Washing On The Line

This week I give myself a 2 out of 10 for planning! I just can't seem to knuckle down. I know in my general teaching, I tend to rely too heavily on the course book and teacher's book - then wing it a little, depending on what comes out in the lesson. I think after teaching for so long, I can do this. Perhaps my lessons would be a little more brilliant if I made extra activities. I admit this. However, the lessons always go smoothly, and I am always aware of the individual students in a group, and do extra practice when necessary.
None of this works for the pre-school. Apart from being aware of possible topic areas, my "normal" way of doing things counts for little here. The course is wonderful, but my group is not its target audience, so everything needs to be adapted. That was fine at the beginning. I had that beginner's enthusiasm, and desire to succeed brilliantly.
Then, of course, staying up until midnight, then not sleeping for worry anyway, began to take its toll, and I just had to back off a little from the intensity.
And it should be noted, that once I DID back off a little, things got a little easier. And now I can get it together 30 minutes before a lesson (provided that I read through the TB before going to bed!).
What I have discovered so far, about my group, anyway (it remains to be seen if this knowledge is transferable), is that it all depends on the mood of the crowd. If they are restive, even the best planned lesson is going to be a struggle. If they are able to focus, they manage to absorb everything.
This week's topic is clothes. My idea for today was to revise using the flashcards, then do the song again, but then I drew a blank. Half the class had done the puppet and dressed him yesterday, so I didn't want to do that again (also, having started halfway through, they don't have English folders to put their work in, so most of them had taken the puppet home!).
My idea is hardly original, but it felt so to me! I used WordArt to write a curved title "What's On Your Clothes Line?" across the top of a page, printed it out, then drew a clothesline, with pegs attached (but no clothes).
After the word review (I also had them pull clothes out of a bag, and taught socks and skirt, to add to Hat, Trousers and shoes from yesterday), and the song, I then drew Cookie's clothesline on the board, and they called out clothes, and I drew them hanging on the line. This also let us review Sun and Rain (and Incy Wincy, of course!). Then they went to their desks, and got drawing.
I had the usual M. saying "I am not good at drawing. I can't do it." The teacher told me that they deal with this by saying "Just try - it will be what it will be." - I also added that I was sure she could do it, and that I have already seen her doing some beautiful drawings.
She tried....and surprised herself, I think!
Tomorrow is the big interview for the CELTYL at International House in Rome. I'm off to do some last minute cramming. I found out today that the oral part usually takes about an hour!!! I hope my voice holds up!
Oh, I also firs

Too much to deal with

It wasn't meant to be like that, but today I really went in without a lot of pre-planning. I read through the teacher's book over my morning coffee, and nodded my head a lot, without managing to absorb much (late night last night due to Miracle Baby C's very moving Baptism). This week's unit is all about clothes - well, trousers, hats and shoes, anyway.
The first thing that happened when I arrived (VERY stressed after a morning driving first south and then north, behind very many large and slow trucks), I was told that it was S's birthday, and so we would be celebrating.
Happy Birthday in English, of course, then I helped giving out plates, forks, cups and serviettes, and telling the children the English words for all of that. Then I served the drinks, so used "Would you like Coke or Fanta?". Going for meaning based on content, here! They got it!
After the cake, and clean-up, we got down to the lesson. My heart wasn't in it, though, after the OTHER news I got upon arrival.
The first I already knew - from September, the intermediate school will no longer have a Prima Media (the first year), but only Seconda and Terza. Which means that the students in their last year at the local primary school must now go out of town for school. They all have to do that for high school, anyway, but it is sad to lose the intermediate school, too.
The second piece of news left me numb at first. I had heard that the local primary wouldn't have its full complement of teachers from September, which meant that two of the classes would have to be combined. I figured this would be something sensible, like the first and second year combined, or the second and third. Instead, it will be the second and fourth! That is 7 year olds with 9/10 year olds.
The reason (if we can call it that) is that this year's First and Third classes are the smallest (9 in the former, not sure how many in the latter), so they are the two which can be combined from a numbers point of view.
Nothing about taking the children's learning into consideration there.
I went to a primary school where there were two years combined in each class - that is not my concern. I am concerned that they are combining two completely different levels of learning in one room. In the 2nd year, they are learning about making longer sentences, moving onto more complicated multiplication. In the 4th, they are writing compositions, and studying History.
After school (the lesson went just fine...), I talked to a friend whose daughter is the same age as mine. They go to Dance School together. She takes her daughter to school in Viterbo. I'm going to look into it. Even though I would struggle with the logistics of it, my children's education is much too important for me to muck around on this one.

