That was kind of you to teach English to immigrants. I got some certificate a while back to help teach 0-level and 1-level ESL learners (also immigrants), but I tired easily, so that only lasted a few months. I never experienced teaching/tutoring before, and the students (a married couple) were so grateful to me. They kept calling me "teacher," which I wasn't used to. It's amazing what you feel when you help someone learn. I never felt that before. I've tutored peers, but there was a reciprocal exchange of them tutoring me, too, during our study groups. It wasn't where I was in a teaching position.

It takes so much energy to teach though! I was standing for two hours at a time, and very animated with different lesson plans to help them learn. I'd ask them to come to the white erase board to write down the ABCs in both uppercase and lowercase. I really didn't know what I was doing. I had no one to instruct me on how to instruct. But, when they took a placement test toward the end, my supervisor told me that they elevated to the next level, which made me feel proud.

I taught them other things, besides the basic ABCs, such as how to tell time and how to write a complete sentence. They were Vietnamese speakers, and neither of us knew one another's language. It was completely emersion.

I felt they needed someone more skilled than me. I only volunteered because there was a shortage in the area I lived. I've since moved from that area.

Kudos to you for teaching! I'd like to know how you teach!

It's so fascinating to teach another language when you don't know the other language. I had to do so much "sign language," as in pointing to a specific color in the room to show them what color it was or what the object was called. Like pointing at a blue ball and saying the sentence, "I see a blue ball." I would ask them what they saw, and they would answer the question. I think that's how one of the lesson plans went. I had way more energy back then.

Anyway, I can't sleep and so I found this old post of mine that I must have missed responding to. Sorry for my delayed response. I'm kind of half awake here.