Calle Hernandez Day Two

Day 6: 

Today we went back to Calle Hernandez knowing a little more what to expect, but still had to be flexible as we were working with 3rd grade again, and 5th graders for the first time. We had no idea what to expect out of our 5th graders because some have been at Calle Hernandez for years learning English and some have just moved in. Sam and Kirstan started off the class with a whole group activity as a warm up.

Calle Hernandez

The 5th graders moved around the classroom with a checklist and had to find classmates who fit specific criteria to sign off on each spot. It was interesting to get to see the class up moving around, speaking in English, and working together. After this whole group activity, we broke up into small groups of 4 students. Tess and I started off co-teaching our group about the parts of a letter: date, greeting, body, salutation, and signature, but even in a small group of just four students, it seemed that they were at very different levels. Deena came by and told us that two of our students were brand new to Costa Rica and had never had any prior English instruction, so we decided to further subdivide the group. Tess kept the students who were excelling, and I took the new students into the courtyard to work with them. This was definitely a challenge! I was trying to explain to students who spoke very little English a concept that they have never heard of-- writing a letter (houses in Costa Rica don't have addresses and mailboxes, who knew?!). I found myself writing a lot of examples, and using some quite elaborate gestures to get the idea across, but finally they got it. I was so proud of them when they finally understood that these letters would be delivered to students in the USA who would want to know their name, where they live, who is in their family, and what they like to do. Their letters turned out to be awesome! After we had written about every person in their families, their pets, and their favorite foods, I was able to get them to (shyly) read their letters out loud to me and I was really impressed. Sadly, I overestimated the time this would take so we finished about 10 minutes early. Thankfully I was able to think on my feet like a true educator and decided we could draw a map to show them that we would be taking their letters all the way from Costa Rica to Wilmington, NC. They were amazed by how far away I lived and this opened up a discussion about where they were from. The little boy was from Columbia and the girl was from Venezuela. They both told me that they moved to Costa Rica because they weren't safe where they had lived before. I asked them if they like it in Costa Rica and they said they miss their home countries, but like Costa Rica more because they are safe here. They were the sweetest, most appreciative kids I have ever worked with and I was so honored that they opened up to me. I didn't want to leave them at all, but it was time to teach 3rd grade.

I was so proud of their finished letters!

With the 3rd graders, Kim and I opened up with a whole group game of Simon says with prepositions in the classroom. The kids loved it! Then we broke up into the same groups we had yesterday and got right back to work where we left off. Tess and I taught the English words for common pieces of furniture using a powerpoint, then had our students place furniture on index cards in a house we had drawn on a poster. The students were able to use prepositions to describe to us where they were putting the furniture. It was incredible to see how much they learned and how far they had come in just two days! As I myself have been experiencing language immersion in my Spanish class, I know it is not easy, but the kids seem to pick things up pretty quickly. I also think they really enjoyed having new people in the classroom and were more motivated to listen to us because we were different and exciting.

Leaving Calle Hernandez was hard because the kids were so well behaved and eager to learn. I just want to take all of them home with me! I know they are in good hands for the rest of the school year with Deena as their English teacher though.

Working with the 5th graders