Out of Context

Today while shoe-shopping (lucky me!) with my friend (double lucky me!), I met up with one of my pre-school kiddies. He's one of the stars of the class - not for any particular ability, but because he always seems to have a blast. And because he always draws an extra picture just for me, with his name written on it. With his dark curly hair, and big brown eyes, he reminds me a lot of my little brother at that age - especially when he lights up with his cheeky grin.
I first spotted his mamma, and although I recognized her as one of the mums, I couldn't connect her with the correct child, until I saw D. I was so happy - I just blurted out "Hello D!".
He freaked out! It was kind of funny, but it made me wonder about the psychology of it - I still have a lot to learn! He had been running towards me, but when he saw me, he froze, then started running away from me, while looking for...perhaps his dad, or mum. I hope I didn't scar him - I'm sure that it was just that I was totally out of the context in which he knows me. Now I can't wait to see him on Monday, to see what his reaction will be.
As to the shoes - I had (yes HAD) to get new shoes for a Baptism tomorrow. C. the Miracle Baby is getting Christened, and we are all invited. I went in looking for heels...I have a very pretty dress, and wanted something really pretty to match. There were some REALLY special shoes, in a pale lilac with flowers at the toes, and a 4 inch heel...I put them on. They fit. They were beautiful.
Then I remembered my promise to my husband - "you can relax....I will look after Liam. Don't worry about a thing."
I took off the heels. You can't run after a 4 year old Liam in 4 inch heels. Well, not without falling over and ruining your pretty dress, anyway.
Luckily, my friend has an eagle eye for JUST the right shoe....a beautifully flat, just-the-right-shade-of-purple ballerina.
I left the shop on a real shoe-high. But still wondering about what goes on in the mind of a 5 year old, when confronted with a teacher completely out of context.

What a difference a day makes ...

... and a smaller class! Today's class was a success from my point of view. I think this was mainly due to the class size being very much reduced (the reason for this is unclear). There were 14 pupils. When I arrived, they were sitting quietly at their tables, all anticipation. We began with the Hello song, which they all respond to, and enjoy. Today I asked I. and S. (two girls), to be my helpers for "What's in your pocket, Lulu?". In the Teacher's Book, it is "What's in your pouch?", but I think "pocket" is a more useful vocabulary item, so have adapted accordingly.

Today the items were Happy/Sad, Big (spider), Little (spider), Elephant, Parrot, Frog, Snake, and Bat.

After the presentation, and drill, I pulled out "The Monkey Puzzle", by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. This is the first time I've tried a story with them, which they didn't already know (we've done The Three Little Pigs many times). I translated some bits, but mostly read it in English, with lots of mime. I asked lots of yes/no questions, and they responded correctly, in English.

While reading "Children Learning English" by Jayne Moon, I was struck by a teaching example in Chapter 5, where a Hungarian primary teacher is telling her class of eight-year-olds the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. She only speaks in English, but accepts answers from her students in Hungarian - which she then reflects back to them in English. This method seems to be very sensible to me. It lets the children know that they have understood, even if they are not yet ready/able to respond in English. It also models the correct English for them.

I tried this today. I stopped often to let the children comment on the story. The book is beautifully illustrated, so the children were very engaged with the story. They were excited to see what would happen next. I had most of them to the very end.

An interesting CLIL point - some of them didn't get that the Butterfly was the caterpillars' mummy. Perhaps with more time, this book could lead onto a whole science lesson in English!

