Crandan, look what you made me do. Thanks.

Recently, I have begun to teach a Moroccan friend of mine English, so that he has a chance of passing a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam. In doing so, I have had to go do things I never thought I would, such as form lesson plans, re-learn bits and pieces of English grammar, and try and figure out as much of what I can, to help this person to get a degree, and be able to go back to Morocco and help his family. Which is his what he wants to do.
So I have devised a class focusing on the major areas of the exam: Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, and Grammar.
For the reading comprehension part, I will be using Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World. Despite what some of you would like to believe, I am not using these books as an excuse to bash Bush, or America, or really even the idea or institution of governments, as I do not think that would help anyone. More or less, I am very familiar with these novels, and the also use past present and future tenses in order to tell each story. So to teach grammar from them will be much easier. I couldn’t start him out with See Spot Run now could I?
As for the actual grammar parts, we each got a copy of English Grammar for Dummies, and I will be writing out tests and exercises myself, so we both know that this endeavor is worth the time and effort on each of our parts. As for using a For Dummies guide, they are well written, and easy to explain difficult sections. Besides, even though I actually do well in English classes, a little brush up is mandatory, and as they say it For Dummies. Hehe.
For the listening Comprehension, I am using Al Franken’s “Lies and The lying Liars Who Tell Them” as Al’s voice is easily understandable, he is entertaining, and will not put either of us to sleep. Remember how boring those learn French tapes were? For something a little different, I will also use William S. Burroughs reading “Naked Lunch”, As it is not only slightly more difficult than Al’s, but because the was in which Burroughs speaks is at times, a little hard to understand, and getting accustomed to different accents is important. “Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk?”
As for the Essay question on the TOEFL exam, I am cooking up something nice and juicy about 1984 and Brave New World. But that’s my little secret. Hehe.

Update: (6/26/04) Seems the guy I was going to teach has to get a third job in order to help support his family. Some kind of crisis happened, so I am given a unwanted break. Never fails. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Damn you Murphy.