Old Students...

I just spent 10 minutes talking to an old student. She is a Spanish speaking student from Bolivia. Talking with her made me think about the many students I have been lucky to teach. When I first started teaching ESL in Salt Lake I had Spanish and Vietnamese speakers (Salt Lake had (maybe still has) a large Vietnamese population). I taught there for more than 2 years. Then I went to Zimbabwe where I taught Shona and Ndebele speakers. Since coming to New York in 2002, I have taught a wide variety of students: Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Jordanian, Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian, Haitian, West African, Polish. Who am I forgetting? No, I am not forgetting Spanish speakers--they have been my largest population by far! Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Chilean, Guatemalan, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Salvadorian, Nicaraguan, Argentinian. Even Americans whose first language has been Spanish.

It has been a pleasant change teaching at St. John's where there has been a large variety of students--a little more weighted to the Far East though. Now this semester has come along and things are a little different; I have mostly Chinese speakers. Six of seven are Chinese speakers in my writing class and four of six in my speaking class. How did that happen? Luck of the draw, I guess!

I wonder what populations I might teach if I move? New York has everyone, but other places in the US are not so varied, many cities have only a few large groups/populations of immigrants.