All About Me... |
I’m Ms. Fasseel, and I will be graduating in May of 2017 from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s in English and a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I will start my student teaching at Clarkston High School in August of 2017, and I’m very excited to begin this new experience. I created this website with the purpose of giving resources to teachers grades 6-12 when working with ESL students. I chose this age group because this is the age group that I want to work with in my career, and the age group that I'm most familiar with being a Secondary Ed Educator. I love American literature, and I enjoy writing when I have the time.
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My interest in teaching English stemmed from my love of reading and writing, however my love for TESOL stemmed from my various experiences working with immigrants and refugees over my years at Michigan State.
During my freshman year at Michigan State, I had the opportunity to work at the Refugee Development Center in Lansing. I worked with refugee students from Burma, Syria, Iraq, and many other countries. It was incredible to learn about their lives before coming to America. It was interesting to hear about their families because many were still separated due to reasons of their escape. It was exciting to be able to teach them about our culture, traditions, and help them feel welcomed and safe in a new country. |
One of my favorite memories from working at the Refugee Development Center was helping students understand traditions of Halloween. We asked them "what time do you go trick or treating?" and a student replied "at trick or treating time." I laughed at the time, but they had never celebrated Halloween before, and they honestly did not know. We had a long discussion about safe practices for Halloween festivities, and it was fun to see them get excited for this new experience. This is one of my favorite memories because it shows what I love most about teaching ESL - getting to interact with students and help them feel comfortable with traditions and celebrations that are a part of their new country.
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During my later years at Michigan State, I worked in ESL classrooms, and I found it just as rewarding as working in the Refugee Development Center. It was nice to be able to work with these students on English content because at the refugee center we often worked with them on math or science because it was an after-school help room. I’m thankful for the opportunity to work and learn from the students in the ESL classroom. They helped me to practice many of the theories and practices we were learning about in class like background knowledge, and total physical response.
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I feel so lucky to be able to help them learn a language and feel comfortable in a new country. As discussed in the Lou v. Nicholas case, “"Basic English skills are at the very core of what these public schools teach. Imposition of a requirement that, before a child can effectively participate in the educational program, he must already have acquired those basic skills is to make a mockery of public education. We know that those who do not understand English are certain to find their classroom experiences wholly incomprehensible and in no way meaningful." I feel lucky to be able to make content comprehensible and meaningful to students, which overall makes their experience in the classroom much more meaningful.