Oh Crap! But who is going to teach me????

[JenneLynne]

Hi ya'll. What a predicament I'm in.

I'm in my first semester of "official" (meaning credit earning) ASL. I have some background, but it is limited, and though my ease of use has been returning with exposure to my class this semester and the Deaf community since January, I still haven't regained any sort of fluency. Not that I had any real fluency to begin with.

However... tonight at class (three weeks missed already mind you), a new student comes in. He's young, and handsome, and every girl in class is tripping over herself to get him to sit by her. (He came in late, and was loking for a table with room) My teacher sits him beside me so I can help him practice fingerspelling. Then I get to help him with the lesson. He's missed the first three, and we're a no voice class room, so that was a challenge. But by the end of class he can spell his name, say nice to meet you, and knows the difference between like and interesting.

So my teacher asks that we exchange phone numbers and get together once or twice in the next week so I can go over the first three lessons with him, and get him up to speed so he's not a fish out of water.

Yeah, I get to teach the first three lessons of our ASL book to a guy who today only knew how to say thank you in ASL, and all the dirty words in Arabic sign. It wouldn't be so bad, but it's grammar mostly, not fingerspelling and vocabulary.

What in the h*ll did I agree to do???

 

[jillio]

You offered to help a classmate. Helping a classmate learn will reinforce your learning.

 

[JamieLynn]

I can't help you because I am only learning ASL myself (as a hearie)... all I can say is that Jillio has gotten a good point!

Hang in there! I'm sure you will be a great teacher!

JamieLynn

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

Hi ya'll. What a predicament I'm in.

I'm in my first semester of "official" (meaning credit earning) ASL. I have some background, but it is limited, and though my ease of use has been returning with exposure to my class this semester and the Deaf community since January, I still haven't regained any sort of fluency. Not that I had any real fluency to begin with.

However... tonight at class (three weeks missed already mind you), a new student comes in. He's young, and handsome, and every girl in class is tripping over herself to get him to sit by her. (He came in late, and was loking for a table with room) My teacher sits him beside me so I can help him practice fingerspelling. Then I get to help him with the lesson. He's missed the first three, and we're a no voice class room, so that was a challenge. But by the end of class he can spell his name, say nice to meet you, and knows the difference between like and interesting.

So my teacher asks that we exchange phone numbers and get together once or twice in the next week so I can go over the first three lessons with him, and get him up to speed so he's not a fish out of water.

Yeah, I get to teach the first three lessons of our ASL book to a guy who today only knew how to say thank you in ASL, and all the dirty words in Arabic sign. It wouldn't be so bad, but it's grammar mostly, not fingerspelling and vocabulary.

What in the h*ll did I agree to do???

Drop his ass like a hot rock. It is his responsibility to make it to each and every lesson, and to show up on time. He is not your baby nor your boyfriend. If I was your teacher, I would have flunked his ass already for missing the first three lessons. At my old university, each time we miss a day of class, we lose a letter grade, and if we miss three, we are automatically FLUNKED. And tell your teacher that it was not your responsibility to get him up to speed since he was the one who missed THREE lessons, unless he had a very extremely GOOD reason for missing so many lessons, like being in the hospital with MENINGITIS and NOT just the simple flu. That's what most of my professors have pretty much said at the beginning of every semester. And the other professors also have said we have better have been DEAD to get away with missing THREE classes/lessons. They have actually said that they better see a death certificate (our own!) in order to have our absences be excused. (Meaning that they will NOT accept ANY reason for the absences.) Absences are not generally accepted at my university without a VERY SERIOUS reason. I think that is a very fair policy. It was even outlined on our syballuses.

 

[JenneLynne]

Thanks for the input.

Just for the record, I didn't volunteer. I was the only female in the room not particularly interested in the fella.

jenne

 

[jillio]

Thanks for the input.

Just for the record, I didn't volunteer. I was the only female in the room not particularly interested in the fella.

jenne

Benefits to your learning are still the same.

 

[Byrdie714]

Hi ya'll. What a predicament I'm in.

I'm in my first semester of "official" (meaning credit earning) ASL. I have some background, but it is limited, and though my ease of use has been returning with exposure to my class this semester and the Deaf community since January, I still haven't regained any sort of fluency. Not that I had any real fluency to begin with.

However... tonight at class (three weeks missed already mind you), a new student comes in. He's young, and handsome, and every girl in class is tripping over herself to get him to sit by her. (He came in late, and was loking for a table with room) My teacher sits him beside me so I can help him practice fingerspelling. Then I get to help him with the lesson. He's missed the first three, and we're a no voice class room, so that was a challenge. But by the end of class he can spell his name, say nice to meet you, and knows the difference between like and interesting.

So my teacher asks that we exchange phone numbers and get together once or twice in the next week so I can go over the first three lessons with him, and get him up to speed so he's not a fish out of water.

