I spent two hours today trudging through Geometry homework with one of my EL students after school. I had to explain each of the instructions for each section and re-explain my entire lecture from today and re-explain vocabulary that we've learned and been using for a month and teach words that have nothing to do with Geometry, but were necessary for the student to understand what I was talking about. I say "trudging" because it was a slow process, not because it wasn't enjoyable. I really like tutoring after school, especially when the students are motivated to learn, but this case made me realize how hard it is for EL students. The homework should only have taken 30 minutes.
This year, I have a bunch of EL students. Most of them are really motivated, but still failing my class. They try, but some of the stuff in Geometry is so hard to explain even to someone who speaks English fluently that to someone who is still learning English, it must be complete gibberish. I imagine myself trying to learn Mutivariable Calculus in Spanish. It would not be pretty.
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