ESL Conversation

I will begin this blog by saying that I feel mediocre in comparison to everyone else in our class because I can only speak English. I feel ridiculous because I can't remember the name of the woman who came in to speak to us about ESL students, but she asked us all what languages we spoke and as everyone replied with at least two languages, I inadequately replied with "just English". I thought about my inadequacy and tried to find a way to make myself feel better. I decided that I can speak "baseball". I am fluent in baseball. Not everyone understand a dropped third strike or a curve ball falling 12 to 6, but I do! I can have a conversation about baseball with any expert, but not everyone can. Gyra can speak to anyone in Spanish and I cannot. Likewise, she cannot speak to anyone in any depth about baseball. This thought made me feel a little better about myself. So for anyone else out there reading this who can only speak English.. think about what else you have knowledge about which other people may not!

I enjoyed watching the clip about ESL students and their experiences at UR. I had a "that is so true moment" when some one described his first encounter with someone asking him "what's up" as he was passing through campus. This ESL student stopped to tell him how his computer was broken and he was struggling to get that fixed. He realized that the student he was speaking to clearly wasn't that interested in what his problems were. Poor kid..