Today was my first regular day at school! We had a very busy day. I started by meeting my fourth grade class with which I will be working often. They presented me with a book of pictures that they had made when they were waiting for me to arrive. It was so cute!! My teacher said they were really worried about if I was tall and what color hair I had so I would look right in their pictures! They then each introduced themselves and told me something about them. It is so hard to understand and remember their names!! During this time I was also able to help a girl who is very far behind in English label random things around the room. This was fun, and the student is so sweet - she kept hugging and kissing me the whole time! I was also able to work with several other groups of kids during the English enrichment classes. During these times the only goal is to get the students to talk fluently in English. We played games, told stories, and asked each other questions. It was so laid back! It is also laid back in the regular classroom. The students call out often and are constantly interrupting the teacher. Since my teacher teaches only in English, I found the girls translating for each other a lot during science and history class. Even though it is very different here, I am enjoying my experience so far!
At home today I watched Aladdin in Spanish with my kids. I also made a craft with the littlest girl. She is 6 and is trying to learn English better. She does really well, but sometimes gets confused and says some Spanish words. It was fun working and talking with her today. I also learned more about their holiday traditions here. When someone looses a tooth, there is no fairy, but instead a mouse comes to leave a present. The mouse takes the tooth and builds a huge castle out of all of the children's teeth!! They also believe that the three kings deliver presents on Christmas. I loved hearing about these things and was able to share some American traditions as well!
Today was my first regular day at school! We had a very busy day. I started by meeting my fourth grade class with shock I will be working often. They presented me with a book of pictures that they had made when they were waiting for me to arrive. It was so cute!! My teacher said they were really worried about if I was tall and what color hair I had so I would look right in their pictures! They then each introduced themselves and told me something about them. It is so hard to understand and remember their names!! During this time I was also able to help a girl who is very far behind in English label random things around the room. This was fun, and the student is so sweet - she kept hugging and kissing me the whole time! I was also able to work with several other groups of kids during the English enrichment classes. During these times the only goal is to get the students to talk fluently in English. We played games, told stories, and asked each other questions. It was so laid back! It is also laid back in the regular classroom. The students call out often and are constantly interrupting the teacher. Since my teacher teaches only in English, I found the girls translating for each other a lot during science and history class. Even though it is very different here, I am enjoying my experience so far!
At home today I watched Aladdin in Spanish with my kids. I also made a craft with the littlest girl. She is 6 and is trying to learn English better. She does really well, but sometimes gets confused and says some Spanish words. It was fun working and talking with her today. I also learned more about their holiday traditions here. When someone looses a tooth, there is no fairy, but instead a mouse comes to leave a present. The mouse takes the tooth and builds a huge castle out of all of the children's teeth!! They also believe that the three kings deliver presents on Christmas. I loved hearing about these things and was able to share some American traditions as well!