Dwight showed a friend and me around the University of Minnesota teaching and research greenhouse where he volunteers. This gorgeous space has four rooms, each with a different climate, including this desert room. The rainforest room smelled and felt wonderful on this frigid day.
Category: Volunteer
Back to School
Digs for my new Friday noon gig where I’ll be working with six adult non-native English speakers on GED Reasoning Through Language Arts. It’s energizing being with learners who want to learn.
Communication Styles
Tutored, without fear of passing on my lingering cold. Today we discussed Rosa Parks, and different styles of speech and writing when honoring her legacy.
Nursing Priorities
Nursed a Surly Furious waiting for Dwight to show from his greenhouse gig. He’d been nursing seedlings from an almost-extinct Hawaiian plant that he’d previously pollinated. I was happy to wait.
Phlebotomy as a Third Language
Ready to deliver my twice-weekly “Phlebotomy as a Third Language” tutorial over Google Meet. English is the second language, Somali the first. I use slides from a phlebotomy certification course, but focus on the language rather than the practice of drawi
Phlebotomy Vocabulary
Covered some heavy stuff with my ESL/phlebotomy student. I’d be amazed if I’ve spelled all the words correctly.
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic
Cycled to a clinic to get blood drawn by a phlebotomist. Later, held a biweekly ESL (English as a second language) Zoom session with an adult student who is studying to be a phlebotomist. We’re working through a text book learning to say words like “ethylenediaminetetraacetic.”
Opposing Arguments
Organized learning materials before my GED student arrived via Microsoft Teams. Currently we’re exploring ways to represent opposing arguments. Google Docs is turning out to be an excellent tool as it makes it possible for us to edit a document simultaneously.
Language
Swore when I knocked a mug of coffee onto the keyboard while tutoring a student online. It could’ve been worse: I said sh#$ rather than f&$#, and the keyboard still works.
Focus on a Better Future
As anger spills over in Minneapolis, I’m focusing on my small contribution for a better future. A GED (high school equivalency diploma) text, the size of a phone book, arrived in the mail. I’ll tutor an adult non-native speaker online.