Okay today was nippy and drizzly almost the whole day and when it finally stopped raining and it got a bit warmer the wind picked up. Leaves are blowing everywhere and on the walk home tonight I was going into the wind so I got an extra good workout.
Today I pretty much spent the whole day in school from 9:00am to 9:00pm. I had my 6th teacher practice and this time I taught the pre-intermediates who are basically at the high end of beginner. We had some lovely student’s including Blanca from Spain, Jane from the Czech Republic, Marie and Marc from Angola and Mohamed from Afghanistan. Although this was a great group of enthusiastic learners the fact that they didn’t understand as much as the student’s I’d been used to teaching made me panic a bit here and there. At one point I just wasn’t sure if I should continue with what I’d planned but in the end it worked out and they especially like my last exercise where I had them talk to their partner about a person in their life that they admire and why. After the brief discussion I handed out colored paper folded to resemble a note card and put colored pencils, crayons and makers (curtsey of Maura, my classmate’s 8 year old daughter Kate.) Although Maura admitted that Kate was no so keen on lending them to me for fear I would not return them. Apparently Kate is a red head and according to Maura redheads are stingy with their stuff. In the spirit of my exercise I will write Kate a thank you note for her generosity, even if it was only under duress, and send it home with her mother tomorrow.
The student’s however really enjoyed creating pictures on the front of their cards and then writing to their loved ones about why they admire them. Most of the student’s wrote to their mother and one wrote to her sister and another to her brother. The cards were fantastic and I had to correct them. They didn’t get a lot of time to write so the corrections were all quick and I handed them back to the student’s after the next class. I wrote personal notes on each just to let them know how much I appreciated their enthusiasm for the assignment. I especially paid close attention to Marc who never learned to write in his native language so he is still very weak in English although he can speak it. He was struggling to write something so instead of seeing him suffer I had him tell me what he would like to say to his mom and I wrote it all down. He was so happy and I’m glad I took time away from monitor the other student’s progress because Marc just need that extra bit of attention and he earned it because he really tried and was making a great effort. If a student shows that he or she really wants to learn I feel compelled to go that extra mile for them. Besides I feel a kinship to Marc at the moment because I feel like I'm putting in all this effort but sometimes I just don't seem to be getting where I want to go.
Today I pretty much spent the whole day in school from 9:00am to 9:00pm. I had my 6th teacher practice and this time I taught the pre-intermediates who are basically at the high end of beginner. We had some lovely student’s including Blanca from Spain, Jane from the Czech Republic, Marie and Marc from Angola and Mohamed from Afghanistan. Although this was a great group of enthusiastic learners the fact that they didn’t understand as much as the student’s I’d been used to teaching made me panic a bit here and there. At one point I just wasn’t sure if I should continue with what I’d planned but in the end it worked out and they especially like my last exercise where I had them talk to their partner about a person in their life that they admire and why. After the brief discussion I handed out colored paper folded to resemble a note card and put colored pencils, crayons and makers (curtsey of Maura, my classmate’s 8 year old daughter Kate.) Although Maura admitted that Kate was no so keen on lending them to me for fear I would not return them. Apparently Kate is a red head and according to Maura redheads are stingy with their stuff. In the spirit of my exercise I will write Kate a thank you note for her generosity, even if it was only under duress, and send it home with her mother tomorrow.
The student’s however really enjoyed creating pictures on the front of their cards and then writing to their loved ones about why they admire them. Most of the student’s wrote to their mother and one wrote to her sister and another to her brother. The cards were fantastic and I had to correct them. They didn’t get a lot of time to write so the corrections were all quick and I handed them back to the student’s after the next class. I wrote personal notes on each just to let them know how much I appreciated their enthusiasm for the assignment. I especially paid close attention to Marc who never learned to write in his native language so he is still very weak in English although he can speak it. He was struggling to write something so instead of seeing him suffer I had him tell me what he would like to say to his mom and I wrote it all down. He was so happy and I’m glad I took time away from monitor the other student’s progress because Marc just need that extra bit of attention and he earned it because he really tried and was making a great effort. If a student shows that he or she really wants to learn I feel compelled to go that extra mile for them. Besides I feel a kinship to Marc at the moment because I feel like I'm putting in all this effort but sometimes I just don't seem to be getting where I want to go.
Overall, I learned, or just had it reconfirmed, that art speaks to all people no matter how well they can articulate what is going on. I have this same group for my teacher practice on Friday so I will come up with some more ways to incorporate art into my lesson plan.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening sharing a classroom with Vince, also one of my fellow classmates, as we tried to get homework lessons complete. Vince stays at a hostel 4 days a week because he lives in Sligo which is a few hours away. Actually Sligo is one of my favorite places that I’ve visited in Ireland in recent years. It’s where the poet William Butler Yates used to go for inspiration. It’s a beautiful seaside town and really worth a visit whenever you are in Ireland.
I only have one picture to share today which is of Vince in the little classroom we shared today. I am off to bed in a matter of minutes because I just can’t keep my eyes open any longer.
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