The REAL First Day of School!

Today was really my first day of school!  I have come several other days, but today is the first day that I am really working and teaching the students.  I put together a presentation about the United States, Virginia, Mineral, my home, and me.  Today I worked with two first year classes and one second year class, so 12-14 year olds.  It is difficult because I it is really difficult to tell when they don’t understand and when they are just being shy. Also, I think I already have four private English lessons set up, which is nice and will bring in some extra money.  One of them is with my mentor’s son and husband, which will be fun.  I am also doing one with a group of 5 13-year-old girls who I met today in my second year class.  That will be interesting to say the least…at least they are paying me to venture back into 13-year-old girl world. 

My schedule has me working with 5 different teachers, though I spend the majority of my time with Chus, my mentor.  I have seven English classes in the bilingual section, 3 first year, 2 second, 1 third, and 1 fourth.  Then I will also be working with the 3 first year classes for 20 minutes in each of their social science classes.  I am also working with the 2 second year classes in their natural science classes.  I haven’t attended any of the content classes yet, so I will be interested to see how that will go.  I think I am mostly going to be there to help with pronunciation and vocabulary, but we will see what they ask of me.  I enjoy the kids so far…it is difficult for me to learn their names because they are so Spanish.  It is even harder when the name is similar to an English name and I struggle to pronounce it the correct way, like Victor.  My least favorite class was my last class of the day, my 2^nd class of first years, but I don’t know if it was because of today’s circumstances for them or another reason.  They seemed much less proficient and less attentive, but I was with them once before, when they asked me questions, and they did better.  I don’t know if it was because it was the end of the day for them, Feria is just ending so they are just back to school, because it is a different teacher, or because they were in a different classroom than usual, but if it is as much like pulling teeth as it was today, it will be a long year with that class.  Hopefully as they get more comfortable around me they will be more willing and excited about participating.