This is the third day here and I've already fallen in love with teaching in San Pedro. Xavier and I teach the adorable little first graders, all of whom are both eager to get to know us and extremely shy of these big new
americanos. We decided that our first lesson would be just the alphabet in English, since they're so little and have such short attention spans (just like American kids, only it's harder to communicate to them that they need to sit down and stop chasing each other around the room!). By the end of the hour-long class, they were all singing the ABCs with gusto and spelling their names with English letters. Activities they loved were coloring name tags for themselves and writing their names on the board. The latter was a last-ditch, in-the-moment idea that they all loved. One student comes up to the board, writes their name, and we ask the class what each letter is called (em!-ay!-arr!-eye!-ay!). They get so into it--they scream the letters and beg us to go next.
Recess is an ordeal, but a hugely fun one. The kids get half an hour to run crazily in circles and scream at the tops of their lungs--all with no teacher present. Some of the kids, though, would prefer simply to sit and talk (as would I; being here is exhausting!). Sitting in a corner of the courtyard and chatting (en español, of course) seems more like real teaching than when we stand in front of a class. These interactions are, by far and away, my favorite part so far.
This is the third day here and I've already fallen in love with teaching in San Pedro. Xavier and I teach the adorable little first graders, all of whom are both eager to get to know us and extremely shy of these big new americanos. We decided that our first lesson would be just the alphabet in English, since they're so little and have such short attention spans (just like American kids, only it's harder to communicate to them that they need to sit down and stop chasing each other around the room!). By the end of the hour-long class, they were all singing the ABCs with gusto and spelling their names with English letters. Activities they loved were coloring name tags for themselves and writing their names on the board. The latter was a last-ditch, in-the-moment idea that they all loved. One student comes up to the board, writes their name, and we ask the class what each letter is called (em!-ay!-arr!-eye!-ay!). They get so into it--they scream the letters and beg us to go next.
Recess is an ordeal, but a hugely fun one. The kids get half an hour to run crazily in circles and scream at the tops of their lungs--all with no teacher present. Some of the kids, though, would prefer simply to sit and talk (as would I; being here is exhausting!). Sitting in a corner of the courtyard and chatting (en español, of course) seems more like real teaching than when we stand in front of a class. These interactions are, by far and away, my favorite part so far.
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario