Just a quick update from this side of the Atlantic.
School has begun again, albeit a shortened version. Because of the cold weather, classes have been shortened to 35 minutes a pop, and school starts 30 minutes later. I'm not really complaining, because it does get pretty cold in a concrete building with only a tiny woodstove to heat each room.
Additionally, I have been given a new class to teach this semester...the 3rd grade!
I should mention that I've never taught English to children so small. They are super cute and they have these large eyes that stare up at you and when I walked into their room they said (in English) "YES! YES!"
Despite the adorableness of said children, I feel slightly out of my element, as they don't read or write in English yet. So if anyone has any good ideas on songs or nice picture activities, do let me know! I'm hoping I can get some paper bags mailed to make little puppets to entertain them with. Sock puppets work too, but given that I can't hop on over to Hobby Lobby for googly eyes and such, I think paper bags would work better.
So, plans for the semester: build an English cabinet for our school! And by cabinet, I mean room where students go to study and learn English. So I have to get some grant money for that, which should be a BLAST!!!111!! ForMz!
Also still working on GLOW curriculum, FLEX club, intermediate and beginner after-school English clubs for students and adults, and being a good human being. So I have my work cut out for me this semester! It will be busy, but rewarding, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be happy about the work I've done when I leave this summer.
What else? My friend and nearby PCV Danielle recently had a birthday, and we celebrated with a supra at her house. Since I live alone now, it's not as often that I participate in supras, and I found myself really having a good time with toasts and Georgian dancing. So take heart, volunteers, I think we're on the upside of things!
Although it's winter, the weather has been pretty mild on my side of the country, and we still have yet to see a snowfall. I'm not really complaining, because winter is part of what can make being a volunteer here hard. However, a mouse did chew his way through one of my wool sweaters, so if anyone would like to donate one to me, that would be appreciated...
That's all I can think of for right now. Also, random note: Jonsi's (relatively new) album Go is pretty great. I highly recommend it.
Will post later with more info. Have a good one. Eat a cheesesteak and drink a michelada for me if you can.
Hey! I work almost exclusively with little kids, oddly enough, since I don't really like little kids. They do grow on you, though. Little parasites. Awww.
ReplyDeleteAnyway! I'm sure there are millions of extremely better ways of doing this, but here's some stuff my cp and I do.
1) Have a copy book (cheap green notebook) where they copy letters and words featuring that letter. Go over a letter in class every so often and assign them to "gadatser." It takes a lot of time to prep them, but it's not that much thought work. And they do it in Georgian when they learn to write the letters. It sorta helps?
2) Chain dialogues. Magalitad:
Lauren: Hello, Nino! How are you?
Nino: Fine, thanks. Hello, Dato! How are you?
Dato: Fine, thanks. Hello, Lasha! How are you?
etc.
They're good for warm-ups.
3) Board vocab matching. They dig it here! But make them read the English word out loud.
4) Don't know if you use the 2000 Plus, but the commands like "look at the window" and "go to the board" are good. Try to have them tell each other what to do. "ooh, me var masstavlebeli ra magaria!" -adorable 3rd grade boy
5) And remember when Ana pointed to us and made us say the new words? They think it's fun. Especially "popcorn!!"
6) I haven't talked to you in ages! And it's especially ridiculous because now we're like an hour away. But you'll have that.
<3 from Newvillage!
Hey Lauren-- I think Simon says is pretty fun and effective (I've played a few games of "Símon dice" to teach spanish). Plus, you could control the mob of 9 year olds by calling it a game. Are Georgians as competitive as Americans? Love seeing your updates on the blog!
ReplyDeleteJamie
P.S. Micheladas of all things?