More Teaching Observations

We finished our teaching observations this week. We had a hard time tracking down Lisa, who was out doing home visits on one of the days we tried to visit her. Her regular school was off for the day, but we got to see her teach a great lesson at Renee's school. Lisa had an energetic group of students learing body parts and singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. When the students were done, they wanted more! They sang and danced some additional songs for Dr. Perrotta and Dr. Wright. Next door Renee finally got to teach a regular lesson, and had her students learning eagerly learning vocabulary for the story of the Three Little Pigs. We then went off to Fernando's school, which is the farthest out. There we found a sweat-drenched Fernando in the midst of a lesson on the market, with students assinged in groups for different sections of the market. They each drew pictures--and they are great artists--of their sections: vegetables, seafood, fruit, and clothes. They used the vocabulary he had previously taught them to complete the task. The students then came together to share and talk about the items they drew. All were highly motivated and were speaking great English!

In restrospect, we--and the students--wish we had more time to teach in the schools. Our students, who were anxious and nervous going in, leave a bit frustrated that they couldn't do more, after seeing the great need and strong desire of the students to learn English. But each leaves knowing that they have touched the lives of their students, even in the short amount of time we have been here.