If anyone has been in this situation please don't regard this post as a how-to manual. I'm just trying to write down my challenges so they don't eat me alive.
In the past two weeks that I have been teaching ESL I have been overwhelmed with emotion. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to give back a small token of my, English as a first language knowledge, and the pupils I teach do not take that for granted. However, my pupils range from age 3 to age 35. This is quite the opportunity, to say the least.
No, that's not a typo. I am currently teaching ESL classes in a small nursery school classroom and it's utter mayhem. Everyone is eager to learn but no one is on the same level.
I realize I have a challenge and even as I type I'm trying to figure out how to best execute my future classes. Here is my problem in a nutshell:
The children arrive Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3pm. The older ones (ages 7-12) first go to their tutor who helps them with their homework. This means that I get the toddlers first. Half of the toddlers are 3 and 4 and don't even know how to write their own names. The other half are 5-7 and they understand the basics of writing but are still learning the basics of reading and spelling.
My first part of the class is trying to keep the kids interested and usually this involves a lot of repetition and a promise that if they are good, they will get to hear me sing a song. This patience does not last long and I find myself having to run around the garden scooping kids up and shoving them back into the classroom (gently of course).
When the older kids finish their studies their mothers usually accompany them into the nursery and everyone is really ready to learn. I write a long list of vocabulary on the board and the kids and mothers ask me questions about definitions, grammar and the common use of these verbs and nouns. While this is going on I have desperate pleas from the toddlers to go play outside and of course they want me to accompany them. "La Ronda, miss!" is what they exclaim and the game they want me to play, I still haven't figured out. From what I've observed it's kind of like ring-around-the-rose but the kids who are not holding hands get to bash into the others and try and break up the circle.
I'm so humbled by the women and children who are hanging on to my every word and desperately trying to listen to my pronunciation but the toddlers are too young to understand are aggressive. If it were not for the millions of hugs and kisses they bestow upon me every day, I might have snapped by now.
But I persevere.
My current plan of action is too buy a lot of markers for the little ones and try to keep them occupied drawing while I teach the vocabulary and grammar lessons to the older ones.
Everyone is so respectful of me and so grateful for what I'm doing I know I will get through this, and everyday, no matter what, I leave smiling.
My own sanity is not what I'm worried about, it's really all about the women and children who have taken time out of their busy day to hear me teach. I want to leave with the hope that these women and children will have a much better grasp of the English language and hopefully be able to use it to their advantage in the future.
Well....here's hoping!
No comments:
Post a Comment