ESL...English as a Second Language

I have taken on a new endeavor. Last April, I started inquiring about the possibility of offering an ESL course, free of charge, for the workers at Escola Americana. There are many departments at school. Aside from the teaching and administrative staff, who all speak fluent English, we have security, custodians, cafeteria, drivers, and maintenance staff. Most of the "staff" at EA do not speak fluent English. Most of these employees travel an hour to an hour and half one way each day to work at EA. Most of these employees would bend over backwards for any request made of him/her. All of these employees greet me and Sierra with a warm smile day in and day out.

After much planning and coordinating with the head of Human Resources and each dept. supervisor, we decided that Wednesday from 4:05-5:00 would be the best time to offer the course. Mid-August, I sent a reminder email about the course to the head of HR, and the names of participants started filtering into my email inbox from department supervisors. The end result=25 willing and able-bodied Adult English as a Second Language students.

The secondary ESL teacher, Luiza, and the middle school writing teacher, Suzanne, comitted to assisting me in this endeavor, so we met (over beers at a local boteco) last Wednesday to plan our course of action!

Today was our first class!! It was basic. For anyone who hasn't taken on the challenge of learning a second language, it may seem strange that you need to spend 30 minutes practicing: "My name is Sara. What is your name?" and another 25 minutes singing the ABC's. Or, that doing both of these activities contained the most fun had by many all day.

The students left, mouths in full grin, exlaiming, "Thank you!! Thank you!!" and Luiza, Suzanne and I couldn't contain our excitement. As we rested to plan what to do next Wednesday, another middle school teacher entered the room ecstatic saying, "They were so excited! They had so much fun!" All of the students passed her room on their way from my classroom following our first lesson, and she overheard their glee. Her closing comment was, "Please let me know if you want or need more help because I want to help!"

Generosity IS contagious! And I have yet to think of the proper word to describe witnessing the excitement within a person when they are learning for the sake of learning!

I could also add that doing something for the sake of doing it,minus monetary compensation, is so rewarding that it makes me wonder what the world would be like if we weren't all forced to be driven by the power of the dollar or our salary or our living expenses...