My Pet Giraffe. That's the name of the book I nervously read to 20 some-odd kindergarteners today. The book was in English. I read each page in English, and then translated the gist of what was happening into Spanish, all while holding the book and trying to keep the giraffe puppet on my hand moving. Eventually, I had to hand over the puppet to keep things moving.
For context, today myself and four other students went to the school of our program director's daughter. We led the kids in numerous activities including my aforementioned story, songs to help them learn English, coloring, and more stories and songs. I tried to pull the "ladies first" card for who would start our frivolities, but I ended up leading the first activity. Hence why I was so nervous. While I thought I had trouble understanding the old men I went and played bingo with, they were nothing compared to these kids. I had no earthly idea what they were saying half the time. Mostly cause they're kids and I sometimes can't understand them in English, but also due to grammar worse than mine. Thankfully, they were very aware of that, and were accepting of the fact I couldn't always understand what they were saying. I sat at a little table with 5 kids after I finished my story to color. The kids would comment on my coloring job, asking what colors I was going to use next and other questions. They then wanted to know about me, so I told them I was from New York, but grew up in Tennessee. They had never heard of Tennessee, so I spelled it out for them and drew them a picture. They then asked if I could count to 20 in English. I was a bit nervous, but I managed to get the whole way through pretty well, only pausing a moment after 14.
That's a joke. I aced it like a pro. They then asked to hear me count in Spanish, which I again did just fine. I figured this would be a good chance to throw them completely for a loop. I told them I could count to 10 in German. Little Javier looked at me with amazement and said "Hazlo!" (do it!). I got to 9, but they didn't care. I had won them over.
I'm glad I went. I think it was a unique experience to see a Spanish elementary school that I wouldn't normally have gotten. And hanging out with kids is pretty fun....granted its no longer than an hour and we get to leave them with someone else when we're done.
Also:
Got a 91 on my grammar test.
#BOOM
How do ya like dem apples?
Don't think I've ever done that well on an advanced grammar test.
Sounds like a wonderful experience. Kids are amazing. We do a program with the school system which is called the Black Stallion Literacy Program. We use the early books by Walter Farley (who wrote the Black Stallion series) and we take two horses to the school to the first graders. We take Little Black & Big Red, which are the characters in the book Little Black, a pony.
ReplyDeleteThen the kids get the books to read over a few weeks and then they come to the barn and learn more about horses, but at each learning station we have horses and then the kids take out their books and read to the horses! It is amazing how eager they are to read aloud to the horses. And the kids come out with the funniest things.
So happy that you are getting this experience. It will definitely help you grow as a person and as a student. Keep up the good work and congrats on your test Way to go! Love, Nanny Pam