Lesson Title: Trump Surprise
Date of Class: 11/9/16
Day of Class: Wednesday
Time of Class: 2-330
MC: Patrik
DJ:
Assistants: Barbara, Anne, Julia
Module: Elections 2016
How Many Learners: 11
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc): More Loyalty Cards

Self Evaluation

Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 4
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) = 6
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) = 6
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) = 6
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) = 7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) = 7

Total Score: 32

What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): This was a tough day, wasn’t sure how it was going to go. But it ended up being pretty great, considering. I was tired and it was surreal, but it was also clear that it was a space people needed. Here’s the reflection that I wrote, which gave a relatively high self eval even though this update is almost a week late:

So, just wanted to share how yesterday was for me as an English language & cultural skill facilitator, a social justice organizer, as a preface to a more general statement about what I think P-P-T’s role is…

I was really nervous about how classes would go yesterday.. I had one at Rockwood in the afternoon and one at Sandy library in the evening. I didn’t sleep very much, and in the morning, I went to a small gathering where I knew focused radical progressive antiracists would be. I was glad I did that, and was so happy that Bjørn Taylor came out there too. It helped me to see people that I know, where I knew I could trust the angle at that moment, one which centered the reality of black and brown lives. One of the things I heard, which was also echoing my own intuitions, is that we were being asked, as white/anglo folks to stay visible and active, and get organized. This gave me grounding to move forward into the day.

At the 2pm Rockwood class, one of our assistants was there, and she was fuming. I still didn’t know what I should do, and my plan to bring an electoral map just didn’t pan out, so I had nothing to go on.. I was still obsessively checking my phone. To top it off, I had just been participating in a Tri-Met rider profile which involved filming me on the MAX and then we had originally wanted to video a little of the class going on, but I got really nervous that having cameras at the door on the day after a Trump election would really be potentially scary.

The first learner came in, and she was angry and frustrated, and I was happy because I knew I wouldn’t have to try to stay quiet.. at least one person in my class was going to ensure that I had to talk about it. As others came in, they were talking, and we got started. “Ready!” they gave a nice choral response and we jumped into the Alphabet Listen & Point. 10 people were in the room, and it was clear that people weren’t staying home. As we moved through the names, I started to guess that people were happy that this place was here. We were still there. Things were still the same. The connection was good. People were laughing. I started to remember, that this was why I decided to make P-P-T.. a place where all people could come together, regardless of language or ethnic background, and be together. And support each other.

I was getting nervous again as we were moving into the title of the lesson. “Today’s! Lesson! Is! Called! Trump! Surprise!” it was surreal and I was cringing as I was saying it out loud, but this wasn’t partisanship, nor was it trying to be anything other than what it was: the whole world was surprised about this election, and the people in the room were surprised too. But they shouted it out loud, and it felt like part of the process was just to realize this really was what was happening.

Next I dictated the sentence, “Hillary got 59,842,038 votes. Trump got 59,240,076 votes” This surprised people and caused them to question why Clinton had more than Trump. A sense of bewilderment came up for some learners. This led into the next dictation piece “Trump won 276 electoral votes, but Clinton won 228” (these numbers were not final numbers at this time).

I feel like just this helped people sort of understand the system, and gave them space to interact with each other, to vent frustration – that’s the nature of our activities, that they leave a lot of space for people to connect and respond, without ever letting go of the pacing. And it was great language practice. At this point, I realize that this space is a resistance space. And we have to make thousands of them.

The final activity, which is a little edgy, and perhaps not enough time, was to do a round robin “Are you happy about president-elect Trump?” Each learner answered, “No, I’m not” It’s true that it may not have been a fully safe space to express celebration about Trump, but I already felt like I’d gotten a pretty good feel from folks, and that it was helpful and encouraging for me, and them, to say it out loud. Very brave, actually.

I felt better going to the second class at Sandy library. I was sad that one of our facilitators couldn’t be there. Still, it’s a little more rural, a little more isolated.. how would it be? Yet, at 605, there were 5 of the regular 7 there, and the DJ and I just let the women connect to each other. There was a murmur of chatting, which I didn’t monitor closely, but those are sometimes what you just let happen, especially between women. I did most of the same activities, with similar result, but this time, a little less worried, I allowed for people to ask questions, and answered some in Spanish. Several of the learners gave annoyed but resigned expressions during the class. But there was no fear or real despair. Concern, yes. But the power of connection grounds people and provides strength. It’s the antidote to despair.

For this class, though, I did have a copy of the electoral map. All I did was have people point out the states. I then ask the group “How many electoral votes does Texas have?” and they’d shout it out. Again, really helpful for the learners, and gave them time to process this part of the system and allowed me to see how they reacted. Arizona came up, and two women started talking. I’m not sure what they were talking about. But those two women were talking outside 20 minutes later when I left, and another 10 minutes after I went to go get a refreshment. On that day, a group of moderately isolated Spanish speaking Sandyites went through a trial by fire together. And now, they are no longer conocidas, but comrades – co-madres.

This is what we do. This is what we’re here for. To banish the fear and isolation. We are the exact opposite of everything that Trump’s America stands for.

Lesson Title: Back to School
Date of Class: 9/12/16
Day of Class: Monday
Time of Class: 2-330
MC: Patrik
DJ:
Assistants: Jenny, Judy
Module: Homework Helper
How Many Learners: 6
Materials Status (loyalty cards, alphabet sheets, etc): we need updated everything! No attendance sheets

Self Evaluation

Preparation: Forgot to Show Up (1) vs. Every Hair In Place (10) = 3
Technique: Completely Incompetent (1) vs. Flawless Delivery (10) = 6
Engagement: Snoring Loudly (1) vs. Absolutely Riveted (10) = 5
Connection: Open Hostility (1) vs. Kumbayah (10) = 8
Poise: Charlie Brown (1) vs. Prince (10) = 7
Reflection: “It was ok.” (1) vs. Life-changing Epiphany (10) = 4

Total Score: 33

What happened (as short or as long as you like, but be specific): I was happy we had a nice little group today! You never know when the schedule changes what will happen. A bit higher level than sometimes, with two learners from a private school who find that what we do is more useful for pronunciation and real world language; also, one learner excited about venezuela. We played see you in september for the back to school song, and it worked better than songs sometimes do!