Synthesis Memo
For Field Experience Unit of ENGL 167
Date: December 5, 2018
To: Professor Kelly Sassi
From: Amalia Thomas
Subject: Synthesis of Field Experience notes
This synthesis draws upon the field notes I took at an English Language Learner class taught by Ms. Reinke at Davies High School and field notes taken at the Conversational English Circle (CEC) here at North Dakota State University. My field notes led me to believe that there are two common themes that can be recognized at each of the meetings: effort, and grit and cooperation.
Effort
You often hear the expression, you get out of it what you put into it, and this much is certainly true. It became increasingly obvious to me that the students that were more interactive in each class or session a.k.a. expending more effort, were benefiting the most from each meeting. When at the English Club Circle meeting, I observed very closely the interactions of the international students with the American students and instructor attending and came to the conclusion that the students who talked more or even asked more questions seemed to be acclimating best and learning the most each session. I only attended one of these circles before they were finished for the semester, but I believe that they are truly helping students from other countries better adjust to the life and culture we have here in the United States.
Attendance to these sessions is completely voluntary and open to all international students. They are hosted weekly at the Union on Thursdays, I believe at 8 o’clock. Each club meeting is about an hour long and involves all members to be seated in a circle around round tables. Eunice Johnston, an English advisor, leads the entire interaction and introduces questions or topics as prompts for conversation. Usually the questions have something to do with a tradition in the U.S. or some sort of complicated social system that many people from other countries may not understand. At this particular meeting we were talking about the education system in the United States, both public and private, mostly focusing on High School and college. There were a couple girls there from Korea, a woman from Bogota, and 4 or five people from China seated at the table. Everyone else there were English students there to participate in the session.
There was a young man from China who asked a great number of questions about reasons behind college education in America and was not afraid to ask for clarification if he did not understand things that others said. He seemed the most proficient in his English speaking and seemed to have a better understanding of how things worked after speaking with us who are native English speakers and Americans. He definitely seemed to be contributing the most and benefiting the most from these meetings out of everyone else there.
In Ms. Reinke’s class there were many more students in class than one would expect, probably around 20 or 25 of them total. Most appeared to be from India, although there were a fair number of students of Asian and African descent as well. Surprisingly, all the students in the room gave the impression right off the bat that they were fairly proficient English speakers, although there were definitely some that were better than others. Ms. Reinke’s class focuses on helping students learn how to read, write, and speak well in English, preparing the students for college as best possible in such a short period of time. Of course, since this is a high school class, every student was required to attend daily, unless ill or excused for some other reason.
It was really easy to tell which students were putting forth the most effort from the start. A young girl of Indian? descent raised her hand almost every class period I was there and asked the teacher questions about the stories the students were writing at the time. She seemed to be the best adjusted in the class and spoke very good English. She frequently would answer the teacher’s questions when they were raised to the students about the text and she often would interject to give her opinion or perspective on a certain issue being discussed.
In contrast, there was a young gentleman who sat near the back of the class who rarely spoke. He frequently would go on his cellular device during class or put in earbuds and sleep while he was supposed to be listening or working. He never seemed to fully understand what was happening in the class and seemed not to care or put forth any sort of effort to change things for himself in that regard.
Grit and Cooperation
As strange as it may sound, I do believe that grit is a bit different from effort. It focuses more on the perseverance aspect of things that effort, which I believe to be the initial push in accomplishing some goal or task. Grit is courage, resolve, the ability to stick through in tough situations. The students at the CEC learner circles for English club that stuck with conversation or followed along even when things got tough seemed to have the most genuine experience possible at the meetings for this club and also seemed to really benefit from each group discussion. In turn, I also believe that cooperation from English native (American) students, teachers, advisors, and instructors with the international students in both settings was truly a positive influence overall. They can share inside information from a very personal viewpoint, helping the International students to connect with that information that much better. This cooperation also helped the students to understand and see the culture of America in people they might not normally interact with who are older than them or from other parts of the United States.
At the English club meetings cooperation between the American members and International members of the club paid off. The English students were able to give the International students valuable insight about life in the states. This information might have been more difficult to understand had it been told by someone older and further away from modern experiences of high school or childhood. Eunice Johnston was able to clarify information to those students about more complicated things such as government, class sizes, or taxation of citizens, giving more adult-informed answers to fill in the gaps the American English students could not fill.
At Ms. Reinke’s class, grit is seen very clearly in the students’ ability to work on assignments for longer periods of time or in their ability to continue reading in English out-loud after messing up. Ms. Reinke helps to bridge the gap between American culture and the International student’s cultures (cooperation) with her teaching them important academic tools and basic reading tips and things like grammar and sentence structure that really are so important.
These themes were strongly seen in both the club and classroom setting and were truly fun to explore. I look forward to attending more of these type events in the future.