Orator

Over the last 5 months I have been attending an ESL endorsement course through my school district. I have loved learning techniques and methods of how to successfully include and educate students who's first language is not English. As a speech-language pathologist, I was interested in this course because the kids that I work with are similar in their deficit of the English language. The difference is that kids receiving these services have English as their first language for the most part. So essentially, they are struggling to learn their first language.

Their difficulty lies in understanding how words go together, how they relate, or making connections between words. Think of it as a spider graph. With each word we learn it can be associated with another word and then on to another word making our understanding of a word or concept grow exponentially. For example, the word "spider" would traditionally be associated with the words "web" and "eight legs." I would also link it to my sister because of her acute fear and revulsion of them. She can't even be in the same room as a spider, let alone kill it. She would rather just leave the room to wait until her husband returns home or she might even call me at work (that only happened once).

Anyway, my purpose for taking this course was to continue in my education of children with language difficulties so that I can hopefully understand how to more successfully fulfill their need to learn. The following speech was given a few years ago in the Dallas Independent School District opening services of the new school year. Holla to Texas! They know how to do it right! I hope that as educators, whether it be in the schools, in homes, or in life we can believe in one another and believe in the children we serve, who's futures we are linked to.

Dallas Independent School District Opening Speech

What a charismatic, kid! I hope I can raise children to be as he is.

They truly are our future.