I taught my first set of classes on Friday. My first
class consisted of nine kids, ages 10 and 11. I was nervous before hand, since
I don’t speak any Arabic, but I was so impressed with the kids. As long as I
spoke slowly and clearly, they were able to do almost everything I asked. I had
prepared a review for the first day to see what level they were at and they
easily whizzed through all of it. I had them speak to the class, speak to each
other, write sentences, fill in the blanks and they completed each task successfully
and confidently.
My next class also had nine students, but they were
older, ranging in age from 10-13. Again, I was very impressed with their
English. I could speak at a faster rate and they could keep up without a
problem. There was only one girl in this class that seemed to not know some of
the principles we reviewed. I am going to watch her the next few days and see
if perhaps she should be moved to a lower class. There is also a girl that
speaks very well and answers all the questions so fast that it’s bordering on obnoxious
as it prevents other students from participating. I will watch her as well to
see if perhaps she should go to a higher class.
My classes today, however, were a nightmare. Oh, it was
so awful!! I was assigned to a brand new kindergarten school. Me and two other
teachers (Denise, age 60 from Utah and Penelope, mid thirties from Greece)
showed up at 8 in the morning and we met with the principle and advisor for
almost an hour, during which Denise and Penelope complained about how awful
their experience was last week. Since I wasn’t around last week, I couldn’t
contribute to the conversation, but everyone in the room was upset and a couple
of times voices were raised. Eventually we reached some conclusions, like they
agreed to never leave us alone with the kids, they would provide us with the
lessons materials, etc. I thought it all sounded reasonable. Very premature.
The principle, Ms. Nadibal (I have no idea how it is
really spelled), led me to a classroom and dropped me off. There were over 30
kids, all five years old. The teacher introduced me to the kids, gave me some
books, pointed at some paper and puzzles and left me. So I was abandoned with
tons of tiny kids that didn’t understand a word I said, and I couldn’t
understand anything from them. They were CRAZY! Turns out, even if you are
shouting at people, if they can’t understand you, it doesn’t do any good. I
tried everything I could think of to get them to calm down: read some books,
sang some songs, gave them things to color, playdough, dancing, but nothing
worked. Some of them started crying for their moms and never stopped. I tried
to find an Arabic teacher to help, but none were close by and I couldn’t just
leave the kids by themselves and wander around. And it was so hot. Even with
the window open and the fan on, that many people in the small room made the
heat very heavy.
I felt so bad for the kids, so many of them crowded
around me asking for things over and over again, but I had no idea what they
were saying. It was pure chaos. I was almost crying when Penelope showed up.
She said she was going through the same thing in her classroom and she had had
enough. She found an Arabic teacher to come in the class and pulled me out. To
my horror, I saw it was only 11:00 am! Still two more hours! We were talking
about what we could do when Ms. Nadibal the principle found us. She kept
telling us it was easy and we were making a fuss about nothing. She told me to
go back to the classroom and watch the Arabic teacher.
So I went back and it made me feel slightly better that
the Arabic teacher, who could communicate just fine with the kids, could not
control them any better than I had. It was so loud and so crazy in there. It
was awful.
Finally the shift ended. Longest five hours of my life.
Denise emerged from her classroom and said she would rather go through labor
than do that again (funny now, but not in the moment). Ms. Nadibal could not,
or chose not to, understand why we were having any problems. She said they were
understaffed and that was why they could not keep the Arabic teachers in the classroom
during our English lessons (although she had confirmed just earlier that
morning that we would never be alone with the kids!) She brushed off all of our
complaints and said that things would just get better. She said that we needed
to stay a few hours after school to get trained and prepare materials and then
it would go better. She said that once we moved into the basement of the school
that we would be able to put in longer hours and she could contact us more
easily.
I am slightly traumatized from the experience. I’m not
sure which part is worse, the actual time I had with the kids, or all the
promises made by the staff in the morning that were so blatantly false. What
can I do?? Please give me all the help and advice you can think of!!
All I know is that I couldn’t last another week like
that, let alone another 9 months.
You have two different problems. The administration and the children. The most difficult will be the administration. Miles as you know goes to a language immersion school. I recommend that Denise, Penelope and you combine your classes so that you will not be alone. The numbers of children will be greater but it will still be easier to handle. Second, the three of you should decide on a method of getting their attention,i.e. clapping your hands in rhythmic patterns, saying rhymes in soft voices never loud. Soon the children will repeat what you are doing. This is the method they use at Miles school because they couldn't use English and the children didn't know Mandarin to start with. Never raise your voice it just encourages the children to get louder. If you use a quite voice like you are telling a spooky story they will want to know what you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteOne of you teaches and the other two are crowd control. Find out what indicates disapproval in their culture and use it. Sit them in a corner, or something that works their. In addition if they are well behaved they get to come up front and be the teachers aide or sit on the teachers lap.
Make flash cards if you don't have them. Actually in Miles school the children made their own flash cards. It helped them learn the characters and the sounds. With all three of you in the same room you can divide the children and still control them. Some making flash cards, some listening to you read out loud and one teacher for crowd control.
