Deb_CP4-July 17, 2012

Joyce, Hyeri and I met at tea time today for a great chat.  I always begin the session asking them about “what did you do in school today?”  Hyeri showed me her reading lesson that she had to write a summary about for homework.  Who comes up with this stuff?  Both girls have told me that their reading classes are “boring.”  Anyway, Hyeri’s lesson was a timeline of women in American history.  We ran into a big problem between the Suffragette movement, the Nineteenth amendment and the Equal Rights amendment.  She did not understand anything about our Constitution or the processes of our laws.  I tried to relate how our government operates with how the Korean government operates.  Using her translator, we made some progress, but not enough to help her understand why the Equal Rights amendment did not become law.  Then, the timeline jumped from 1940-something to 1968 when Shirley Chisholm became the first black congresswoman.  Ironically, this prompted Joyce to ask about “the lady who would not give up her seat on the bus.”  I had to explain that the lady about whom she asked was named Rosa Parks and that historical incident happened in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.  Then, she wanted to know why it wasn’t included in the timeline of the reading.  I couldn’t answer that question.  We went on to discuss some of the other women noted in the piece.  By the end of the discussion, Hyeri seemed to a have a grasp of most of the reading.  Joyce was working on a paper and asked me to check some of her grammar.  We made a few changes, but overall she has an excellent command of English.  Hyeri asked if she could bring some more reading to me for help at our next meeting.  So, we planned to work together on whatever she may need help with when we next meet.