Wednesday, July 10, 2013

In the Classroom

Today, I had a student start to cry in class for the first time in my short experience as a teacher.  This, I've found, is when teaching gets complicated: when a student can't understand comforting words.  Words have always been my gift (even if this unpolished blog doesn't exactly support this statement) and they serve as my means of reaching the kids I work with.  So today, when one of my 11-year-old students began to cry in front of the blackboard with a piece of chalk in hand, I was at a loss.  Thank God for Sz who explained to her (in Hungarian) what she didn't understand about the lesson; class resumed without a hitch.
With my hilarious and rambunctious students from Class 1
Aside from the tears, I think I'm beginning to get my bearings with this whole teaching thing.  My first class is quite wild; the kids enjoy getting out of their chairs and playing games that will allow them to move around.  They also like singing, but I'm incredibly sick of "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" so I've cut back on *that* as much as possible.  This morning, I introduced them to the long and glorious tradition of Duck, Duck, Grey Duck.  (Like a true Minnesotan, I subscribe to the game involving a "grey duck," not a goose).  Hilarity ensued.  First off, one of my students didn't seem to understand the concept of sitting down in the empty space in the circle after running around once; she would run around the circle two or three times.  I asked Sz to re-explain to the rules to her and her vehement response in Hungarian, as Sz told me, was that she wanted to stop running but just couldn't.  (I don't know if this means that she was too hyper or too uncoordinated to stop when she wanted).  On several occasions, I also had to remind a number of the little girls not to lift up their dresses and show the class their underwear.  Additionally, the game became "Dog, Dog, Gree Dog."  Adorable.

Class 2 has about half the number of students in my first class and they're a much quieter bunch.  These kids are very well-behaved and I've been able to teach them more vocabulary than their predecessors.  I've used a baby book I brought from the US to teach words for animals, body parts, seasons, and so on.  We've been playing "Simon Says" for the past two days focusing on the vocabulary I taught them regarding various body parts.
Teaching essentials: mini white board, Hungarian-English phrasebook, Picture/Word book (The phrasebook includes a whole section on Romance and Rejection.  It's incredibly awkward and incredibly funny).
My third class has a good grasp on English as a whole, although some of the students obviously struggle (like the poor girl who cried today).  We've been working on prepositions this week, and for some reason three of my students find it utterly hilarious to write sentences on the board including "I learned in the bathroom" and "I learned in the toilet."  I had to hold myself back from bursting out laughing because 1) these are three of the pinkest, prettiest, most feminine girls in the class and 2) I had to explain that "in the toilet" carries a pretty distinct meaning that probably was not intended.  (Although they like silliness, so maybe it was on purpose).
Smaller and calmer Class 2
The last class of the day (with my teenage students) is much better than it was last week.  I've learned that teenagers (ostensibly being awkward and insecure, especially about their English skills) respond best to very structured lessons.  If I leave learning up to them, they're confused but if I give them a task, they can at least shoot for something.  I've also found that competition is a good tool for motivation.  All of this week, I've split the class into two teams and kept score of their points.  Even though I don't have prizes, they're getting into it.  I think that feeling of accomplishment/superiority is enough incentive for them to stretch out of their comfort zones.

I'll write more later.  For now, viszlát!

3 comments:

  1. This is all so fascinating to read about. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. It's my pleasure; I'm glad you're interested! =)

    ReplyDelete