At the moment I'm very discouraged and shocked by kids interactions in my first two classes. First Grade was good but they don't understand my games. My communication skills aren't they best and with a new game its difficult to teach in English. Apparently they don't have things like kickball or tag here so I'm extremely confused how to explain the game to them. Also I was very disturbed when we played soccer with First Grade the girls weren't playing they just instantly knew to go to the side. Fue dificil when I taught second grade cause I had no help and the teacher just watched. I tried explaining Kickball which totally crashed and burned. They said they knew what baseball was but they didn't know any of the rules which wasn't helpful cause only the rules are similar. It wasn't possible to get them to understand the base concept and stop hitting each other. Its hard enough getting people to resolve their conflicts at peace camp in English let alone trying to solve multiple conflicts at once in Spanish when the kids mumble their words. On top of that this is a fair amount of sexism here that I'm not used to like when I say to line up they instantly think girls on one team and boys on another team. I think some of my games my kids were a little weirded out by.
Wow I'm going to write a lot today... Today was an eventful day. So after my first two classes in the morning that went okay but overall not so great... My next class was really awesome and the next after that was great as well. I was really happy to regroup and get a rest and be prepared for my next two classes. I did some more cooperative games which worked pretty well actually. I think next I'm gonna have some more cooperative games and try to teach other games like baseball and maybe some frisbee. The trouble is that everyone only likes futbol cause thats what they grew up with so its kinda difficult to change what they grew up with. Its totally different culture in the US cause we have so many sports that our parents usually introduce us to but here really the only thing they are good at and like to play is Futbol. Its hard to get used to but I think I'll figure out some games they will like. I think they would like Kickball if I can figure out how to teach it to them. Well so I started out every class with streching and warm ups to make sure they learned how to properly prepare for a game which is a good start and takes about 10 mins. Then I played some games involving team work and some hand eye coordination as well which seemed to work pretty well. Then usually after that I played soccer with them cause pretty much all the classes begged me to play soccer with them.
English was sooooo much fun but quite interesting because I got thrown into the fire today. So on my first day of classes the english teacher didn't show up to class cause she was sick... SO guess who got to teach all the classes with no book! Me! Well I took it as a blessing in disguise because I think I actually did quite well in all my classes. I thought it was kinda odd because I kinda ended up teaching the same class to both 7th and 8th Grade because 8th didn't know lots of conversational material or lots of vocabulary. I'm giving them lots of vocabulary to study cause I'm hoping that the ones that really want to learn will study and practice with the words that I give them and get better. I'm kinda teaching to the top half of the class I guess just because lots of people have this thing they call Pena here which means that they have fear of saying anything or talking much especially to another person. Its much different because in the US I feel like we make kids stand up and give presentations early on so we are kinda used to it and don't have as much fear. But here they kinda just accept that people have that fear and deal with it. It might be because I'm american too that they don't want to practice their English with me. Anyways the cool part is that I get to be my funny self in class and make some jokes. I think they actually do enjoy my classes. Its fun emphasizing the words and sounds that are different in English like the R's and D's are said with more strength and the “th” sound is hard for them as well cause they don't really have it. Also the traditional v an b but thats been doing better than other stuff. Their T's too need to be stronger sometimes but its easier to work on that on a one on one basis or in a smaller classroom.
Speaking of smaller classroom I've offered to tutor some students who want to learn english when I have free time like in the evenings if they live in El Bario or when we both have free time in the afternoons sometime or a weekend or something idk. I would like to plan a weekend class in English if I can maybe teach it after the science and math stuff I'll have energy to do it in the afternoon. Overall this day went amazingly well and I'm really excited for all the new adventures I'm going to have in the next week and a half here. Earlier today I was thinking that this place might not fit me how I thought it would but I really do think that I can make a big difference here especially in English and in PE too I just have to figure out how to explain kickball and get them to like other sports and teach them other games. I have two groups that want to take some individual lessons in a small group which I'm really excited about... I'm gonna plan what I'll teach them tonight and we have an hour lesson tomorrow in the library. I really hope that they will improve and practice. I want to give them conversation skills in these extra classes so I might just introduce more vocabulary at first and then go over topics like meals and basics of conversation like what, where why when how... how do you say.... where is the bathroom.
I will admit that my teaching style has some funny Nate characteristics in it like I taught them the word hot means muy bonita (which is does) but all the girls for their examples said I am really hot haha so I thought that was quite funny. I also like the throw in some funny verbs that aren't that important like I put in explode and to toast today in our verb list. I also taught my conversation stuff with phrases like whats up? And see you (ya) and instead Hi I also taught them Hey which I feel people use that more than Hi most of the time. Well thats all the interesting things I have to say for now but I'm sure there will be just as much crazy stuff tomorrow... boy will my blog be full next weekend...
