Today was busier than usual! There was lots of activities and workshops happening today at the UBC Learning Exchange. My day started off helping to set up the computer session at 9 a.m. hosted by two of our staff members. Afterwards, I went to “My Health Matters” session until 10:30 a.m as part of the Senior Thrive project initiative at the Learning Exchange. In this session, which I observed and participated, I met senior learners who were very enthusiastic and eager to learn about personal health and well-being. We discussed topics on our body systems (i.e. veins and artery), the dietary food sources (i.e. proteins and fat), and information about our heart, and the various exercises that help improve our overall well-being. I could see that everyone was engaged in not only learning about the health, but also in learning English.
Right after this session, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to teach an ESL Level 2 class. I received the lesson plan and attendance sheet right before the lesson actually started, which I expected, and this is good practice for being a future TOC. There were about 6 – 7 English learners at this session. The handouts were quite lengthy – it was filled with very nice examples and fill-in-the-blank areas for students to work on their own (or together). Considering that the length of time for the session is only 75 minutes and that there were a lot of information to get through from the handout, it was difficult to get to every question. In the end, we only covered 2 pages out of 5-6 pages!
That being said, I would rather have students understand the beginning materials first before diving into the more complicated questions or topics. I also realized that learners really enjoyed reading the words out loud and seeing the words and sentences written on the whiteboard. Providing that visual is great for students to pick up grammar and whatnot fairly quickly. I also used different colour of markers when writing out sentences to indicate certain important words. I also used arrows to point to certain words when learning noun-verb agreement, for example. Aside from the actual lesson,
For the rest of the afternoon, I was involved in the Volunteer Club that is happening every Tuesday after lunch. We brainstormed lots of wonderful ideas on the important skills/assets gained from volunteering, and the different types of support are needed for the dedicated volunteers.
Following the Volunteer Club session, I played Mahjong at the Learning Lab for the Mahjong Club until 4:30 p.m. Throughout the afternoon and in between sessions, I was at the Drop-in greeting and having casual conversations with our patrons. Overall, I have learned a lot and participated in a lot of activities, which I am very thankful for! 😀 Tomorrow will be another busy day at the Learning Exchange!
