Please make a note of it!

The office of Home Tutoring Central will be closed for Spring Break until 11:00 a.m., Monday March 31.

Sharon will be at the TESOL conference in New York City from April 1-6. She will be gone again April 16, 17, and 18 tending to a family matter.

Please be patient and don't leave too many messages or she might not come back.

Never too old!

Wanted: Patient, loving, dedicated volunteer to teach English to an 84-year-old Burmese Karen woman. This grandmother arrived in the U.S. in November and is parenting three grandchildren, ages 6, 10, and 13. Her case manager says she could use the English help as well as some moral support. She is not literate; however, she still would like to learn some spoken English.

This student-to-be lives in Glendale. Call me if you're interested in working with her.

(That's not really her picture, but it is a Burmese Karen grandmother!)

Lesson Planning Links

I've had a lot of questions about lesson planning lately. There are a lot of theories on how best to prepare a syllabus, scope and sequence, and specific lesson material. You can get a very good idea of how to organize your teaching by checking a few of the links here. For more, do a Google search on ESL lesson planning.

Click any link to see the plan.



Lessons for nonliterate adults

Comprehensive plan for Beginning Level

Comprehensive Plan for Intermediate students

For tutors specifically: Eastside Literacy's Curriculum

Handouts to help at any level

The latest from Darfur

Today on NPR's program All Things Considered, one of the feature stories was a lengthy interview with Michael Gaouette, the new head of the UN team overseeing UN and African Union forces in Darfur. The interview is both informative and discouraging.

Once the troops are in Darfur, Gaouette tells Melissa Block, their mandate is "tremendously expansive."

"We've been tasked to look into the human rights situation. We've been tasked to help with building systems for the rule of law. We've been tasked to help in an area they call 'child protection,'" he says. "But the marquee issue in the mandate is 'protection of civilians.'"

Gaouette says he's concerned that there may be an expectation
that the force "would be able to somehow magically step between two warring
parties and stop a war."

"We're not equipped to do so."

You can listen to the entire story online by clicking here.

Population information

Each year, the refugee populations that come into the U.S. change according to conditions overseas. This year, we are expecting to see more Somalis, Burmese (especially Karen), and Nepalese from Bhutan. If you would like to learn about these populations and the circumstances that bring them here, check the links below.

Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal this weekend, their situation went from bad to worse. You can read the UNHCR article here
The Somalis: History and Culture

Burmese Karen and Camp Life

This is an excellent interview with a refugee from Burma. Pay particular attention to the part "Fears about coming to the U.S." Click here

March is in like a lamb...and a lion

Hmmm...75 degrees on Saturday, 20 degrees on Sunday. Does that mean the lion ate the lamb or just chased it away?

I'm not sure what it means other than we live in Colorado. And it's March. And it's time to report your home tutoring hours for February.

Please let me know your hours no later than Friday, March 7. My report is due on Monday, March10.

Thank you kindly.