Update on Sensationalist Nudity

I came home from four hours of classes back-to-back followed by the Teach-In that had advertised a unit of credit for an hour of attendance.  (They came clean:  It would be 16 hours.)  But my teacher's day began much earlier, at 4:51 when, after getting the lesson plans all on, I checked my e-messages and found a link for Coca Cola and Mentos in Russian from Dmitry and an update  from Maven, whose essay was illustrated by sensationalist reporting on nudity a couple of days ago.  Here's an update:

Tina! I finally saw a naked person today.  My sister and I were heading to SFO today.

But while we were going to SFO we saw a group of naked people in the bart.

My sister who is from south korea but she used to study in SF, said " Oh My God...

This is real city and real life in San Francisco."

I wanted to take a picture but i couldn't do because they have a civil right and I didn't want to 

bother them.

Anyway I had a great weekend! what about you? I hope you had a great weekend! See you 

tomorrow!!

My students identified these naked people as the ones from the Folsom Street Fair, exercising "a civil right," the right to go naked on BART?

Phone Messages from Students

Here's an interesting phenomenon:  Students can do an assignment on leaving a message and do it well.
They give their first and last names and their nickname if they have one, and they spell their last name so you can check it in our alphebetized gradebook.

Then one day they really have to call you, and their message is something like this:  "Hi, Tina.  I'm sorry I can't come to school today.  My little girl sick.  Have a nice day."

I went to some seminars with CCSF, Skyline, and SFSU, and the absence of carry-over was a topic.  Why didn't the student apply what they'd learned to the next class or even the next lesson?

These are some thoughts that pass through my mind as I listen to their second phone message assignment, which was to apply what they learned  in the first lesson and add some information.  (In this case, they're telling me when they made an appointment for an interview with a native-English speaker and when they'll be conducting the interview.)

Some of them are remembering to spell their names:  A as in a, i as in I, etc.

New Zealand Prints My Love Letter

This morning before leaving for school, Mike popped into my Outlook inbox saying that my toast to him and the rest of New Zealand appeared in the capital's newspaper and he was "humbled."

I was really happy that he found out about that way because it indicates that people read their newspapers!

I actually tried getting on a copy of this that hadn't been reduced, but it didn't come up, so here's this unreadable one.

It's also online at this URL.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/letters-to-the-editor/9216188/Letter-Kind-words-from-San-Francisco

Letter: Kind words from San Francisco

Last updated 10:51 27/09/2013

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Letters to the Editor

Letter: Criticism of Barker not warranted Letter: Allergy services in Wellington Letter: Safety first for this cyclist Letter: We need better science teachers Letter: TV commentator soured it for me Letter: Team New Zealand did us proud Letter: Kind words from San Francisco Letter: Let's start a regatta that can't be bought Letter: Mouthguards not just for teeth Letter: The genetic proof has been found

OPINION: I hope New Zealanders enjoyed seeing our beautiful city as much as my friend Andrea and I enjoyed seeing beautiful New Zealand back in 1971. I fell in love with New Zealand and New Zealanders during our month on vacation from Tonga, where we were Peace Corps volunteers. We already had one Kiwi friend, Mike, who was a volunteer in Tonga and whose family welcomed us, as did people we'd never met before. Officials taking our passport numbers conversed with us between the digits. It was truly an ''awesome'' experience.
I'm still in touch with Mike who, recovering from a recent stroke, wrote several days ago while viewing San Francisco during the America's Cup. The thing he mentioned first was his concern for us after the fires in Yosemite and his hope it wouldn't affect our water supply.
So while we raise a glass to the winners of the 34th America's Cup, here's a toast to Mike, and all New Zealanders, with their kindness and spirit. Team New Zealand impressed us, too, and all New Zealanders are winners.
TINA MARTIN
San Francisco

Sensationalist Nudity among CCSF Student Fears

Do you want to know why some ESL students lack the skills they need for academic success?  It's because they're distracted from their studies by sensationalist reporting like that about nude men walking around San Francisco.  Since I'm now brain dead (too much beating my head against that brick wall), I'll just copy and post what I was sharing with three friends:

      I'm now responding to a new set of essays, and the topic is the harmful effects of sensationalist reporting on us the public/society, so it's interesting to see what the students come up with.  One student wrote that he worried needlessly about all the naked people walking around San Francisco everywhere.  Instead of studying English, he kept asking his Korean friends how he was going to deal with this problem of nudity that was obviously so prevalent.  Then he came here and didn't see any naked people at all.  He'd wasted his time and energy trying to figure out how to deal with a problem of hour-to-hour confrontations with naked people when he could have been learning more English!  (But what about all the women in slacks instead of skirts!!!!  Wasn’t he warned about them?)  Of course, because of all the time nudity kept him away from English, his way of expressing this problem goes like this:

I read an article that it was a lot of naked people walk on the street every day and everywhere I go in San Francisco.  I felt scary because I had couple days to go San Francisco so I asked to my friends how I overcome and understand their culture...I felt anguish about the culture.  When I came San Francisco, I realized which was false.  When I turned back, I was silly and I wasted my time,  If I have a chance to turn back, I will study English instead getting an answered about naked people.  Thus, sensationalist reporting makes readers to waste time.

