I wouldn't call it teaching. I would call it "flying by the seat of ones pants". Also because i love that expression. well, at least thats what it was like on day one. (ill try to keep this one short, but day one was momentous).
Wake up: 5:30 (which weirdly enough felt like a sleep in!).
by 7:15, i found myself thrown in front of 20 grade one spanish students, with nothing but three handouts on how to write "the pencil is blue, the eraser is red" etc, and the school director (Harardo, one of my housemates) saying: "...and try to teach them some math". whew! intense.
at 8:45 i was whisked over to my grade 3 class (they learn in spanish from 7:15-8:45 - so i teach grade ones) to teach them math. oh yes. my specialty. Thankyou Mr. Moore.
after break, it was P.E. (half the class goes crazy, half tries to play soccer...er, football), then english, where the whole class was pretty nuts, however im trying to listen to advice that Alex (my other housemate) gave me - "be more strict than you think you need to be".....then it was science...all i was given was one science textbook with really complex english, so i just wrote "science" on the board, and turned around and said "what is the last thing you learned about in science?"....to which some students yelled (in thick spanish accents) "the plants!"....so i quickly flipped to the pages in the textbook on plants and taught a lesson on how seeds become new plants in soil when they are transported. It was actually really fun. I think i need to work on my diagram drawing skills though.
After lunch was english spelling and reading until 2:10...it was then that i realized i had nothing to read to them...so i wrote "A story" on the top of the board and we all learnt about how to write a story together. as a class we ended up writing a story about how me and Jeff (one of the students) went to the Cofradia school, then somehow ended up in Canada. It was pretty ridiculous, and i think the syntax needed some serious work, but....fun nonetheless!
so there you have it, i somehow got through that day, with 31 grade 3's (easily the biggest class at the Cofradia school!), and i had a blast!
so school is intense, but its going well!...needless to say i came home after school today and yesterday and fell asleep for an hour, both times not on purpose. I've also met a bunch more of the teachers now and they are all pretty cool people, so it should be good times.
More stories to come!
peace
-Tim
4 comments:
That's so fun Timo! Sounds insane though.. how do you know where to start with math or science, is there any curriculum? How good is their English? Do they have to pay to go to school?
WOW! I am exhausted imagining keeping up with grade 1's and 3's...in Spanish! You are amazing! I hesitate to remind you of someone's suggestion to take the TESL course or perhaps some Beginner Spanish before going...alas! You will learn way faster now that you have jumped into the frying pan! You will be terrific and those kids will love you. We miss you and are SO proud. Your blog is so much fun to read! Love, Mum
As a former teacher I read your day 1 blog with admiration and thanksgiving. Admiration for you and thanksgiving to God for giving you the gifts you need and giving you to the kids.
Rule #1 for a teacher is be well prepared before you face the kids but you had no chance and yet did a fantastic job!
Wow, Tim! A class full of 31 grade 3 students sounds wild - good for you! Are you going to attempt any drama with them? Mime and movement activities work great as they require no spoken words. You could get the children to act out their stories using their facial expressions and mimed movements to express their feelings and actions. Just a thought. I am so happy to hear that you are doing well and look forward to following your adventures through your updates.
Cheers,
Godric
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