Don't Hate Me

"Don't hate me, but I need to talk to you when you get here." that was the text from my director at Kumon. I go in and he tells me I am getting 2 of the 4 new students who are all suppose to be quite a challenge. I question him further and he tells me one of the students will be starting at square 1. Ok, I thought, I can do this.

After introducing myself I asked her if she wanted to take her coat off. No response. I figured she was really shy, sometimes it takes the new ones a bit to warm up to me. Her face didn't read fear and she wasn't about to cry, so we proceeded.

From what I gathered in our 20 minute class session I'm not sure she speaks or understands much English. Mmm. . . literally square 1. We did lots of hand over hand work (including how to hold a pencil and tracing the letters in her name), peer modeling (thank goodness the boys in that class are awesome and more than happy to help out). She did repeat the words after me, although it took peer modeling to get there.

How do I teach a child that doesn't understand me?

Upon talking to a close teacher friend she noted, it really isn't much different from your students with special needs (my other job). They can't talk to me either. But I can tell by body language and facial expressions what they are feeling. I think the difficult part with this student is her face is a blank slate: no confusion, understanding or frustration, just blank.

I'm going to see if we know what language she speaks (several are common in the country she hails from). I'm sure I will butcher trying to learn some simple words, but I can try. Also I'm going to see if one of the other students in the class can talk to her in her native language, as he comes from the same country. The tricky part with that is for him not to revert entirely back to that language, but use it as an avenue to tell her basic things she does not understand and to continue on with his learning without this holding him back. . . so many ideas to ponder. . . so many things to consider before executing any one plan.

I wish I had more time with them, an hour a week isn't very much (2 half hour classes). I certainly hope she is getting immersed in the English language somewhere else besides just one hour a week; I fear that isn't enough and she will struggle to learn quickly. But then again, she is young and more easily able to learn complex things like languages. Perhaps I am turning scenarios over in my head and making this a much bigger deal than it is.

Life

Today is my first day subbing. I am excited but a little anxious. They are high schoolers, special education, but high schoolers non-the-less. I fit much better with the elementary students, but who knows, maybe this will turn out great and I will love them. We shall see!

I have been teaching in a slightly different area of late. I am a Jr Kumon teacher at Kumon Math and Reading. It is a Math and Reading program driven by the worksheet model, to enhance the students' practice methods. Although this is not how I would teach in my classroom, I am certainly become diversified and learning more about the Indian culture and what the typical parent expects from his/her child-which is very high standards for learning. Although it is not the typical classroom, the typical setting or what I would consider to be typical curriculum, it is good for now, while I wait to see what else God has for me to do in life. He has blessed me abundantly, and for that I give him all the praise!

Animal School

This is an attempt to embed a video into my blog. I have never done this before, but believe this video is worth watching.

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/

O.K., so since it isn't my video, I can't embed it in the manner I thought I could. If you follow the above link, it will bring you right to the page with the video there. This video is a must see for teachers and parents alike.

Really, is the United States of America diverse?

My educational textbooks state over and over again that the United States of America is growing more diverse and has statistics to back this up. Recently moving to a larger town, I know there are places much more diverse than the small town I grew up in. I see it, others see it, but does the media accurately reflect it? This is the question that lead me to flip the channels in search of commercials, rather than shows.

My mission was to see if commercials actually reflect the growing diversity by showing multiracial people. I watched various channels for an hour and recorded how many men and women were shown using the following categories: white, Hispanic, African American and Asian American.

There were 72 men and 44 women shown in an hour of commercials. 55 of those men were white, 10 were African American, 5 were Hispanic American and 2 were Asian American. Of the 44 women: 33 were white, 8 were African American, 4 were Asian American and none were Hispanic. I think the numbers speak for themselves: the media of the USA does not accurately portray the people that make up America. When will all be considered equal?