Two Algerian Ladies

The best thing about teaching English as a Second Language is meeting people from different cultures. This provides an excellent opportunity to learn by listening to others once in awhile. A case in point: Recently I had a very humbling experience. I had some material which was written in English that needed correction. Well, I corrected the English, and I was comfortable with that, but the CONTENT was Science which is not my field. I decided to ask my friend, an Algerian research scientist at UMass to look at it from a scientific point of view. This beautiful, gentle, and quiet lady proceeded to demolish the scientific content of the report line by line. When she finished, she was still smiling, but I felt like I had been run over by a truck. After all is said and done though, I will pass on her valuable advice. Oh, and I will always remember the best advice of all: " Remember to peel the orange before you eat it.".... Thank you, Miss Algeria, and I hope you can go on Michelle's Maine trip in June.

I can name the second Algerian lady. Her name is Khadidja and she was a student of mine at the Adult Learning Center a few years ago. I call her the "cock-a doodle-doo lady" because of the unique lesson that she generated. She asked me one day, "Mr. Leo, what does an American rooster sound like?" I proceeded to demonstrate. She said that Algerian roosters sounded differently and she demonstrated also. She was right. The rest of the class was amused and decided to follow her lead. Soon I was listening to Korean roosters, a Chinese rooster, a Kuwaiti rooster, a Puerto Rican rooster, etc. We then did them all at once. It was riotous! We learned a new word---CACAPHONY. We ended up with the best conversation and vocabulary building lesson I ever had before or since. This is what is known in those teacher education courses as the "teachable moment". I wish I had a video of that lesson. I would put it on this moodle site that I am getting one of these days soon. Boy, would that be neat. Sometimes in teaching you know, you just have to let it flow...
Algeria's loss is America's gain. By the way, I never saw Khadidja's CV, but you should see Miss Algeria's! Yikes, when UMass recuits scientists, they really recruit scientists!