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There are no loud rooms at the library

January 27, 2011 in Teaching | No comments

I thought it was a legitimate question: “Do you have any ‘loud’ rooms here?”

I had just entered the Humboldt County Library in Eureka with a Korean woman I have been tutoring. We needed to work somewhere that we could read out loud and ask questions and – if the library gods obliged – laugh or smile.

The woman at the reference desk told me they don’t have ‘loud rooms’ at the library (which didn’t explain the small children rhythmically drumming just outside the lobby). She knew what I meant and told me she had just shushed two men who were studying near by. I was pretty sure I could outsmart this woman. I can’t imagine the library is staffed well-enough on a Wednesday night to be on shushing patrol.

The woman I’m tutoring — we’ll call her Diana for anonymity’s sake. Diana and I made our way up to the second floor and settled on an empty room next to the DVD/CD collection. We talked for almost an hour before I realized we were in the newspaper room. I almost drooled. Both of us were so excited, running from bookshelf to bookshelf. We found bound-editions of Life magazine from the 60s and National Geographic from the 1910s! We even stumbled across some of my old articles from my reporting days at the Eureka Reporter before it closed down in 2008. Diana was excited to see my name in print and it instantly engaged her in the material.

Reading is difficult for her, as she is learning English as a second language to her native Korean tongue. She does a great job and I was happy to help her. Tutoring is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.

Diana found a microfilm machine that allows users to reference old articles stored on film strips — like a negative from a manual camera. Next time we meet (once a week at this point since we both work during the day), we are going to research stories. Diana owns a business locally and is excited to learn more about her building’s history.

After a stressful day at work, meeting with someone with such enthusiasm, courage and patience for learning was something that made my day.

P.S. The library rocks. Why don’t I go there? Now I have to find my damn library card. :)

A Thai Teenage Dream

December 8, 2010 in Kids, Teaching | No comments

Sometimes it’s as easy as talking about pop music to connect with a 17-year-old girl. Today, I tutored May, a girl from Thailand that goes to high school down the street from me. In between learning the different pronunciations of the letter “v” and the letter “w,” we were giggling about Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. She told me she loves the song “Teenage Dream.” I squealed, and a little too loudly at that. The school is at a church. Some students were in the chapel trying to read and I was being my big, American self, yelling out with all my voice had to offer. I really am a big mouth, but with a big smile I can usually get away with it. :)

May told me her parents sell vegetables in Eastern Thailand in a town called Surin. She is going back there in June and worries that she won’t know English as well as she had hoped. I think she is making great progress, especially considering she had only had four hours of english lessons before she hopped on a plane to California for a year! So brave, that girl.

I love learning about Thailand. She said her favorite holiday is Loy Krathong. There is a picture of people launching lit crafts into a pond above. She said it’s really fun, but there is still a language barrier between us. Often I have to do a lot of research on my own on learning about stuff like this, but I don’t mind. It’s so cool!

The more that May learns English and begins to trust me, I feel like we are making a genuine connection. It really makes me want to travel to another country. I’m not sure where/when/how/why/blah blah blah that I would make it all happen, but I know I have always been fascinated with people that are different than me.

You don’t listen to NPR?!

December 5, 2010 in Reflection, Teaching, Writing | No comments

I never thought of myself as a media snob until today.

Even though I am a trained journalist involved in all sorts or media, I don’t read the New York Times every day (or even every week). I don’t listen to Democracy Now! or regularly watch documentaries. I always thought of myself as kind of a media poseur, that I can write about people, but I don’t read about them quite nearly as much as I should. Then I realized my media-intake habits, however inconsistent, have still helped me become more educated and decisive than a lot of people in the United States – even in our own small community in Humboldt County.

I realized this today while I was doing some volunteer training to help people learn to read and write better. I interviewed a fellow trainee – an older woman from Fortuna, we’ll just call her P-Dawg for privacy’s sake (I’ve been nicknaming people “[blank]-dawg” a lot recently…it sounds cool, right?).

Anyway, she was really surprising to me. I think I really take literacy and access to information for granted. P-dawg doesn’t have a computer. She doesn’t own a CD player or listen to the radio. She only reads the local newspaper, watches TV and reads trashy romance novels. She seemed perfectly content not knowing what National Public Radio is and eating Burger King for lunch on a regular basis.

In our exercise, she took a turn to interview me . She wrote a lot slower than me and mixed up my words very easily. Not the best listener. I never realized that I write fast – and accurately at that. I never realized that it was a “skill” to be had. I am always so hard on myself about my writing/listening/reporting skills, but I am realizing I’m actually quite good at it. Is it bad that I took this woman’s faults as an ego boost? I don’t think so. I think we both had a good time with the exercise, each taking it at our own pace and asking questions in our own way. We both learned how to be better listeners and adapt our skills to each individual person that we work with.

The sun came out. I “step”ped up my good mood

November 28, 2010 in Exercizication, Kids, Teaching | 2 comments

I’ve been kind of gloomy the past couple days. The weather reflected my mood – unsettled. It would brighten as the clouds opened up and I would skip around town with a down coat, a beanie and my iPod – bopping to Arcade Fire and Lily Allen. A lot of folks were out of town for Thanksgiving and I was kind of lonely in Arcata. Town was just dead. I woke up this morning feeling sluglish and decided to try something I hadn’t done in five years – Step class! It’s an aerobics routine workout that became popular in the 80′s.  Basically all you do is dance around and on-top -of a platform.

