Hello!!! My week is over already, and yes its only Wednesday! Thursday is the day of the patron saint of Soria (if you have seen my pictures on Picasa, the church and "ermita" I visited by the river is where the saint lived) so we get Thursday and Friday off school. One of the great things about Spanish life is they give vacation time for every holiday!
Well I have been busy the past week, which has been nice to have a little more structure for my day. I had classes as normal and I have started a tutoring program at an elementary school here in Soria. I had my first lesson with them on Tuesday. Tuesday someone came with me to help show me the ropes and next week I will be by myself. I'm a little nervous because I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I have to plan all my own activities and my own topics to cover. I am thinking I will start with colors, animals and numbers for now. I have downloaded songs off the internet (5 little monkeys jumping on the bed for use of numbers as an example) to use in class. The children are from ages 4 to 10. The majority are around 6 or so. The four year olds are really hard to work with because they have a very short attention span. So if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on activities I could use I would appreciate it.
The woman who was helping with this program has also asked me if I would do the same thing at another elementary school with the same activities for different children of the same age group, as well as a similar group of high school students. So if those programs come together I may be a very busy lady her in Spain.
Last weekend I didn't do to much. Friday I went out and had a couple beers with my roommates and Sat. we went to see Los Crimenes de Oxford (The crimes of Oxford) and then had Kebab (Kebab places are really popular here in Spain) for dinner.
I don't have any plans for the long weekend! I have Mondays off so I have nothing to do for the next 5 days!! I don't know what I will do with myself! I hope everyone is doing well! I will have a beer over the long weekend for you all!
5 comments:
Hi gorgeous! I too have a long weekend! 3 whole days! Took Monday off just cause I can :) Sounds like things are going well, you'll be raking in the Euros with all the tutoring maybe you can take a few weekend trips to Scotland, Italy etc...
Miss you love you! xoxox-Sister
It is very interesting to me the way Soria is taking every opportunity to introduce the English language to it's children. That is so in contrast with most American's opinions when it comes to learning Spanish. Hopefully, some day we will be as open minded about recognizing other cultures.
Hi Deidra-I really hope this gets to you because I have been having a heck of a time sending you a blog! Your dad was telling me about your blog and how you needed some ideas with some plans for your students. A few ideas come to mind for the little ones: Shaving Gel-spread it on a table or desk and allow them to practice their alphabet, numbers, etc.. The youner kids love this. They get to get their hands all messy and it is very easy to clean up (smells good too). Sand tables are a big hit also. They love to dig. You could hide different shapes, letters, numbers, etc.. and have them dig for them. These are just a couple ideas, however I dont know what you have to work with or if you have any standards you need to accomplish. If you let me know some more details I can definately find some more ideas for you. I am teaching 5th grade right now so I could probably help you out with some ideas with the older kids as well. Let me know and I would love to help. Afterall, thats what teachers do...BEG, BORROW,& STEAL!! Talk to you soon!
Amanda Allen
Hey, Deidra, I've never done this before so I'm not sure how my name will show up, but this is Mary Anne. I used to teach French and your Mom told me you're looking for ideas to keep the attention of elementary school kids. I tried sending an e-mail to the yahoo address your mom gave me, but it came back undeliverable, so I created a google account just for you! I haven't had a chance to look through some of the teaching stuff I kept, but I will look when I get a chance. I actually taught in junior high and high school, which was a little easier in many ways than younger kids, but not as fun.
The main thing is to use multisensory activities, keep them moving but not where they're running all over the place, let them manipulate things with their hands, do crafts, make things into games. You could ask some elementary teachers there to teach you some nursery rhymes or finger plays in Spanish, then you could just put whatever English words you want them to learn into the song. Something along the lines of the Hokey Pokey, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. You wouldn't have to translate them, just use a tune they know and put "one, two, three" in it, or whatever. Games where they sit in circles would be good - like Duck, Duck, Goose. Or Simon Says--which would be really good for commands like stand up, sit down, turn around, jump, point to your eyes, your mouth, STOP, etc. Teach them "how old are you" and "what is your name" and the appropriate answers. Then you can ask the first person, "What is your name?" They answer "My name is ___ and then they turn to the next person in line and ask, "What is your name?" or "How old are you?" and so on down the line.
Most kids like to color. Can you get coloring books or pages to color? My son loved Legos and blocks. Does the school have something like that you can use? Have them pick up all the red blocks, or build something with the green blocks, etc. Also, you could say I'm thinking of something blue in the room and they could guess. Making things into games is usually good
To teach vocabulary words I used a lot of pictures I cut from magazines and glued to construction paper so I could use them over and over. Play money would also be great for numbers. They could earn play money too for right answers.
Cassette tapes or CD's of children's songs in English might be good. There are some school supply places in Cincinnati I could tell your Mom about and maybe she could mail you some things.
Let me know if this is at all helpful. If I knew more about what you're trying to do I could be more helpful. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity for you to learn a lot about the culture and language, as well as the teaching experience. I lived in France my whole junior year in college and it was amazing! Have Fun!
Thanks guys! This is all very helpful! I have downloaded various children's songs off the internet (Old MacDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Five Little Monkeys.. etc). Tuesday we colored animal masks from Old MacDonald for Carnival. Its just difficult to have activities for everyone ages 4-10, because its such a big age range. The four year olds don't participate in many of the activities and I'm afraid that some activities are to "young" for the older students. I think next week we will be playing Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says. Its just difficult to keep all 14 kids engaged at once with the same activity. I love the suggestions and if you have anymore questions feel free to ask!
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