Teaching
and English: a perfect combination
By Yoshinori Okada
Summer Forty-Niner
An
international student from Korea points
to a female student and says, “He can understand
English.”
“He? He is a man and she is a woman,” a
teacher immediately corrects the student’s
incorrect grammar usage.
A session goes on with a small group of
international students sitting around a
table, surrounding Barbara Goux.
Goux works as a volunteer tutor teaching
English to international students at the
Conversation Lab inside the Learning Assistance
Center. Twice a week, she heads for her
classroom, a small compartment, inside the
LAC here at Cal State Long Beach.
For some international students just starting
their semester, adapting themselves to a
new environment, different culture, lifestyle
and language is not easy. The language barrier
bars them from being successful students.
Goux has been offering help.
While her teaching experience at CSULB is
just about a year and a half, the beginning
of her career as an English as a second
language teacher dates back to the 1960s.
Goux always wanted to teach English and
she loved literature as much as she loved
to be a teacher. While she was earning bachelor’s
degree in English from the University of
Pennsylvania and master’s in education from
Cal State Los Angeles, the choice of whether
to become a teacher or a writer sometimes
confused her. But her desire for teaching
outweighed writing.
Her decision was partly affected by the
importance of making a living at the time.
She soon received a teaching certificate
and began teaching high school English.
She shortly found herself being attracted
to the teaching profession and knew her
choice was right.
Another turning point for her career came
in the mid-1960s with the introduction of
the U.S. Peace Corps, the federal government’s
new program to send people to teach English
in foreign countries. She applied for a
position as a volunteer and left the country
to teach English in Malaysia for two years
as part of the program.
Goux began with a two month training session
in which she, together with other volunteers,
was instructed how to teach ESL at the University
of Hawaii.
After the program, she spent several years
back in the United States going to graduate
school, teaching ESL students in Los Angeles.
Afterward, she spent several years teaching
ESL students at the University of Connecticut.
In 2001, she returned to California and
has settled in at CSULB.
Goux was born to teach. Her desire for teaching
drove her to teach not only English but
other fields such as adult education, legal
writing and composition.
“I like teaching. I think it’s the best
profession,” Goux said. “I’m delighted whenever
I find students learning something, language
behavior changing. No matter when it’s happening
or who’s doing it. That’s always a small
victory.”
Even slight improvements of students’ writing,
speaking and reading skills pleases her.
Those moments are the essential drive for
her teaching.
Another drive for her in teaching ESL students
is her interest in foreign culture. Goux
said that was part of the reason for her
joining the Peace Corps. What she saw, felt
and learned in Malaysia would have big influences
on her life. She values the importance of
foreign cultures and the cultural diversity,
especially for this country.
“There were few students from Thailand,
Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan. Now, there
are many of them here on campus,” she said.
“It’s been wonderful to realize that many
kids at that time have come here to study.”
Not all the elements and processes of teaching
are interesting. Difficulties teaching ESL
students struck her while she had been in
Malaysia. Soon after being placed in one
high school, she was beginning to find that
students there did not want to participate
in discussion, unlike their counterparts
in the United States. In Malaysia, a dialogue-based
teaching style was not considered effective
under the British school system and was
not accepted, forcing her to change her
teaching style.
Two years later, another task was waiting
for her back in the United States at an
urban school in Los Angeles. Her newly adopted
teaching strategy for ESL students in Malaysia
turned out to not be very effective for
American students mostly for their lack
of interest in studying English.
An ultimate goal for Goux as a tutor at
the Conversation Lab is giving the international
students a basis for taking the Writing
Proficiency Examination. Since the questions
given in the WPE requires extensive knowledge
over general topics, such as environmental
issues, and skills to develop a point of
view with critical thinking. Many of them
have problems understanding the issues and
providing an answer in correct English.
Her role is to encourage them to talk about
those issues and guide them to better understand
and express in the English language through
the session. While she says the main focus
for the session is on the WPE, many students
have joined the session simply to enjoy
English conversation. Goux enjoys the personal
communication too. She prefers a small group
session to large classes in the college
because it is easier to engage one-on-one
communication with a student.
Goux sees international students as a hope
in the future. “Students here are wonderful
resource for the U.S. and their own country,”
she said.
To contribute to people and society is what
she likes to do.
“I feel every effort I make is valued to
someone, to myself and to other students.
That’s a wonderful feeling. And that to
me is what teaching really is all about:
people. If we can make a difference to somebody’s
life, that’s a wonderful contribution.”
She knows the joy and excitement as well
as difficulties of teaching. A number of
international students have learned a lot
from her and were able to get their American
lives started.
She really loves teaching. “I’m going to
continue teaching as long as I can,” she
said.
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