Their level...

"If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." -Ignacio Estrada

Interestingly, this is exactly how I must teach my kinders. I often speak to them as if they were speaking to me, so as to bestow upon them the instructions for each lesson. They mainly speak to me in groups of nouns that they have grown to learn in vocabulary lessons with words and pictures. Every once in a while, they will throw in a present tense singular verb to get their point across a little better. I do my best to speak to them slowly in normal English, but often times it is much more effective to talk to them their way.

Everyday I start class asking what day it is. Today was Thursday. It came out "duzday," "durzday," and (the closest) "tursday." Then we talk about what yesterday was, what tomorrow will be, and what date it is. Next, I always ask "how are you feeling today?"

Teacher (they call me teacher): Sue, how are you feeling today?

Sue: hoppy!

Teacher: Why are you feeling happy?

Sue: Mommy! I cream!

Teacher: Your mom gave you ice cream?

Sue: (nods)

Teacher (Sue): Okay say it with me... I (I)... am (am)... happy (hoppy)... because (e-cause)... my (my)... mommy (mommy)... gave (gabe)... me (me)... ice cream (I cream!).

I do this with her until she can say it on her own.

It really is probably the cutest thing I've ever witnessed.

They are actually brilliant little girls. When I finally get them to understand me, they catch on like Einsteins... getting there is the hard part.

Today, we were learning phrases for housework. We sang a song from the tape that came with the book about wiping the table, washing the dishes, putting the dishes away, and making the bed. Then, I had the girls come up one by one and be "teacher" (they love this - I think they're all oldest children). I instructed them slowly, had to walk them through it a few times, but finally they caught on. The "teacher" asks one of the other students to do one of the chores, please. The other student would reply by saying "okay!" and then proceed to act out the chore that the "teacher" said. Be aware that this is the third day we have worked on this lesson, so getting to the point where they could do this task was a long haul. It would go a little something like this:

Sue teacher: Jammin, wipe ta table peas. (Jasmine, wipe the table please)

Jasmine: Okay! (makes a frenzied wiping motion)

Sue teacher: Tank you. (Thank you)

Jasmine teacher: Grace, make the bed, please. (She speaks much more eloquently then the other two)

Grace: Yes!

Jasmine: Thank you.

You get the idea.

I've also started a new rule that if the girls speak Korean in class, they have to sit in the corner for one minute (a.k.a. eternity). It's hilarious because they are tattling on each other all the time. I'll come back from running out of the room for something and Sue will have a guilty look on her face and Jasmine will say, "Sue Korea!" I tell Jasmine no tattling. She doesn't know what that means, yet.

I get a lot of, "teacher, bathroom!" and "teacher, water!" These are usually accompanied by suggestive hand gestures and body language. That's probably how we communicate best. Sue tries to say bathroom, and I can't understand her except that she grabs her crotch.

Really, as far as learning English is concerned, the language barrier isn't really an issue. They're only four (ish) so they are learning English just like an English speaker would. I struggle more with the language barrier in classroom management. When all the girls come back from break crying, I can't get anyone to tell me what happened.

We color a lot. We do a lot of matching worksheets. Right now, the biggest obstacle in their English learning is the lack of vocabulary. My main focus is to beef this up for them. This is a lot of memorization, at which the are really good. It's a slow, arduous process, but its really neat to see the lightbulb go on. They get excited when they get it, too, which makes it even cooler.

Does that help? Let me know if it doesn't... or feel free to leave comments with further questions about what my day is like. I find the whole process of teaching and learning very fascinating. If anyone has any ideas, too, please leave them.

Teacher Jack (his name is actually Zach but Koreans don't do Z's well) conned us all into hiking with him on Saturday morning. It's supposed to be a 4 hour hike. I'm sure I'll have plenty to tell. Until then...