Rise up this mornin', smiled at the risin' sun,
three little birds pitch by my doorstep,
singin' sweet songs of melodies pure and true,

sayin' "This is my message to you-ou-ou-ou-"
~Bob Marley

Friday, April 6, 2012

Teaching and Learning- at the Same Time


Teaching using a new language, is like a kid running through sprinklers. You remember, ripping your clothes off with abandon, and racing full speed through the icy jets of water on a hot summer day. Now, don’t worry, I didn’t present my lessons in my chonies, but they could still see what I had or didn’t, what I could convey or couldn’t.

What is Compost?

Never the less, instead of waiting until we had a better command of Spanish, we decided to begin teaching short lessons in the schools, four times per week, (after all, one Principal asked me to teach second grade this year, as they were one teacher short. This did not fit within our goals for service, nor would it have been sustainable, so I declined).

Is there really cow manure in that stuff?



Reviewing what we learned


As it goes, I create my lesson plans in Spanish, practice what I will say, and it turns out to be a great way to study language in addition to the one hour+ every day. Mark creates visuals on chart paper to reinforce content, and off we go! So far, we have taught lessons about the water cycle in honor of “Dia de Agua”, and on creating compost boxes for our future school gardens. Next week, we will be teaching lessons about protecting our environment, in conjunction with “World Earth Day”.


Putting our new learning into action!

It has been so much fun to teach again! The kids are so excited about learning- their enthusiasm is contagious! Which makes it easier to tear forward, with our shaky Spanish, hitting the sprinklers, head on!