their key to a successful life in America, and every person struggles in their education. The
tenacity and dedication necessary to overcome such adversity is awe-inspiring. Robert Frost has a
wonderful quote that goes, "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your
temper or your self-confidence." On many levels, these individuals are amongst the most educated
people I have ever known. Sudan, Colombia, Iraq, Bhutan, Iran, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras,
Liberia, Guatemala, Burundi, Nepal, and Mexico are the native countries of every person I have
met at the Center for New Americans. Before volunteering at LSS, I had zero connection to these
faraway places. Now I have meaningful connections to these countries, and I am forever thankful
to every one of the students I have helped.