SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – For the last year and a half, students and teachers have been required to wear masks while in schools. For many teachers and students, there are some difficulties that come along with having to wear masks while trying to teach or learn. Syracuse public school teacher Molly Ramage finds that having to teach while wearing a mask sometimes complicates her ability to teach her students.
Learning a new language can be difficult for many students. It’s even more difficult for students wearing a mask. Ramage is a teacher at the Seymour Dual Language Academy in Syracuse, New York. She teaches English as a new language to a class with mostly Puerto Rican students. Many of these students don’t speak English as a first language, so they quickly must learn a completely new language. They have no prior learning of the English language, so the Seymour Dual Language Academy is their first introduction into the English language.
Ramage says her difficulties stem from the fact that she can’t hear the student speak because of how the masks muffle their voice. On top of that, several of her students learn through watching her speak the specific words. Ramage says that some English words have strange pronunciations, and students learn through watching her speak.
Wearing a mask has made this teaching technique impossible, so she has had to come up with different styles of teaching. One of the new ways that Ramage teaches her students is she has them feel the vibrations on their throat. Different words had different vibrations, so students can learn how the words feel on their throat.
With COVID on the rise again across the U.S., students and teachers in the Central New York area may be required to wear masks throughout the next school year. While Ramage understands the difficulties of teaching and learning while wearing a mask, she says that she understands that her children’s safety is the top priority.
