The first class of Habla Roosevelt was an introduction to the program, getting to know our names and our interests, and having some activities that were purposeful but seemed quite impersonal for me. However, last week it was different (from what I heard because I was, sadly, at home studying for mocks). And this week, I got to experience a REAL day in Habla Roosevelt and understood why we had had such positive feedback last week.
Away from the impersonality of the first day, this third session was a complete different deal. The groups were divided in two, with kids from similar ages, so we had a group with the younger kids and another with the older ones together. I worked with the younger kids, which I truly enjoy, and once Cynthia was done with her mini lesson, we worked in small groups of 2:1. Again, that impersonality that I felt the first day was completely gone. I had the |
After break time, I had the opportunity to work with Esteban. Esteban is an 11-year old boy who seems to be the naughty kid in class and distracted at times. He was working with Pedro at first, along with another kid, David. I didn’t have a group at the time so I joined them and realized that Esteban needed some attention. The exercise they had to complete was a family tree so it could guide them when saying the name of someone in their family in the form of “My_________ name is _________”. Esteban had trouble remembering the pronunciation of the words father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother. I said it once so he had to repeat it after me, but it didn’t work. He was getting frustrated and said it was “too complicated”. |
He kept me thinking about what it was that really stopped him from performing with me, the way he did in front of the class. Was he shy in a small group of people? Or was it the way we were teaching him that wasn’t helping him at all? Through this experience I knew that if we want to make these classes personal, then we need to have a better understanding of each kids' most efficient way of learning in order to help them reach their highest academic potential in learning English. |
:)