     

I still love their turns of phrase:

Dear Tina N. Martin

Good afternoon Professor Martin ! Im sorry being late to reply to you . If I awared that this was our assignment , I would sent it to you delightly...

      For the past few days I've been conferring with a counselor at DSPS (Disabled Students Programs and Services) as well as the previous teachers for a student suffering from Parkinson's as well as a student who has skeletal problems that make it difficult for her to carry a textbook.  What courage they have to come to campus, though the student with Parkinson's is more regular.  The other student stands up both DSPS and me when she's made appointments. 

      I'm working hard on an article on helping students in distress, but it's getting much too long because there are so many students in distress, and there are so many steps to take as well as brick walls to run into and bang my head against.  People say there’s no use banging our head against a brick wall, but they’ve overlooked one benefit:  It might render us unconscious!

A Love Letter and Note of Condolence to New Zealand after the 34th America's Cup Competition

Dear New Zealanders, especially Mike~

          I hope you enjoyed seeing our beautiful city as much as my friend Andrea (1946-2010) enjoyed seeing your beautiful country back in 1971.  There’s no city in the world that I love more than San Francisco, but I also fell in love with your country during the month we spent there on our vacation from our jobs in Tonga, where we were Peace Corps volunteers.  We already had one Kiwi friend, Mike, who was a volunteer in Tonga and not on vacation, and his family invited us to dinner, as did families we had never met before. All the Kiwis welcomed us—whether at the Y or on the road.  Most of the time we stayed in Youth Hostels, but on a couple of nights we stayed at the Y for $1.00 a night, and Andrea used to tell the story of one of those nights when someone we had met earlier in the day knocked on the window at midnight with a roasted chicken, which Andrea woke up to accept through the window.  (John remained outside.  Then she woke me up.

          "Tina, it's midnight, and that nice guy John just handed me a roasted chicken through the window."

          "Oh," I said, "I was hoping he would. 

          We hitch-hiked all over the islands without fearing for our lives or waiting more than 10-minutes for a ride.  We got invitations from the woman managing a bookstore and from a Rumanian-New Zealand family who had a fish and chip place but took us home for an “even better dinner.”  People taking our passport numbers conversed with us between the digits.  It was truly an “awesome” experience, and as you can see, you made an indelible impression.  

           I am still I touch with Mike who, recovering from a recent stroke, sent me an e-mail several days ago while viewing (on the tele?)  San Francisco in America’s Cup—but guess what he mentioned first:  His concern for us after the fires in Yosemite and his hope that it wouldn’t affect our water supply.  (He meant our drinking water, I think, not the water in the bay!) 

          So while we raise a glass  (maybe not pristine water?) to the winners in this 34th competition for America’s Cup, here’s a toast to you, Mike, and to the New Zealanders with your kindness and spirit.  Your team impressed us too.  You are all winners

'Ofa atu,
Tina

When I've finished responding to essays, I'll be back with more teaching matters--what I got online for the students today (America's waste of good food & the overuse of antibiotics--fun, fun, fun) and the response I got from the head of CCSF's Student Health Center about an incident involving a student I felt compelled to drive to General Hospital last February. 

CCSF Who's Tech Savvy among Our Students?

Today I met with a DSPS student I like and admire a lot but don't think can succeed in my High Intermediate Academic ESL, a level he's failed twice before and has added in the seventh week.  I also talked to a counselor at DSPS who I think is both caring and realistic. 

But because I feel I can't say too much on that subject without divulging identities, I'd like to say a few words about tech help from students as well as their limitations in finding things on our website and in their ccsf e-mail! 

Last Friday a student thought he could find a way to stream my Area 2 DVD so we could watch it on a video player, and even though the one in charge of Broadcast Services couldn't understand his English, the student is knowledgeable but just sent me a message saying that he couldn't get the DVD to work on his macbook and will try another computer.

This morning when I got my iPad onto the playlist for a fill-in-the-blank song exercise, it was a young Latina student who helped me find the volume!

But...on an assignment to find a document I've put on the web site for ESL 140, a student e-mailed me because she either didn't understand what I said about its being on the web site or she couldn't find it. Here's another question about the tech-savvy:  Why can't they check their ccsf gmail?  What's so hard about that?

But I don't want to sound ungrateful for what they can do and do to help.

Focusing on the Behavior of Other Instructors instead of My Own

I felt very energetic today, but that's not necessarily good.  It may make me more aggressive.  I learned from College Oral Communication 2 that 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 is not necessarily the best score.  Ten can be aggressive, and 1 is passive, so the author considers 5 to be the best because it's assertive without being aggressive.  When I think I'm delivering a message loud and clear, I may be overwhelming and terrifying the students.  I sort of had that feeling today. 

