A bit tardy, possibly, but welcome to the Arlington Works! blog. This is a place for the current members to share their stories--how they came to join the program, what they're working on, what they hope to accomplish this year, and any additional little comments about life as an AmeriCorps member.
So, let me begin. I'm Anna C., and I'm working as a Parent/ESOL instructor with Edu-Futuro. Although I'm originally from the Northern Kentucky/southwest Ohio area, I've been in DC since 2007, when I came for college; I've stuck around ever since! I decided to apply to an AmeriCorps position after I graduated because I wanted to learn more about the community I was living in, and to do meaningful work while I'm deciding on future life plans. (If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to share!)
Let's get some basic background information about this specific project, Arlington Works!, out of the way. It's a joint collaboration between REEP (the Arlington Education and Employment Center, but much better know by its acronym), Edu-Futuro, and the Arlington Employment Center (AEC). Members work primarily with one of these three organizations. I'm serving with two other members at Edu-Futuro, and learning more every day. I've been teaching the ESOL classes since the middle of October in two different locations: a mostly Bolivian church in Falls Church, and at Claremont Elementary School, where one of Edu-Futuro's other projects, Escuela Bolivia, offers Spanish classes for children. I've also lead some parent leadership sessions, in conjunction with the Emerging Leaders Program, another Edu-Futuro project that provides mentorship and leadership development opportunities for Latino high school youth.
What's been most meaningful to me so far has been the relationships I'm beginning to build with my students. It's been fun to get to know them, and understand what they're capable of so that I can design lessons that are relevant to them and are challenging but not overwhelming. What's been challenging is motivating students to come to class, and here I'm at a loss. When we began registration for the classes at the church, we had about 20 people sign up. The largest class ever was about 15 students total, and has since dropped to 3 students in the beginner level, and 3-4 in the intermediate. What went wrong? What else can we do to motivate students to come to class, and to finish out the session and complete post-testing?