Yeah, I get to teach the first three lessons of our ASL book to a guy who today only knew how to say thank you in ASL, and all the dirty words in Arabic sign. It wouldn't be so bad, but it's grammar mostly, not fingerspelling and vocabulary.

What in the h*ll did I agree to do???

You offered to help a classmate. Helping a classmate learn will reinforce your learning.

Exactly and not only that but it will help you realize how much information that you are retaining as well.

Drop his ass like a hot rock. It is his responsibility to make it to each and every lesson, and to show up on time. He is not your baby nor your boyfriend. If I was your teacher, I would have flunked his ass already for missing the first three lessons. At my old university, each time we miss a day of class, we lose a letter grade, and if we miss three, we are automatically FLUNKED. And tell your teacher that it was not your responsibility to get him up to speed since he was the one who missed THREE lessons, unless he had a very extremely GOOD reason for missing so many lessons, like being in the hospital with MENINGITIS and NOT just the simple flu. That's what most of my professors have pretty much said at the beginning of every semester. And the other professors also have said we have better have been DEAD to get away with missing THREE classes/lessons. They have actually said that they better see a death certificate (our own!) in order to have our absences be excused. (Meaning that they will NOT accept ANY reason for the absences.) Absences are not generally accepted at my university without a VERY SERIOUS reason. I think that is a very fair policy. It was even outlined on our syballuses.

Aren't you being a little harsh?

The teacher probably asked her to do it because the teacher is probably impressed with JenneLynne's work in the class.

 

[jillio]

Agreed, Byrdie. Plus, if one is planning to go into one of the "helping professions", and terping can definately be classified as that, one should live an attitude of helpfulness.

 

[rev.lizhamilton]

Re: the harsh college stuff... I hate when teachers try to put in their syllabuses that there is no good excuse for missing class unless you're dead. That to me is just totally harsh and uncaring, which is not what a teacher is supposed to be like. What if someone's mom died and they had to fly across the country on short notice? Not excusable? Come on. Even on a job it would be excusable.

But no, it certainly is excusable if the TEACHER gets the flu and misses an entire week, having the class get stuck with a substitute!

I agree with previous person's post about being in a field of people helping people -- and I happen to be in the same, too. If you don't offer a hand to people, they are less likely to offer to help you in the future... if you do help people, it (should) make you feel good -- and you get the added bonus of them remembering YOUR help when they needed it, making them more likely to assist you if you are struggling.

Just remember... if it were you, you'd want the help, too, rather than flunk a class.

Stepping off the soap-box now... -Liz.

 

[Bebonang]

I am trying to understand what you want. You want someone to teach you like a tutor and you need help with your studies. If it is about learning ASL and if the kid want to learn something from you when told by the teacher that you end up being his tutor to teach him on something that he missed because he was absence. Maybe the teacher is giving you the reality check when the kid don't know much of the ASL sign very well and it is a challenge if someone who is Deaf or deaf who have a lack of English words in signs. It is an experience to find that you will have problem understanding him with no voice, and also no mouth movement so that you will get frustrated trying to understand what the Deaf said. But the kid is not deaf and he is having a little problem or more problem with his signs so the teacher want you to help him learn to sign and you are way better than the kid. If you are a nurse aid, then you would help him learn what he need to learn.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

Re: the harsh college stuff... I hate when teachers try to put in their syllabuses that there is no good excuse for missing class unless you're dead. That to me is just totally harsh and uncaring, which is not what a teacher is supposed to be like. What if someone's mom died and they had to fly across the country on short notice? Not excusable? Come on. Even on a job it would be excusable.

But no, it certainly is excusable if the TEACHER gets the flu and misses an entire week, having the class get stuck with a substitute!

I agree with previous person's post about being in a field of people helping people -- and I happen to be in the same, too. If you don't offer a hand to people, they are less likely to offer to help you in the future... if you do help people, it (should) make you feel good -- and you get the added bonus of them remembering YOUR help when they needed it, making them more likely to assist you if you are struggling.

Just remember... if it were you, you'd want the help, too, rather than flunk a class.

Stepping off the soap-box now... -Liz.

The reason the professors put this stuff in our syballuses now at my university was because they had big problems with students missing lessons and classes and then only showing up for mid-term exams and turning in papers, therefore not learning everything that they were supposed to learn IN class (such as hand-on stuff) and not getting the full benefit of their courses. So they became more stricter to discourage frequent absences and to keep absences to serious reasons only. This is more of a "scare tactic" sort of thing. They do allow excused absences with a doctor's note or a funeral notice or such things. They don't usually say this at the beginning of each semesters because they don't want the students to take advantage of this in the wrong way, so they wait until a student misses a class, and if the student makes efforts to contact the professor and had an extremely good reason for the absence, then the student will be told that a doctor's notice or a funeral notice or such will be accepted. That's what I learned.