Melinda, Robyn and I on our first day of school!So I made it through the first week of school...I will try my best to sum up this past week in the life of a kindergarten class. It is quite well um...crazy. We have 19 students in our class and it is their first year where the students have to stay all day long AND they are taught in English, so if you can imagine yourself as a 5 year old, it can be quite overwhelming. I mean I am 22 and I have been in school since18 years and its still tiring haha.
Basically the first week has consisted of trying to walk quietly in a line without pushing each other, lining up in less than 5 minutes (ok that's an exaggeration), sitting in our spot on the floor, really just a lot of procedures and routines that they need to learn in order for the classroom to run smoothly. They for sure have made improvements just from Monday to Friday, so it can only go up from here. I think the biggest challenge is trying to get them to understand what I am saying in English which requires A LOT of hang movements and acting out. Sometimes they just stare at you cluelessly, but hey I sometimes do they same when they try to say something to me. I really do love these kids though; they are absolutely precious! I will have to get a picture of them this week and post them on the blog!
I really feel like my Spanish learning is getting better day by day. I am learning a lot from just being in my classroom alone from my students and from my teacher because she will explain things sometimes in Spanish since it's their first week.
A highlight of the week: on Thursday I had my first Bible study. It is a group of about 6 other teachers (both old and new). We are studying out of a book called Devotional Classics, and if you have never heard of it or read it, I really suggest it! I am really excited about studying it and getting to know the other teachers. It was definitely just what I needed this week :) When we were talking one of the girls described this experience perfectly; this place is for "recovering perfectionists." SO well put! It is impossible to be in control whatsoever here, so it is definitely going to be a growing experience while I'm here. I am starting from scratch, and I just have to open myself to learning A LOT of new things!
This weekend was quite relaxing and just what I needed after the first week of school. On Friday night one of the Pre-K teachers that lives on the next street over from us invited us over to have tacos for dinner and hang out! It was such a blast! She is from the DR, so she speaks Spanish of course so it was a challenge to Melinda, Robyn and I to use only Spanish. She invited a few other Dominican teachers, so it was really great to get to know them on a more personal level. After dinner we played dominoes with her family and some of their other Dominican friends! How hilarious it was! First of all they play dominoes in a way that I have never seen before, and they take this game VERY seriously! I was not the best at the game which they thought was quite humorous. It was fun to sit around and teach them some words in English and us in Spanish. It made me laugh because I realized how ridiculous I probably sound majority of the time when I make sentences in Spanish...but o well, I'm learning. On Saturday one of the vet American teachers invited some of the new teachers over for lunch and just hang out time. It was such a wonderful time getting to know everyone there as well because we just went around telling life stories and such. Then we went to this AMAZING ice cream place and I got this frozen yogurt type thing that you can mix in whatever you want! I will definitely be making some trips there often. :) Last night we played we played a little hula-hooping. Found out I wasn't too shabby at it either! We went to go eat at Cecelia's restaurant because well we got fruit for dinner. It was very delicious fruit but there was a little mis-communication with our host mom (not unusual) about what we wanted for dinner haha. So we went to her restaurant and had some very yummy empanadas! One of the other teachers met us and he came over and played some games with us.
Basically the first week has consisted of trying to walk quietly in a line without pushing each other, lining up in less than 5 minutes (ok that's an exaggeration), sitting in our spot on the floor, really just a lot of procedures and routines that they need to learn in order for the classroom to run smoothly. They for sure have made improvements just from Monday to Friday, so it can only go up from here. I think the biggest challenge is trying to get them to understand what I am saying in English which requires A LOT of hang movements and acting out. Sometimes they just stare at you cluelessly, but hey I sometimes do they same when they try to say something to me. I really do love these kids though; they are absolutely precious! I will have to get a picture of them this week and post them on the blog!
I really feel like my Spanish learning is getting better day by day. I am learning a lot from just being in my classroom alone from my students and from my teacher because she will explain things sometimes in Spanish since it's their first week.
A highlight of the week: on Thursday I had my first Bible study. It is a group of about 6 other teachers (both old and new). We are studying out of a book called Devotional Classics, and if you have never heard of it or read it, I really suggest it! I am really excited about studying it and getting to know the other teachers. It was definitely just what I needed this week :) When we were talking one of the girls described this experience perfectly; this place is for "recovering perfectionists." SO well put! It is impossible to be in control whatsoever here, so it is definitely going to be a growing experience while I'm here. I am starting from scratch, and I just have to open myself to learning A LOT of new things!
This weekend was quite relaxing and just what I needed after the first week of school. On Friday night one of the Pre-K teachers that lives on the next street over from us invited us over to have tacos for dinner and hang out! It was such a blast! She is from the DR, so she speaks Spanish of course so it was a challenge to Melinda, Robyn and I to use only Spanish. She invited a few other Dominican teachers, so it was really great to get to know them on a more personal level. After dinner we played dominoes with her family and some of their other Dominican friends! How hilarious it was! First of all they play dominoes in a way that I have never seen before, and they take this game VERY seriously! I was not the best at the game which they thought was quite humorous. It was fun to sit around and teach them some words in English and us in Spanish. It made me laugh because I realized how ridiculous I probably sound majority of the time when I make sentences in Spanish...but o well, I'm learning. On Saturday one of the vet American teachers invited some of the new teachers over for lunch and just hang out time. It was such a wonderful time getting to know everyone there as well because we just went around telling life stories and such. Then we went to this AMAZING ice cream place and I got this frozen yogurt type thing that you can mix in whatever you want! I will definitely be making some trips there often. :) Last night we played we played a little hula-hooping. Found out I wasn't too shabby at it either! We went to go eat at Cecelia's restaurant because well we got fruit for dinner. It was very delicious fruit but there was a little mis-communication with our host mom (not unusual) about what we wanted for dinner haha. So we went to her restaurant and had some very yummy empanadas! One of the other teachers met us and he came over and played some games with us.
8 people crammed into a 5 person compact car on the way to Ciaras house. This is usual here.
I'm sure I have rambled on for quite some time, so thanks for reading if you made it this far! I will try to update twice a week, or atleast once a week. Be on the lookout for more pictures posted on facebook!
Keep me in your prayers as I head into week 2 of school! Hopefully it will keep getting better! Miss all of you and thank you again for all your prayers, and encouraging emails!
I'm sure I have rambled on for quite some time, so thanks for reading if you made it this far! I will try to update twice a week, or atleast once a week. Be on the lookout for more pictures posted on facebook!
Keep me in your prayers as I head into week 2 of school! Hopefully it will keep getting better! Miss all of you and thank you again for all your prayers, and encouraging emails!
ok so this is so funny but we were just talking about how the most difficult thing probably is the fact that you are used to putting your hands on something and getting it done and doing it perfectly well. and to have a language barrier definitely makes all of that move slower. but you are so right on that the growth will be magnificent from all of this and i repeat i am excited to live through you:) i love you tons lea ann
ReplyDeleteoh and you are very wise for your age!! i adore that!!
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