We visited the elementary school again this morning in Santa Elena. We taught 2 different science lessons to 4 classes. I taught a lesson to a class of 2nd graders. The lesson asked the students to prepare a “rainbow” of colors: favorite color, eyes, hair, skin, and favorite food color. I lead the majority of the lesson in Spanish; but asked for the students to repeat the colors and count in English. I learned that the students are “programmed” to copy what is on the board without much thought to the content….especially when the directions/words are in English. For example: I drew a rainbow on the board with each category labeled with what goes there (favorite color, etc). I wanted them to color the “section” of the rainbow with their favorite color, but they copied what I wrote and the classroom teacher had to explain/translate it several times in order for the students to grasp the directions. I have also learned that the students have to hear the English words several times and repeat them…much as I need to hear and repeat the Spanish words several times (and write them)… in order to use them.
Spanish class at CPI was much better today. Our teacher was out sick, so we had a substitute. This instructor taught with a totally different strategy and I enjoyed the class today! We played Jinga….with Spanish verbs written on the blocks and a symbol (+, - , or?) to indicate whether we were to use the verb in a positive, negative, or interrogative sentence. It was a lot of fun and a great way to practice verbs in pronunciation and in application!
Can you believe it rained today in Monte Verde? The rain is causing a lot of flooding problems in the Pacific Northern part of the country (where we are). The newscasts (Noticias) tonight were full of videos showing the flooded streets and houses…I was able to understand a word or two here and there…plus the pictures tell the story!
End of day 14…………….
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