Judging by the people who attended the class, I’d say the same steady followers from the 80′s still make up most of who attend the class. I was the youngest person there. Oh boy, Sunday morning workouts aren’t big amongst 20-somethings, but I didn’t let it stop me from getting my groove on. Anyway, long story short – I got my ass kicked. It was mildly humiliating. I could barely do the side crunches. Yikes. One “L” step after another, a shuffle-ball-change, mambo, tango, reverse rotation, ham lift! Ahhh! I was spinning. It felt good though. I had been invited to go to a co-worker’s bootcamp class recently, but after this morning, I can see I’m not ready to be doing push-ups with beefcakes at the gym. Maybe next week?

Now, I’m back at my cozy home at the Compound. Drinking coffee and prepping to teach my 12-year-old students about newspaper. I’ve been copyediting their work for the last couple hours and what can I say – it makes me so happy! I love seeing their progress. I love their energy and it gives me more positive energy. I really think I am meant to be some sort of teacher. It just is the most fulfilling work I have done in my life so far.

This Saturday, I am going to take it another step farther to see if teaching is really what I’d like to do. I’m taking an all-day workshop in literacy tutoring for adults through the Humboldt Literacy Project. I’m going to start volunteering one-on-one with a local adult in the community that has difficulty reading – whether it be those who are learning english as a second language, or english speakers that just need a helping hand.

Should be exciting, fulfilling, challenging and a learning opportunity. All things I welcome and strive for. Hopefully it will get me back into reading, too? I’ve been lagging…

Song to listen to: Modern Man by Arcade Fire

Discovering a passion besides journalism…what?!

November 10, 2010 in Kids, Teaching, Uncategorized | No comments

Who knew I would find something I love to do as much as practicing journalism? I’ve been carrying the torch for the media business, totally enveloped in learning about reporting for seven years. I know I’m young, but I really thought that nothing could ring my bell like catching a scoop on a story could. I was wrong.

My new passion is working with kids. I’ll admit, I’ve never even technically babysitted for anyone (unless you count the rare occasion I’m left playing Memory Match with my 8 and 11 year old nephews). I had always avoided kids like the plague because I just thought we wouldn’t get along.

I’ve been working with kids part time at a local elementary school for three months now. I love it. I’m teaching nature fun, creative writing and newpaper (yes!). I teach kids from age 7 to 12. I never realized there was such a difference in each age range. I think I really do prefer 9 to 11 year olds. Although the younger kids are a plus because they never hold back from giving you a hug if they need one (and as Bill Cosby notes, they really do say the darndest things).

This is a whole new world for me. I’m learning a lot just by teaching them. Can I raise my voice to them? What do I do if they won’t listen? What can I teach them? I feel like coming up with lesson plans is never a problem for me. I’m creative and I have a knack for breaking down information into a way that anyone can understand. It’s just sometimes the kids are having a bad day or they’re tired or hungry or yadda yadda yadda.

The last couple days I was having a hard time getting the kids to stop screaming. And then, a yard duty came into my class and did the magic “hand clap.” I remember teachers doing that when I was a kid. You clap a rhythm, and when the kids hear it, they clap back. Everyone is silent. Everyone listens. It really is magical. Whoever thought of that should get a medal or something. Better than Cody’s idea of shaking a can at them. Maybe squirt bottles? Haha. Just kidding.

Each day I spend with the kids, I learn more about myself and I can see that they are learning from me, too. It’s a wonderful human exchange and I feel giddy just thinking about it.

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Day 4: Avoid the color indigo to escape dragons

October 12, 2010 in Adventures, Teaching | No comments

“No offense, but that color you’re wearing attracts fire breathing dragons.”

-said by an eight-year-old boy, to me in my indigo dress.

Winning over the kids

September 21, 2010 in Reflection, Teaching | 1 comment

I finished teaching my first after-school class today for elementary school students. I’m teaching nature, creative writing and newspaper. Today was Day 1 of Nature class. I had five kids. My tip on winning over kids? Just dress really hip and fashionable. At least the little girls will dig it. I totally got complimented on my rainbow newspaper rainboots today.

I couldn’t believe that I was teaching a nature class. I am the girl that struggled with biology class in college. Well, it turns out most of the kids were more interested in chasing banana slugs than learning anything in particular, so it made my job really easy. This one kid, all he wanted to do was either catch frogs for his pet snake at home or draw a daddy-long-leg spider. He was so cute, carrying two frog books from the library in his hand.

I helped some little girls put daisies in their hair and asked them questions about all the plants they were drawing. Sometimes you just have to laugh. I can tell I’m going to have many little kid friends very soon and I don’t mind it.

It was a lot of fun being around all the energy. The kids were lining up with their backpacks by the door, just waiting for the bell to ring. I remember that anticipation. I also remember being the bratty little girl that would throw a fit and not participate in many things. I’m just waiting for karma to catch up with me, but hopefully I’ve paid back my dues in some other way.

I’m excited to see the kids again. I teach both writing classes tomorrow and I guess there is a whole gaggle of girls super excited to start a newspaper. I’m really stoked about that.

I’m wondering what to teach the nature kids though. It’s a little intimidating. Even though I am a Humboldt County girl, I have never been a big nature person. I guess I’m learning, too.