It is my third week teaching and time is going by quite quickly; but I also feel as if I have been doing this job for forever. I love most of the kids and I am trying my hardest to learn all of their names. I have already memorized all the troublemakers' names though! My favorite class is one of the first grade classes I work with the most. The professor, Adriana, is one of my favorite professors at San Fernando. She also teaches a third grade class (all the bilingual professors teach 2 different grades or teach both Spanish and English classes) and they are a great class as well. There is a wide variety of levels within this class and I have my work cut out for me trying to keep everyone entertained and making sure they understand (I even had one of the smarter students, who finished way ahead of the class, write a story about my fish, Sinbad).
One first grade class is particularly troublesome. I believe it is a combo of both the teacher (it is her first year teaching and I think she hasn't exactly gotten the hang of classroom control) and the actual class being full of rabble rousers. Also this classroom is lacking any technology, whereas most of the rooms are equipped with smart boards. They are drastically behind the other first graders and since it is the professor's first year teaching I am not sure where the year will take them seeing as many of the activities require at least a CD player and preferably a smart board (fingers crossed the smartboard gets fixed soon!). I am planning on making sure the students actually work in the textbook and activity workbook so that while I am in the classroom they are catching up to their peers.
As far as the actual teaching part, it has been interesting seeing which teachers have me do what. Some professors have me basically teach the whole class, sometimes with a little bit of guidance as they watch and listen, other times they just have me figure something out for the students to do. Others have me teach the lesson as they work with students who are severely behind (many transfer students do not come from bilingual schools and have no prior experience with English, some are gypsies which means they may not even be up to their peers' level in Spanish let alone English, and others have slight learning disabilities) or we swap roles and I help with the students that are behind. I cannot imagine starting a new school where half my classes are in a language I do not even know or trying to read and write in another language when I can barely do those things in my native language! And some teachers basically run the whole class and have me interject randomly or lead some activities and they lead others. It is a nice mixture, both challenging and sometimes a little boring.
Also since the children are learning British English, I am learning new things as well. For instance, I would ask, "does she have dark hair?" but they learn it as "has she got dark hair?". One teacher has to remind me often of the 'correct' way to say things. Also some of their vocabulary is different, such as sweaters being called jumpers, pants being called trousers, erasers are rubbers, binders are files, and math class is simply called maths (this one I do not like, and it is also sometimes difficult for me to say with my slight lisp!). Sometimes they just pronounce things differently as well. When I come back to the US, I may sound more British, or at least have the grammar of a British person!
We will have to wait and see what the year brings!
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