This is a rock. (kids repeat) is a rock heavy? Light? Soft? What? “Teacher!” Yes? (insert 30 seconds of student trying to explain using noises, not words) Oh! The rock is a space ship? “No teacher!” (more noises) Oh I see! The rock is a boat! Class, can a rock be a boat? (class) “No teacher!” that’s right, a rock sinks in the water. “Teacher, no!” okay, then what? (more noises) Oh, I see now. The rock is a banana! “Yes teacher, yes!”
I have always admired Elementary teachers. I have no idea how they do it. 20+kids in a classroom isn’t so bad…when they are over the age of 15. One has to be interested in ever little thing that could be remotely (sometimes REALLY remotely) connected to whatever he or she is talking about. Kudos to you, my Elementary friends, you are brave and valiant souls.
I typically have 2-6 students in the class. There is such a variation because students don’t always come regularly (it is an after-school program). They drive me crazy much of the time. There are days when I wish I could grab some of the kids by the hair, spin them in circles, and throw them out the window. Other times I think they are hilarious. Don't worry, I had a student trying to dry off his pants after he peed them the other day. I am growing to love their curiosity and innocence despite the constant reminder that kids at this age "have no brains" (thank you Bill Cosby). I have a hard enough time with the small number of students that I have, I can’t even imagine what you full-time Elementary teachers deal with! I do not envy your job, only your abilities.
There are many levels in the program. Kinder is the beginning level. This level usually has students from 4-7ish. Then there is the primary level (age 6ish-8ish;) we call them basic readers, then elementary (7-11ish). One advances through the program mainly based on their ability, not age. Age is a factor, however. You see, a 9 year old, no matter how basic, will not enjoy activities that are for the 4 year olds. An older beginner may spend some time in the basic level but hopefully, because of their superior cognitive ability; they will advance quickly, sometimes within a couple of weeks.
In the kinder level the students are taught through, what I am going to call, task based learning (That may have been an approach that I learned through school/training so I can’t take credit for it…). The teachers prepare lessons based on tasks they wish to perform. They are given 6 areas that are to be the focus for a given lesson. For example: this week I am teaching gym. I prepare a lesson using some kind of “gym” activity (soccer, basketball, baseball etc.) and write out specific tasks that will be completed (bring out ball, kick ball, spin ball, try to eat ball, throw ball, teach game, assign teams etc.) This is just the plan though. When we are actually in the moment, we are focusing on talking (This is a soccer ball, it is round, it has stitching, the stitching is done by a machine, the stitching is white, there are different colors on the ball, black is the color of darkness, or night. White is like a cloud, the ball is bouncy, it is kind of hard, the ball is not huge but it isn’t small either…you get the point). We have the students repeat almost everything we say. Speech and input are the most important for the student. They generally will be speaking small sentences and answering yes or no questions within a week or so.
Now on to the basic readers, there are a few levels within this one as well but I will tell you what I teach. I am in the third phase. The students have already learned a song that helps them learn letters and sounds, they have also already began to learn how to write the letters and associate them with concrete items (“B” for “b”at). We are now helping them put the sounds together. My head teacher, my amazing co-teacher, and I have taken the original method that ILP has purchased and adapted it to our situation. We generally get through two letters a week (1 letter per teacher). We start off the first day with an object that is related to the sound and letter. A bat, for instance, when we start the “B” book. The books that we use are 10-20 pages long with lots of illustration and few, large print, words. The books have a theme that is related to the sound and that is usually where we get our ideas for the concrete object. Today, we started the “D” book. The book is about dragons eating donuts. I brought in donuts to begin. We talk about the object in great, great, great detail. Then we look at the pictures in the book without reading it, describing everything we see. By the time we get done with all of this, our first class is already over.
Day two is a review singing the song that they learned in the other phases of the program, talking about what we did the previous day, then jumping into the rainbow reader sheets. I don’t quite understand the psychology behind this aside from the repetition, but I have heard that colors help children remember. There is a packet that we give the students that has the main words from the book. They are taught about rainbows and then each day color in a new color under each word. They have to sound out each word, and then say it quickly as they draw a line. (“B” “A” “T” “bat!”). They color 1-2 colors a day. The teacher then reads the book to them aloud as they listen. After all of this is completed, the class is usually over. The next day is a repeat of the 2nd but they are faster. The teacher then hands out copies of the book and then reads again aloud as they follow along. If there is time they play games that are assessments (a die that has who? What? Where?... or flash cards etc.) If there is still more time, the students get to color their packet (it comes in black and white as a coloring book). The 4th and 5th days are similar to the 3rd, adding more assessments and having the students read out loud as a group, then as a group individually as the teacher helps, encourages, and models.
I don’t know much about the Elementary grades except that they too have levels and are more focused on writing and spelling as well as tasks. They have books that correspond to each level and are reviewing what they already know in core subjects only now using English.
As I mentioned before, I have a co-teacher. This isn’t to say that we co-teach but more we have a rotation. We begin the two-hour block at 1:40 PM, with an opening. We sing songs, and play games that encourage the use of English. We then split into classrooms and teach either an SPE (the task based learning) or BR (Basic Reading). Because there are two teacher and we have three rotations we teach two BRs and one SPE. We end up with the same students we started with after the opening. These students are almost on their way to Elementary. That is why they only have one SPE (the SPEs are generally more fun for the students).
I am picked up with my little brother and sister and we go home to eat. I then bath and brush my teeth (see culture post), then head out to the ILP building to teach another two-hour block at 5:30. This time there are three teachers. We still do two BRs and one SPE but this time we have three sets of students. Two sets at the BR level and one at the SPE level. The BR students get the same rotation as our first two-hour block only now they don’t have an SPE with me or the other BR teacher. We have one teacher that only does the SPEs. As we rotate, the other BR teacher and I teach BR to the BR kids and SPEs to the SPE students.
At 7:30 we are done, and as soon as I can clean up and get out, I walk home to eat a light dinner, chat with the family, and then go to bed, only to wake up and do it all again.
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