Stanton County High School - Trojan Yearbook (Johnson, KS)

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Mr. Welch was responsible for Mary and Marisa's English instruction. Below are some of his observations about teaching English as a foreign language. Mary and Marisa have been active students all year. A part of their activity involved meeting with me third hour throughout the school year so that I could help them to learn to speak English. This encounter proved to be educational for me as well. Mary and Marisa spoke very little English upon their arrival at S.C.H. S. So we began our study with my checking out from the public library numerous books designed for the primary grades. Most of them con- sisted of words referring to everyday items accompanied by pictures representing the items. Words such as 'automobile,1 'toothbrush,' and 'elbow' became part of their knowledge of the English language. Because of the language barrier, Mary and Marisa ex- perienced great difficulty in comprehending the activ- ities of an average school day at SCHS. Our textbook during this period of time became the morning an- nouncements. The morning announcements introduced us to a variety of topics: class meetings, pep club, athletic contests, pep rallies, homecoming, assem- blies, school photographs, and the daily menu. Dis- cussing these topics helped Mary and Marisa to gain confidence in functioning in a foreign school environ- ment. This is not to say it was simple for me to communicate with them on these topics. I remember well spending an entire class period trying to explain to them what bierocks are. Two class periods were spent on long johns. So how would YOU explain long johns? From bierocks and long johns, we moved to comic books and catalogs. Archie and J.C. Penny presented the girls with the type of English that we Americans use in daily conversations—not necessarily 'grammar book English,' but conversational English.' We ordered items from the catalog and we learned to laugh in English over the comic books. One day during third hour, Mr. Steinert asked Mary and Marisa to accompany him to the superintendent's office in the afternoon. Although Mr. Steinert's in- tention was only to introduce them to Mr. Harper the girls apparently thought they were in trouble. I noticed the word 'sudar' coming up quite often in their conversation with each other during the remain- der of the class. When my curiosity finally won me over, I asked them what 'sudar' meant. I learned it is a Spanish verb meaning 'to sweat.1 By the time the second semester rolled around, Mary and Marisa were able to use 'grammar book English1 increasingly well. We conjugated verbs and declined nouns and the class began to resemble a traditional English classroom. Being students at SCHS has meant many things to Mary and Marisa. I hope among their memories are not only verb conjugations and noun declensions, but also long johns and J.C. Penny. Ivo, who was from Manaus, Brazil, experienced his first snow here. His reaction: Beautiful!