This post (The Library - Part One) is an entire chapter (titled The Library) from Languages & Life Lessons.
The Library
One of the final courses in the TESOL program required finding a class to teach for a specific number of hours. The professor would then drop by to observe the teacher in action a few times to provide feedback on their performance — and give them a grade. Most students found an existing class and asked the instructor if they could teach it for a few sessions. I got creative with this assignment and went a different way, as usual.
In December 2012, I asked my local library if I could borrow the community room a couple of times a week to offer free ESL classes. The librarian said the room would be available, starting January 2013, for an hour when the library opened in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I booked it and went to work. I made a flyer in English and one in Spanish, made several copies of each, and started posting them on the bulletin boards of the library and the neighborhood Mexican markets and restaurants. I prepared lesson plans and created entire lessons with exercises, which I printed and collated, making sure the entire experience would be completely free of charge so that everyone could benefit from it.
That first day I went to the library community room a half hour before class to set up the chairs and tables. By nine o’clock I was ready to receive students but wasn’t really expecting any. Then the door opened and student after student came in. They seemed a little anxious about registration, but I assured them that the class was free and they only had to write their name — or even a nickname — on the attendance roster I had created. Twelve people showed up that first day, and the number just went up over the weeks. I kept bringing new handouts and going in early to set everything up. The library staff was amazed at the turnout.
The librarians were so impressed by the class that they offered to help with copying the handouts and about three months in, they even rewarded me for my efforts with an unexpected cash bonus. The students were learning. They attended regularly and told their friends about it. The class grew bigger and bigger. My professor visited a few times and had nothing but positive remarks. I got an A in this class and graduated with honors in May — and still kept showing up at the library community room week after week, and so did my students.
At the time, I didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes. I just kept going, for months, until I finally got a job offer for my mornings starting the fall semester. I needed the job, but I couldn’t just let go of this class. It was working — really well — and attracting more and more students, all eager to learn. I thought perhaps I could find another student from the program to take over the class, now established, for the same course in the program. I went to the librarians and shared my dilemma as well as my idea for a replacement. I was thrilled to find out that they had been busy jumping through hoops on their end to keep this program alive.
To make a long story short, the class I started at my local library turned into two classes at that branch and spread to several other branches. Only a few years later, the ESL program was already active in twenty-seven branches and was getting started in the twenty-eighth... and I had created this program.
Productive accidents can happen when I focus on the process and not the outcome.
