XWAKÍN

Due to a request from grandma, here's an update on my teaching experience thus far! :)

So I've had two weeks of actual "teaching" so far, two times in each of my two classes. The teachers that I work with are so sweet and encouraging and they are fantastic teachers. And of course I love all of my students. There are the trouble makers, the cryers, the quiet ones, the loud ones...and I love them all equally!

Teaching any class for the first time, or any class at all, is difficult. But when you are teaching in a language that the students don't speak or understand, its nearly impossible. I am trying to come up with fun and creative things for the kids to do. But if it requires any verbal explanation of any sort, it won't work because they just don't get it.

Besides the fact that these kids are four years old and have endless energy, and that they don't want to quit talking long enough to listen, I'm just not that great at "classroom management." I'm not very loud and just always have a hard time getting a class to quiet down and pay attention to me. But I'm not worried, I'll learn my tricks and get it figured out :)

But until that happens....things can be a bit chaotic. Things have gone pretty well overall, although it gets a bit noisy at times. But we mostly just have fun and learn about bees and frogs and flowers.

The first day of teaching, I did an activity where the kids had to put stickers on a flower picture. Well, I probably should have given some more direction with this. After the finished putting the stickers on the paper, they decided they wanted some stickers on their shirts. Then on their faces. Then on the tables and floor and wall...I felt pretty bad when we were all done, both for the parents and for the janitors. There was kind of a mess for both parties to clean up. The next class, I told them the stickers were ONLY for the paper, so things went much smoother. I didn't actually think they would obey but they did really well. Except for the student who hid their extra stickers in their backpack to take home. The teacher called me over laughing while they were playing and showed me the stickers in the student's bag that she had discovered while putting a letter to the parents in it. At least they liked it...?

This past week was a different lesson. I don't have as much freedom in my lesson plans as I had thought I would, as they pretty much want me to stick with the plans in the activity book they use. But I have managed to take the plans and change them a little to make them more fun or easier to follow. On Thursday my professor came and observed my class and gave me some tips to make things even better for the upcoming week. This professor is amazing and is so good with kids and lesson plans. Definitely an amazing resource to have!

The kids seem to be having fun, even if they aren't paying attention to everything! They still get so excited when I get there and it just makes my heart melt! When I get there at their playtime, they are in the play yard with the younger kids (3-year-olds). There are a couple of the 3-year-olds who just run up to me and grab my hand and want besitos (kisses) and just hang around by me. There is one boy who always asks what class I'm going to that day. When I say the teacher's name he always says "nooo!" and tells me to come to his class. So. precious.

My last week of teaching (a short two weeks from now!), one of my classes will be taped. I'm pretty excited. Not because I want to see myself teaching. Or hear myself singing, as I have to do every class (I can't make myself sing very loud. I don't care that they are 4 years old. I don't want to torture them with my voice). But because I want to have a video of these adorable kids so I can remember them all and the fun I had!

My adorable Pablo still just steals my heart. Although the more time I spend in his class, the more I realize what a little trouble-maker he is. I can't blame him as I can't imagine having to sit through class all day every day when you can't hear or understand anything that is happening. Also, I think he's getting mad at me for not paying as much attention to him since I have to teach the class and not just hang out with him. He still loves to sit on my lap and talk to me, but he has started acting out a little more I think to get more attention. There's also still Sandra who tries to climb up my leg when I tell her I'm not going to pick her up right then. And there's Sergio Bautista and Sergio Cuevas, the little trouble-makers in my Thursday class who just want to talk and get extra smiley faces on their workbook pages. There is Nacho who just wants to be rowdy and fight and doesn't listen when he is reprimanded. Claudia who is beautiful and a know-it-all with a major attitude. Complete with head-shaking and everything. Irene who won't talk to the teachers or me and who cries and cries when her name tag has torn a little bit. Jose Joaqín who is such a beautiful little boy and who is sooooooo preppy I can't even believe it. And all the kids who I don't always remember the names of who just want to come sit by me or hold my hand or give me a shy smile. I adore them all.




Oh yeah, regarding the title. I have a class at the university that I absolutely love. It is Spanish Phonetics and Phonology. It sounds boring. And it could be horribly, dreadfully boring. But my professor is amazing and Sofie and I have a major crush on him. In this class we are learning how to transcribe things phonetically. Basically we are learning another language. For example, our professor's name, Joaquín, spelled phonetically, is [||xwakín||]. We decided we are going to embroider something for him with his named spelled phonetically and give it to him before we leave. Not really, but it would be amazing. Anyway, we go around now practicing pronouncing things and spelling things phonetically. The other day while walking to the colegio where we both teach our English classes, we were pronouncing random words out loud to practice. Reading signs, car makes, etc. And the guy walking in front of us looked back to see what the heck we were doing. I told him we were practicing....then we quickly walked away. Awkward!!!!!! Practice makes perfect, right?!?!