Welll? This week has
proven to be full of challenges and successes like the many preceding
weeks. One of the great delights of this
week was getting to Friday and Student Share Time. What IS Student Share Time? Please, sit down, relax, and let me tell you…..
When I started out this semester, I really wanted to
encourage the children in speaking the English Language. As I sat thinking about ideas of how I might
do this, I asked the question, “What makes ME want to try and talk in Spanish?” Hmph.
That’s easy. When I get to talk
about something I like or know about…..hmmmm…….and THAT was the beginning of an
idea.
I drafted a letter home to parents, explaining that I would
like each student to make a poster that included pics (drawn or actual) of things
their child liked, about their family, about their friends, etc. I went on to say that each child would get a
turn over the course of the semester to have a “share” time when the students and
teachers would get to hear about the things that matter to that child. It has been a HUGE success!
My aide, Carla, and I started off the Share Time so as to
model what we wanted the students to do.
I have only had three students share thus far, but we have another
planned on Friday and will have a total of 13 over the course of the semester. Students also get to bring five items from
home that mean something to them and then they need to talk about them to the
class. We have had everything from
sticker collections, to picture albums, to family heirlooms, and the sharing
has just started! I am so pumped about this
aspect of the semester!
One other note of fun is that we had a bonfire last Saturday
night here on the school property. Brian
got things set up before hand, and I bought marshmallows (for Chilean style s’mores)
and made a form of Chilean kool-aid called “Zuko.” There’s one group shot of the fire and the gang
here at the apartments, and I’ve also added a photo of Brian and his
fire-helper……..Brian’s helper, however, didn’t want to get TOO close……;0)
What a cool idea! I love just hearing kids talk. A lot of the time they are much deeper thinkers than we give them credit for. :D
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