Once the three of you have decided on how you will approach getting their attention and disciplining them don't waver no matter what the children do. They are not only learning a language but a culture. It was amazing to watch Miles and his classmates go through this process.
As for the administration, I would record every conversation you have with them and then play it back to them when they don't keep their promises.
Hillary, you have your work cut out for you! I like Barbara's suggestions. I would add to speak in very short simple phrases and as little as possible, using only phrases you want them to learn and mimmick. Most of your communication can be physical, demonstrating what you want them to do while speaking the 'label' so they learn to recognize one or two word instruction. It might help if you have someway to reward the behavior you are asking for to help them learn to listen/watch for your instruction and so they recognize when they have understood correctly. . . . A small candy or a sticker? After they practice understanding and performing that particular instruction it would not need rewarding anymore. This has worked for us in non-english primary groups. At the beginning all of your communication will be visual, by pictures or physical movement. Keep verbal to a minimum, using it to label and be consistent in your labels. Best of luck! I'm sure it will get better and down the road you will look back and be pleased, maybe even surprised at what you have accomplished. If nothing else, the principal's attitude communicates lower expectations than what you American teachers may have. Sometimes the prime objective in teaching a foreign language for the youngest children is to simply exposure. So, control may be the objective and anything achieved beyond that is bonus.
ReplyDeleteBTW, as a newbie to blog posting, I don't know how I got labeled 'Senora Lori', but this is Tia Lori ; 0 ) I hope next week goes better!
DeleteThanks wonderful Aunts! This is great stuff. Now that I've had a chance to think about it all and relax a bit, I think the biggest problem is that there are simply too many kids in the class and they are understaffed. We need to split the classes.
DeleteDoes anyone want to come out here and help? ;)
Hi Hilary,
ReplyDeleteI'd say you have a big problem not of your own making!! Here are my thoughts:
1. In order to get the attention of the children, choose one child to focus on. Go up to that child, tap them on the shoulder, motion for them to follow you up to the front of the classroom. Then pantomime an action to the child: point to yourself, clap your hands in a rhythmic pattern, then point to the child implying it's her turn. If the child doesn't get it, do it again until the child understands what you want from him. When the child successfully mimics your pattern, give the child a small reward. The other children may or may not be paying attention. That's OK at this point. Then teach the child a new pattern. Do this 3 times. Eventually, the rest of the class will begin watching, especially as the first child gets 3 rewards. Walk the first child back to her seat and choose a 2nd child to teach the rhythmic pattern to in the same manner.
2. Have a total of 3 children come to the front of the class and learn 3 patterns. You've now given out 9 rewards and you should have the attention of the entire class. They will want to know what comes next.
3. Now you begin training the class to respond to your clapping signals. Motion to them that you want all of them to copy the clapping pattern you will make. Whenever you clap a pattern, they are to repeat it in complete silence. Ask a native what the signal is for "quiet" in Arabic. In the US we put a finger to our lips. If they clap the pattern but are still talking, use the quiet signal. Practice until everyone can do it correctly and then give all of them a reward. Eventually they will learn that whenever you want their attention, you will clap a pattern and they are to repeat the pattern back to you in silence. If they don't do it silently, make them do it until they get it right. This is the first tool in your teaching toolbox. You must have their silent attention in order to teach.
Part 2
ReplyDelete4. The next thing I would do would be to once again use one child as the example and begin teaching simple vocabulary words. Children like to learn the name of body parts, so take the hand of the child and motion towards it and say, "hand." Have them repeat it to you. Do a few more words and then make a game out of it. You point to something, ask them what the word is, and if they are right you draw a stem and leaves and one petal of a flower on the board. For each word that is correct, add another petal on the flower until the flower is complete.
5. Five-year-olds have about a 6 minutes attention span. So you will need to vary your teaching methods. At this point, they need to be up and out of their seats and learning the same material kinesthically. I would have them stand in a circle and then you sing the Hokey Pokey. Instead of saying, "You put your right hand in" I would simplify the words but have them move the body part they just learned until you covered them all.
6. Then I would get out some paper and crayons or writing implements and quiz them on what they learned. You say a word and they have to draw a picture of the word you said. The idea at this age is to teach 3 different ways: verbally, with movement, and then with paper and pencil. They can't just be sitting at their desks during the class period.
7. After teaching body parts, I would teach numbers. Then play "Mother May I" or Simon Says as part of the teaching. Whenever they get out of control, clap your signals. Learn some other attention-getting techniques too. You will need them. If the class doesn't respond to you as a whole, work with just a few children up in front of the class, give them rewards and praise, and the others will start to pay attention.
These are just some ideas to get you started. I would break up the teaching period with maybe 5-6 different activities. But they must be paying attention in order for the activities to be effective. In the beginning, you are simply training them to respond to you using rewards and positive reinforcement. Once they are responsive, you can do whatever else you want to do.
Good luck!