I realize that I have been writing a lot recently about one classroom activity in particular--our role play about Sweetland. Some of you may be tired of hearing about it. Others may find it as funny and endearing as I do.
I'd like to take a portion of this post to comment on why I keep posting about this activity week after week--so that you can all see why this activity has been revolutionary for me.
Mostly, this activity has wrought an incredible change in the kids' ability to speak in English. It has pushed them to their limits, and they have grown as English speakers because of it.
The quotes that I've shared in previous posts show a definite improvement from this fall--and even since January. The kids flat out just use more English than before--such that Spanish is not always their default language.
One student, in particular, has made great strides. He basically doesn't speak any Spanish in class anymore. Instead of saying, "Yo primero," or "Me toca." he always uses English to say "Me first," and "My turn." Even when arguing with the other students, he'll say, "Now, it's my turn. Listen to me. I'm talking." This is something that, as English speakers, we take for granted. These kids don't always know how to say these little phrases nor do they always think to use them in class.
The kids are also learning how to study a language and what to do when they don't know a word. They have learned to do one of two things. Often, they try to explain the word some other way--circumlocution. We've been practicing this skill at the beginning of each class for 5 to 10 minutes. When they ask me about a word or phrase, I ask them to write down the word/phrase in their notebooks--just like I do with phrases I learn in Spanish. They get a kick out of seeing what words I've learned that week. This has enabled them to pick up a lot of vocabulary because they consult their notebooks and actually incorporate the words into their language usage.
Even though I don't usually work today, I went to school in order to make up for a class that I missed last week due to a meeting with the coordinator of teaching assistants in the Community of Valencia.
Today, the kids debuted their new Sweetland characters--among others: a policewoman, a clown, a child, and a superhero/teacher. I'll give you all a short description of their characters. I was really impressed! They've written more detailed descriptions this time around.
- Policewoman: She's good. She doesn't do bad things. She's in charge of Sweetland.
- Child: He's 6 years old. He's a bad child. He hates school and hates the teacher because she's boring.
- Clown: He's funny. He tells jokes. He's a vegetarian and a pacifist.
- Teacher/Superhero: She gave a description of her clothes and said that when she leaves the school she because the superhero SuperSweet.
The kids had a lively conversation about Batman.
Clown: "Do you like... the Joker?"
Child: "Yes, I do."
Clown: "The Joker's the best! Yeah!"
Superhero: "I don't like the Joker. He's bad. I prefer Batman."
Later, they started a debate about the Child. Apparently, the Child doesn't like the Teacher/Superhero and so he said that he hits her at school. The Teacher/Superhero started debating a punishment for him. Tomorrow, they will debate this and convince me of the right punishment.
No comments:
Post a Comment