Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Children

I teach English to preschoolers.

Am I nuts?????

A little.

They are mostly Triqui, and without financial support they would be selling Chiclets on the Zocalo.

They are smart enough. . . cute enough. . . nice enough. . . but they are a wild bunch of four and five year olds.

I'm on an emotional roller coaster, some days I feel like I'm not getting anywhere and I might as well give up. These are the days when all nine children decide to either scream at the top of their lungs for no reason, or to crawl under the desks and not come out.

Then there are the days when they sit, listen and demonstrate the English they've learned.
Those are the days that make it all worth while.



2 comments:

Michael Dickson said...

I would wager that pre-schoolers could not care less about learning English. I know it´s true that one learns languages better at that age, but I imagine it works best if they simply hear it on a regular basis, like at home.

I cannot imagine they would have any interest whatsoever in "studying" it. In other words, good luck.

Oreen Scott said...

Thanks for sharing your point of view.

Through games, music and stories the children are exposed to English.

They aren't studying English, but are being exposed to English as another language.

Actually, they like learning, everything and anything, because they are children.

Their parents, understanding the importance of English as an international language signed them up for the English classes.