A few weeks ago, I had found out through the director of my program that there was an opportunity to teach elementary schoolchildren English, and I became really interested in participating. So, today was the first time I was able to be in the classrooms with the students and help them out as well as the teacher.
Another girl and I arrived around 9:00am and we entered into a class full of 10-year-old students. It felt like the first day of school again and we were asked to introduce ourselves (in English) and where we were from, etc. Then each of the students were asked to say their names and to also speak in English about themselves. They made a few mistakes, but overall I was fairly impressed with the amount of English they had learned. This task took up the majority of the 50 minutes we had in the class, but being able to see what level these students were at English-wise was a good way to assess what they most needed help with.
We next went to a class where the students were 11-years-old and knew even more English. They too introduced themselves in English and this happened much quicker than in the previous class, so they took out the assignments they had been working on. I went around to each table to see what it is that they might need some help with, but these students were pretty self-sufficient! They didn't really need my help, even though some of the work was in English, so I pretty much just observed. Class soon ended, but the teacher, Rebeca (they call the teachers by their first names), who is also the same teacher from the previous class, was not satisfied with their behavior and made them explain what they had done wrong. I too had noticed that they were rowdy, but I just surmised that it was because of their age. Nonetheless, I also understood why the teacher felt the way that she did, and behavior like that shouldn't be tolerated in a school-setting for sure.
Our last class was with a bunch of 6-year-olds. I was looking most forward to this class because I knew that they would need the most help with their English and are more enthusiastic to learn. We entered into a room with desks that reached up to my knees and colorful paintings hanging on the walls, and soon the very tiny students filed in. They seemed shocked to see us there and as their teacher, Dino, told us, they were shy to talk in English. But they were completely adorable and warmed up to us very soon. It was an effort to get them settled down, but when we could get some words in, we talked about parts of the body in English. They were fun, friendly, and eager to do well (they loved to receive compliments about their work). And to my slight embarrassment, we also sang the Hokey Pokey to help them learn the names of the body parts. The class soon ended, and we gave out stickers to those who demonstrated the best behavior. I felt like the bad guy when I didn't give a sticker to someone, but it was a good incentive to get them to behave better next class :)
After it was all over, I was happy to have had the chance to participate in this school. No, my Spanish is not the greatest, but I feel as though I can also learn while I am there. These students can help me with my Spanish and I can help with their English; it's all an exchange! I return again next Tuesday and I look forward to continuing my visits.
~Justine <3
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