My First Classes!
My First Classes!
I co-taught my first classes this week at Colegio Calixto Moya. I was really nervous at first because I didn´t know how it would go with my counterpart teacher. He definitely likes to chat and speak in English which is good, but sometimes it´s hard to get down to business and plan. Other than that, he is super nice, easy to get along with, and seems like a good teacher from what I saw observing his classes.
I also found out that he has been working with a PC volunteer for the past 2 years. She left about 2 months ago and her name is whispered everywhere around the school – the infamous “(her name here)”. So he’s used to the routine and he knows what we do in the PC, which is nice. However, I’m getting the impression that this PCV might have done more than her 50% of the work and I don´t want it to be that way. I want the class to be as much my effort as his effort, because once I’m gone, who knows if he’ll get another PC V or not. Word on the street says that the PC is probably going to place someone here in Masatepe again. My guess is it’ll be one of us 6 that already live here too…
Anyways, the topic was Natural Disasters. They had already studied vocab specific to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, pollution, tornados, etc. and how to prepare for such a disaster. Now they were supposed to talk about their experiences with Natural Disasters and how they would react to one if it were to come. The day before I came, the Profe (teacher in Spanish – comes from professor) had the students read an article on the devastating earthquake in Managua (capital of Nic.) in 1972. Our idea for the following class was to target their listening skills as I told my story of the 1994 California earthquake. We decided it would be a good opportunity for the students to get used to hearing my voice since I’ll be working with them for the next 2 months. So, I told my story and the students listening intently (they paid a lot more attention than I was expecting really!). Afterwards they recapped the story in pieces to show their comprehension (again I was surprised! I guess I underestimated their English ability!) In groups they talked about how they would feel if another earthquake that those in Managua or California were to hit here in Masatepe and what they would do in such a situation.
The following class we started with current events since it just so happened that heavy rain had flooded several cities in Mexico, killing 12 people and injuring several hundred more that night. Also, how the flooding had led to an increase in robbery. Why? The students talked about it. Then we returned to the topic from the day before and asked the students to share what they had discussed in their groups (how they would feel if an earthquake happened in Masatepe). The students then recreated the earthquake in pictures, sort of like a timeline of events, showing how they imagined the scene to be that day. They seemed to really enjoy this, even those who claimed they couldn’t draw well! It was fun!
When I left the class, I felt that the students truly had understood my story + the vocabulary associated with it. More so, they were able to think about what they would do and how they would feel in such a situation = our goal.
Just as important, I felt that I had connected with the students on some level by sharing a personal story with them and they seemed to be open to talking to me. I’m pretty excited about this because having open communication and trust in the classroom is key for success. And a little classroom management, which I hit on the head when I made a student move back to his original seat no questions asked (he moved to work with a diff group than the one I had placed him in). I think he was mad at me at first but he got over it quickly.
I can’t wait for next week to teach again. I’m meeting with Profe this Sunday to co-plan once again… however, what the topic for the week is, I do not know!
