Meeting with Dolores #2

By the end of our 12 meetings, I project that Dolores will be able to read the Star Telegram without my coaching. I was about 5 minutes late to this meeting, which was again located in the downstairs of the rec center. On my way there I decided to take one of the tips that Lucia told us about so I grabbed a newspaper on my way out the dorm. Dolores was already down stairs waiting for me. She told me that on her breaks at work was when she studied what we went over, and she proceeded to show me the green notebook she had from last week. I was impressed and surprised to find she had written numerous times the various words we went over last week, such as "vending machines" and "fire extinguisher."

The first story in the Star Telegram was about a woman who had died in Tarrant County Jail because she needed antibiotics she never recieved. As Dolores began reading aloud, she asked me how to pronounce every-other word. I think she would have done fine with out me, but just needed some reassurance. Unlike me, she had to think about the words in each sentence before she knew what the sentence meant. At first she didn't realize that we were reading about someone who had died. I now know why Lucia gave us the "ESL" magazines. Sometimes, she had trouble distinguishing a name from a noun. At times, I learn some Spanish from her. I also brought a sheet I printed from the internet that had irregular English verbs. She commented that English is hard to learn because of these irregularities. I didn't feel comfortable going over these words because she would ask me what the difference between the past participle and another past tense verb is, and I wouldn't know how to explain it. I just know that it comes naturally to my head when I need to use the words. She was happy, though, about this list, and wanted to keep it. "Of course," I said.

This meeting went by before I knew it. Because I have a class beginning at 10 AM, I have to leave our meetings at 9:50 to ensure that I make it to Smith Hall on time. I would suggest that we make our meetings closer to my class, but at 11 AM, Dolores meets with Omir. I find it easy to understand the frustration Dolores encounters, because my 10AM class is French!