The ocean of language
We are in the middle of summer here in Medina. With the ocean being only a stone throw away from our tiny town it seems to be a very fitting theme and a perfect metaphor for the language learning process. The water, the animals, the sand, the sun, and boats, human languages are incredibly immense. To really appreciate the scope of what human languages are you have to submerse yourself entirely.
The week we made an ocean mural using hand prints, sang about the old woman who swallowed a shell and baby shark, and we also made paper boats and sandwiches while finishing our painted shirts and calendars. We also explored items that "float" and items that "sink". My co-teacher, who is a bit of a biology guru, brought in realia (dried starfish and shells) for the students to examine. I like to think that the students really enjoyed the lessons from this week. I know that I enjoyed creating them!
A couple of insights from the week:
- "Find a way to make your most difficult student your best student". I found this quote on an edutopia article comment thread. One of the students in the summer camp is openly defiant. I've been struggling to get this student to pay attention to instructions since the first day of camp. However, on Friday I decided to try out this out. I saw an immediate change in the student's behavior. Instead of knocking heads with me, the student willing came over when I called him and was much more willing to work with me.
-Students love to lead themselves and will often copy the behaviors of older students. I need to think of more ways to allow my students to be self-directed learners.
-"Yes and" this is an old improv adage, but I think it also completely applies to teaching. Sometimes, as the teacher, I just have to step back and say yes this is what we are doing now and let's see how far we can take it from here.
This weekend I took a trip to the home of my host mother's parents. They live in a tiny pueblo in the mountains about 30 minutes away from Medina. It was an incredibly beautiful little village, that in many ways reminded me of the mountains near my home in Utah. I enjoyed being able to witness the family dynamic of grandparents with my host parents and the grandparents with the grandchildren. It was completely fascinating. The family was incredibly warm. The grandfather had created a sort of sign language to try and communicate with me that was much more difficult to understand than if he had just spoken to me. It made me laugh and wonder about how I look, as a foreigner, to the people of Medina. We went on a hike and the family took me to an ancient monastery.
Anyways, things here are good. This coming week we will talk about the circus and I will be taking a trip to Barcelona. See you then!
-Lindsey
The week we made an ocean mural using hand prints, sang about the old woman who swallowed a shell and baby shark, and we also made paper boats and sandwiches while finishing our painted shirts and calendars. We also explored items that "float" and items that "sink". My co-teacher, who is a bit of a biology guru, brought in realia (dried starfish and shells) for the students to examine. I like to think that the students really enjoyed the lessons from this week. I know that I enjoyed creating them!
A couple of insights from the week:
- "Find a way to make your most difficult student your best student". I found this quote on an edutopia article comment thread. One of the students in the summer camp is openly defiant. I've been struggling to get this student to pay attention to instructions since the first day of camp. However, on Friday I decided to try out this out. I saw an immediate change in the student's behavior. Instead of knocking heads with me, the student willing came over when I called him and was much more willing to work with me.
-Students love to lead themselves and will often copy the behaviors of older students. I need to think of more ways to allow my students to be self-directed learners.
-"Yes and" this is an old improv adage, but I think it also completely applies to teaching. Sometimes, as the teacher, I just have to step back and say yes this is what we are doing now and let's see how far we can take it from here.
This weekend I took a trip to the home of my host mother's parents. They live in a tiny pueblo in the mountains about 30 minutes away from Medina. It was an incredibly beautiful little village, that in many ways reminded me of the mountains near my home in Utah. I enjoyed being able to witness the family dynamic of grandparents with my host parents and the grandparents with the grandchildren. It was completely fascinating. The family was incredibly warm. The grandfather had created a sort of sign language to try and communicate with me that was much more difficult to understand than if he had just spoken to me. It made me laugh and wonder about how I look, as a foreigner, to the people of Medina. We went on a hike and the family took me to an ancient monastery.
Anyways, things here are good. This coming week we will talk about the circus and I will be taking a trip to Barcelona. See you then!
-Lindsey
Pictures from la guarderia:
Pictures from Arroyo and the monastery:
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