My English class of the spring semester has now met once, and I look forward to getting to know my students, Andrei F., Andrei C., Andrei P, Rostislav, Olga and Svetlana, better. They are second year theology students, except for Rostislav, the lone first-year, whose English seems to be quite a bit better than the rest. It’s an interesting group, from what I can gather from the 75 minutes we’ve spent together so far. They come from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakstan. A few are mid-thirties, married with children, the rest are single, in their early twenties.
The basic goal of the class I’m teaching this semester, Exploring Theological English, is to help students become better readers of theological texts. As they continue their education, they will be required to write many papers, and asked to consult English texts as sources. So throughout this course they expand their English theological vocabulary (as I am as well!), learn some reading strategies for tackling texts with lots of big words, and learn some grammar and sentence structures that are commonly found in theological writing.
Although these students have taken a minimum of three English classes at DCU, most of them have difficulty carrying on even simple conversations. This is only the second class I’ve taught, but the blank stares when I begin to speak in English are very familiar. I am the first teacher they have had who does not speak any Russian to them in class. Right now it seems amazing that they can begin this class hardly understanding a word I say, and end up reading and comprehending theological texts that take even a native English speaker a decent amount of concentration to understand. But veteran English teachers here tell me that every semester they think their students will never “get” the material, and every semester they are pleasantly surprised by their students’ level of comprehension at the end of the course.
But though our goal is to make them better readers, this semester I am also focusing on speaking. Many students tell me they want to travel to the U.S. or another English-speaking country, and for that they need practical speaking skills. I have been surprised to find that there are many students who can read and comprehend fairly difficult texts, and score straight A’s on vocabulary quizzes but struggle to understand a simple question about how long they’ll be gone for Christmas break. I completely understand their struggles, as I can’t seem to form one single cohesive sentence in Russian without stuttering and stammering. Hopefully my empathy of their language situation will make me a more effective teacher and will encourage their conversation skills. Right now it’s wait and see.
Laura
