Day 14: "Books for My Children"

One of my dear friends is an ESL teacher; her reflection log speaks for itself.

Having never been to a library in his life, one of my adult ESOL students was completely overwhelmed. He looked at all of the signs with awe and anticipation. He gingerly picked up books, almost looking like he wasn’t sure if the books were actually in his hands. Throughout our library tour, he kept shaking his head, and quietly saying, “Books for my children.” He spoke almost as if he was offering a prayer of thanksgiving. The librarian showed us the different sections of the library, as well as the different media resources available, like the Internet. When the librarian had completed our tour, I gave the students a chance to wander up and down the aisles and encouraged them to find a book or CD to bring home and enjoy.The students were so excited to try out their new library cards, their first American library cards. Their eyes sparkled with curiosity and joy. This one particular student found some books to share with his children and solemnly used his new library card to check out the books.

As we drove back to the classroom, I smiled. I listened to three of my students chatting away in English in the back seat. They compared and contrasted the American library with city libraries in their respective countries, China and Peru. The one gentleman, sitting in the front seat, continued to quietly stare out the window, not participating in the back seat conversation. In an attempt to engage this normally talkative student, Iturned to him and said, “What did you think of the trip to the library?” The conversation in the back seat died down, almost pausing for his response.“In my country, no libraries. We have civil war.” And that stopped conversation completely. Everyone was silent, reflecting on these words. Using simple present tense, this Somali student had used English to express his thoughts and emotions. I was stunned and humbled, holding back tears.