I have only been in the classroom for two days, but I feel like I should write some of these mini anecdotes down before they get replaced by other more ridiculous ones.
Let me begin by saying I have quite the range of ages to deal with. Three to seven years old. Oh, you heard me right. THREE to seven. I am mostly working with the six and seven year olds, and I'm not the main "teacherrr" (Spanish accent) in the classroom, although it's only the second day and who knows what I've gotten myself into. Just joking. Sort of.
The first kids I met were the 7 year olds, and they are a rambunctious bunch. The class has a few standouts, including a set of Romanian (I think that's what they said?) twin sisters who called me guapa and said my accent was guay (cool) and asked to touch my (apparently nice) hair all within the first half an hour. They're troublemakers, and their English leaves much to be desired, but I know I like them already. There's this other cool girl who ice skates and sits way in the back of the class alone (which means she knows how to behave), and this one smart alec (but nice) boy who has a large fake diamond stud in his ear. Speaking of earrings, one blonde/blue eyed girl (a rarity!) told me she was bringing me a pair of earrings after the first day. Totally unnecessary, girl! At least wait until next week...
Now that I think of it, there are too many standouts to go listing them off like this, because I'll undoubtedly take up the whole page just describing the seven year olds. And there is so much to be said about the others.
The six year olds are better than the seven year olds, at least in behavior terms. They still get excited by sing-a-longs (whereas the 7's are way too mature for this) and although they're silly, they usually listen to their elders. I guess I'm an elder. Ish. There's one very smart boy who always shouts out all the answers and understands the point of everything faster than the rest of the class- who may not ever understand it at all. Instead of being annoying, it's actually kind of nice. At least someone gets it. There are a lot of little boys in this class, and one in particular (with spiky gelled hair) is shaping up to be quite the character. The first day, he blew me kisses after class, after looking at me every 3 minutes. Today, he came into class crying because one of his peers had pushed him in the playground. A teacher came in yelling at the other kid and saying he had to apologize to this one and kiss him. Oh, differences in culture! Later, he worked up the courage to tell me that another boy told him that he thought I was guapa. In the same class, another little boy asked me a question- and as I walked toward him to answer, he began reeling me in with a fake fishing line. You've gotta love these mini-Spaniards, they are definitely a hoot.
Just a tidbit about the three year olds before this blog post becomes way too long. I really don't know how I'm going to teach them English, but at least they usually have a perma smile on their face that won't go away (mostly because they can't understand what I'm saying). Either way, it's nice to have kids shouting "Hello" and "Bye-bye!" to you in the hallway, if they can even pronounce those. Today I taught them how to say "cookie please", as I passed out cookies and served them water from a pitcher. Wait, is this English class or a restaurant? I don't know, but I quickly learned to pass out cookies at the beckon call of "coopsie pleeks". Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
That's all for now- this is definitely going to be one interesting year!
A
Shoutout to Lo who I'm skype-chatting with (she made me).
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