Well today was a pretty fun day overall although slightly confusing. Not a whole long more happened accept that tomorrow I have much less to do which is nice and I'll probly head off Suchitoto tomorrow to check my email and buy presents for my host family. I'm getting them more coffee, vegetables, and many other things like more spaghetti and rice and beans and stuff that they have to buy. I've officially decided that I've started to go crazy with nobody else there to speak some English with. Maybe I'm just getting comfortable with Spanish too and my town here but I started to talk to the animals in English. So my conclusion is that maybe its just fun talking to animals and asking them weird questions like what are you looking at... and stuff or I'm going crazy being here which may very well be true. I'm really enjoying English class although its really frustrating when nobody wants to try to speak or write anything solo. I also personally think that grammer lessons in English are overrated. I mean I teach them a bit of grammer like how to conjugate the verbs and stuff but mostly the learning should come from practicing and planing games that help you remember certain words or verbs. Like today for instance... I'm not trying to dis on the English teacher here but she took this exercise from the book that was a paragraph about this man Steve and we were practicing simple present tense which is pretty easy from my view point of knowing spanish with many different conjugations. I know that preterit can get really difficult but simple present seems quite easy compared to present in Spanish but everyone here just automatically thinks that English is impossible to learn. Anyways I digress... this paragraph had like 5 blanks where we were supposed to put the conjugated verb like.... Steve (like) _____ to play soccer. So she wanted everyone to do it on their own but they couldn't handle that which I thought was kinda like wow there are only two possible things it can be like or likes how is that very hard.... but idk so she got people up to the board who basically stood there and stared at the board and eventually wrote the wrong answer 50 % of the time which in my mind is that they could have just been guessing which they probly were. Anyways this exercise should have taken 10 mins but it took like 25 and then for the last 5 I played a game doing the same thing where I just said Nate (like) ____ to teach
Rosa (to be) _____ smart.
They (watch) _____ television and so on and I gave them ten seconds and then they had to raise their hand for either watch or watches or like or likes and then I gave out points to the teams which I felt was much more effective and much more fun and we got through 5 in about 7 mins which personally I think it more productive.
Keep in mind that the words above are someone biased opinion and I am just venting a little bit but sometimes it really bugs me how teachers teach from the book and not from first hand knowledge or fun games. I guess since my mom is a music teacher I understand the importance of music and games to help with memory.
Today it was also rather disturbing that in the 10th grade ( school only goes up to 11 grade) I started correcting homework and probly 50 percent of the time I couldn't understand what they were trying to write in English. I graded one girls that barely tried. I was lucky that she wrote on the side what she was trying to say so basically I just read her spanish and translated that into English. I'm going to try to increase the English knowledge of the students here if I can I would really like to come back and spend more time with this school here because I really think that I can make a difference and improve the English of the students that want to learn and I can improve the teacher here which will pay off long term down the road.
Other than the English stuff today I played quite a lot of soccer. Essentially I just kinda gave into the 1st grade cause they wanted to play soccer and then of course all the second graders and 3rd graders came outside too and started playing with us which is weird. Its such a small school student wise but for some reason lots of students don't go to class or just leave class without permission from their teacher especially in the younger grades. I played spud with the 5th grade which turned out to be extremely fun and they really liked the new game once they figured out how to play it. I'm debating whether I will teach them kickball next or another sport. I would like to play dodge ball if I can find some balls that are soft and wont hurt if you get hit with them but that might be a challenge.
After school I played soccer with the adults at the field which was kinda fun but not really because I was confused most of the time who was on my team and on top of that we played with 15 on each team instaed of the usual 11 which made things much more crowded and meant that everyone touched the ball that much less which wasn't as fun. Overall I felt a little less welcome at this practice just because there were so many people there and it was a bit overwhelming. I'm excited to go play in Suchitoto this weekend and I really hope that the game is at a time that I can play. I'm also excited about this weekends English lesson with three of the 9th graders. I think they really have potential to learn because they seem like they want to practice. It is also three girls so it could be that they just want to spend time with me... I haven't figured it out but either way its good for them because they my good looks are forcing them to learn Spanish. Its kinda fun to be in class cause I kinda try and test each student as I talk or when they do examples and so far they haven't spoken back a whole lot yet or answered my questions but I'm going to try to change that with candy this next time so when they answer a question or volunteer to speak then I'll give them some candy. Right now the only thing making some students speak is peer pressure.
Oh I also understand why people say its weird that we only shower once a day or once every other day... its cause its extremely hot here. Also showers here are generally really quick just because its cold water and it doesn't really entice you to stay the same way hot water does. I've been taking two or three showers a day... Once when I get up just to rinse off and get ready for school, once when I come home from lunch after I teach PE all morning and one before Dinner because its really hot in the afternoons too haha.
The animals keep getting more interesting here. Today I found two eggs that the hens laid. I've learned what real free range chickens are... When I came home from school for lunch there was a chicken in my room and my door had been closed the whole time. Apparently it flew in the window and didn't want to leave. Amazingly my host mother didn't think much of it she just asked if the hen had left an egg in my stuff. She hadn't but just now before I went to bed I looked in the window again and there was an egg just sitting there on the window sill. Earlier today I found an egg in my napkin that keeps the totillas warm. I'm also really starting to like totillas I have about three with every meal and eat a piece with most every bite. Its like a filler so I don't have to ask for a second portion and the combination of that and sauce and beans or cheese is really good actually. Then you was It down with some coffee which I have grown to love here it is absolutely amazing and I'm sure China Rose will make fun of me when we go traveling in Mexico cause I'm going to want coffee just like her and I'll soon but addicted but hey three cups a day really isn't that bad... haha. I might have to start asking for more though cause I love it so much its honestly one of my favorite parts of the meal I'm going to have to figure out how she makes it. The dogs love to beg when I'm eating but they are not nearly as bad as the cats. Both cats have no fear when it comes to jumping on me to ask for food. If I didn't stop them I'm sure they would get on the table and start eating my food in under a minute. One cat also has sharp claws that have scratched me on a few occasions. I'm really surprised though cause I've never met more friendly cats before but one here really loves to play with me and I've actually enjoyed it too. You can't have as much fun with a cat but he is really cute.
Well thats it for now I'll post this tomorrow after I go to Suchi for the afternoon.
Tag - mika
ReplyDeleteBased on experience, that'll get them doing all the running around and tagging that you need.