One negative that I will allow myself today - my follow-up activity was not well thought-out. In my defense, I hadn't thought we'd even get that far! We reviewed "I like...." and "Do you like...?" and then I asked most of the children (until boredom and bottom-jiggling set in), Do you like elephants? Do you like... etc etc. Then they all drew their favourite animal from the story.

They don't really care for free drawing, it seems. I get a lot of "Ma io non sono buona/o..." (I'm no good at drawing...), which always surprises me from this age group. I let some of them trace the animal they wanted, from the book.

To end the lesson, we did Incy Wincy, and Five Little Ducks, and I also stayed to support the teacher, while she got the children ready for the school bus. (Note: there was another biting incident, before I arrived today, between two local girls - Ts worried about expected fall-out).

I left feeling very positive. Long may that feeling last.

A difficult lesson

It is never easy taking over someone else's class. For whatever reason you have to do this, there are issues to be dealt with - the last teacher's style, the rapport they had built with their students, the students' own feelings about having a different teacher halfway through the course.

I'm discovering that coming into a pre-school English course half way through adds several other issues.

First of all, there was no record of what the group had already covered. I was told "seasons, clothes for winter, some songs, and hello, what's your name?".

I had already decided before beginning, to start with Cookie and Friends, Starter, and work to supplement with further activities for the more experienced children. This system is working fairly well, although I must say that we end up doing rather more colouring than I care for. That is an issue I need to address.

The main problem for me (and this is no surprise!) is class(room) management.

The class roll has 30 children. Their ages range from just-gone-four to just-gone-six. There are two children who survived the Haiti earthquake, and are living the local youth hostel. This has created some discipline/management issues with the regular teachers, not just for me.

The classroom is long and narrow - it is actually a lovely space. There are large windows, and room to move. There are six hexagonal tables with chairs for the children to work at. At the start, they seemed to have assigned seating, but the last two weeks, I have noticed that this "rule" has become rather flexible.

And that is the crux of the matter.

My job here is not to criticise. I only wish to reflect on my OWN experience of teaching pre-schoolers and young learners. This means that I must establish "English Lesson Rules". What happens when I am not there must not concern me as the English Teacher (me as a mum of one of the pupils is another matter entirely).

So yesterday, after reading another chapter of "The Practical Guide to Primary Classroom Management" by Rob Barnes, I decided to be more pro-active. I translated "We play like friends." and "We keep our hands and our feet to ourselves." into Italian for them, and used it several times. I praised good sitting down, and good joining in, and good being quiet and listening, and everything else I could find.

I felt it had little impact, but with persistence, I expect to see results.

Teaching ESL to very young children in Italy.

Over the Easter break, my son's pre-school teacher called, to tell me she'd had to let their English teacher go, for various reasons, the most important one for me being that from October through to the start of April, she'd only done 25 hours of a 70 hour program. Which meant that SOMEONE needed to pick up the remaining 45 hours - and complete them before June 11th.

That SOMEONE being ME.

By virtue of my being a native English speaker, being an ESL teacher (they were warned many times that I have little experience with children, and NONE with pre-schoolers), and living close by, I was their best bet, and their last resort.

That was Sunday evening. I began on Wednesday morning.

After first hopping the train to Rome, going to Feltrinelli International, and buying an entire course of material (Cookie and Friends, Starter and A - OUP).

Two hours - the lessons are usually two hours long, in the afternoon, and the class is 4, 5 and 6-year olds, 30 in total. Throw in two wee ones from the Haiti earthquake, and you may start to get a feel for the challenge.

I'm now 25 hours into my own personal growth /professional development challenge, and have also decided that it is time to embrace my inner ECE/Primary Teacher, and do the CELTYL.

When I think back over my life, focusing on the kinds of books I've always loved reading, a pattern emerges. What do Anne Shirley, Jo March, Anne Hobbs and Jane Eyre all have in common? TEACHERS! They are all teachers. I love teaching! I am really interested in how children learn. I must also remember that for the longest time, if anyone asked me what I wanted to do when I left school, I replied "Kindergarten teacher" (that is 3/4 year-olds in NZ). I got sidetracked along the way, but now....

It is time.

Time to teach!

Time to teach Littlies!