Today I chose a text that is written in French. I chose French becasue I took it in high school. I thought this would give me a little bit of an advantage. It has been a long time since I have even read any of it. I realize that many ELL students come in knowing absolutely none of the language. The text is an article written about President Obama. This was difficult because the party names that are familiar for most adults were really hard to translate. I figured that is what they were talking about becuase of using the context of the other words in the sentence. I used the strategy of figuring out what the word was based on what English word it matched. I remember from last weeks reading that this strategy really helps struggling students. Some of the words transferred right over like example in English and exemple in French. I have read the article 5 or 6 times and I believe it is about a party being held to honor Obama on Monday, November 4th. It is saying that the ambiance will be that of an American party. I am still not fully sure about the full meaning of the text. I took the text apart and put it back together. That really helped me grasp pieces of the text, rather than the full text.
It is amazing how difficult this text was for me! If I was a student reading this for a grade or to learn and grasp meaning, I would be really behind the eight ball. In fact, I would not be able to answer any questions about this text because I can't read it first If I had a teacher working with me, that teacher would have to build a ton of vocabulary. Then read the text with me multiple times. After much work with the text then maybe I would be ready to answer questions. Whew! How exhausting is that!
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