But let's not talk about my negative behavior.  Let's talk about someone else's.

This morning for example, I went into the copy room in the Arts building, where both machines were working (hallelujah) and I was the only person.  (It was before 7:30.)  After I starting making copies, two other teachers came in, and I told them that I would limit my copying to three minutes and then let one of them have a turn.  But in the middle of one back-to-back copying the machine I was using ran out of paper, so I went to the mail room, where there's a supply.  If I remember correctly, someone went in with me, but I may not remember correctly.  In any case, I carried three reams back to the copy room, and while one teacher was at copy machine 2 and the other teacher was waiting and looking on, I unwrapped each of the three reams and finished the part of my copying that had stalled.  I then said to the waiting, looking on teacher, "If you're going to take only three minutes, you can go now, and I'll get behind you."  I'm pretty sure she said "Okay" rather than "thank you," and she started making copies.  After she'd been at it for about three minutes, the teacher at copy machine 2 was having problems.  The teacher I'd given the go ahead to said, "I'll let you two do your copying now," so I told the teacher at copy machine 2 that if she had something quick to do, she could go before me since she was having problems with copy machine 2, but she misunderstood and thought I was asking to use her machine.  I said, "No, I meant that you could use this machine before me."  She said that copy machine 2 was now working.

But to my surprise the teacher I'd let go ahead of me continued to make copies and even paused to paste together her original.

I know this teacher and I even like her.  I'm interested in what she teaches too.  But over the years I've watched her overuse the machine to make hundreds of copies of pages from extra books.  (By extra I mean that they're not the books she asks the students to buy.)  I've also noticed that she's not very considerate of  other instructors.  Maybe she has a bad sense of how long she's taking.  Maybe she cares more about taking care of her own class needs than about being fair and making sure that the other instructors can take care of the copies for their classes.  But it's a little bit startling. 

Nowadays, when I'm startled, I try to take a look at myself and find ways that I might be startling others.  But that comes only after focusing on their transgressions.
 

Sweet Messages from Students

Before I went to McLaren Park to see Macbeth with two friends from a 1996-200? Shakespeare reading group, I got a call from a friend who's been active in the protest against the ACCJC saying things she didn't want to put into e-mail because I was protesting (in my quiet, ineffective way) against the mis-information the students had given out about an hour of attendance at a teach-in being worth a unit of credit.  At the time she called, I was in the process of entering grades into Easy Grade Pro to be sure I was giving attention to the students who need referral to Early Alert.  (One thing that occurs to me is that those who have weak reading skills need to change habits and become BIG readers after a lifetime of probably reading very little beyond assignments and probably not even assignments very thoroughly. They need to begin reading something that FASCINATES them, whatever that may be and even if that doesn't go beyond Dear Abby or the little blurbs like that of the homeless man who found a backpack with $40,000 and turned it into the police and is now the recipient of more than $90,000 because someone started a fund for HIM to reward him.)  Once back from the outing, I listened to phone messages from students completing an assignment about their interview appointments.  But I didn't begin the essays, which I probably won't return until Friday.  But here's a message from a student who thinks I a.  have  b.  will  c.  will have. 

Dear Mrs. Tina N. Martin,

Here is {her full name}, your ESL 140 student. 

Thanks for sending the link of the video and the song "The Rich".

And I'd like to give my apology to you for my example sentence that talked about: "I want the teacher......." yesterday. But, I meant that whom I mentioned in my sentence not to be you. Hopefully You haven't been angry at me, have you? Please forgive me!

Now, I'd like to share to you some links talking about a man called Nick Vujicic who I introduced to you and classmates in the morning and a link of a song that I love it. If you have extra time, please take a look and enjoy them.Please see links below.Thanks Tina! 

Thank you very much for your teaching and taking time to correct our papers even though weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Have a good night!

Sincerely,

Your student,

{Full name}

The sentence she's referring to is one completing the sentence "I want the teacher to...," which she completed with "be more patient with us."  I wasn't at all offended, but I was concerned that maybe I was coming across as impatient when I answered questions, so I asked her.  I thought it was really sweet that she wanted to reassure me.  

Then I got this message from a student whose message about being absent from class I had responded to by giving her her homework assignment and saying that I hoped everything had gone well during her appointment.  I'm not quite sure what sh had in mind with "circumspect," but after five years of teaching overseas and thirty-one years of teaching at CCSF, I still appreciate turns of phrases like "My everything were ok." 

Hi Tina 

Good Morning ! Thank you so much Tina,you are not only a circumspect teacher but also are a best friend!

Yes , my everything were OK,  I'll do my homework tonight.

Thanks

LOVE

I hope that our everything are ok too.