Profe de inglés horrible

Today, I had a really good day minus the fact that I am beginning to get my semiannual earache. Don't worry though, I was prepared and bought some proper medication and ear drops, so hopefully it doesn't decide to stay long. Anyway, like I said, my day was good. I began my day with reviewing the classroom objects. This class is still getting a hang of the reading of words, but it's they are getting better. Just slightly behind other classes because of classroom behavior. The next class is flying through material. They are finished with Unit 1 in the book, so we reviewed all of that and the classroom teacher decided to start teaching them stuff that is not in the book. For example, other parts of the school, like library, hallway (except they say corridor because it's British-English), and principal's office. :) Also, can I just point out that rather than saying restroom or bathroom, they say "toilet." So the students ask "Can I go to the toilet, please?" and it just sounds strange. Not used to hearing it. Next, was delicious breakfast time. Then, on to a kindergarten class. They are going to see Alice in Wonderland at a children's theater soon so they have been learning the story starting this week. They are learning about the white rabbit and how he plays the trumpet when the queen arrives, so I taught them how to say some instrument names in English. The teacher held up a maraca and I could not for the life of me put a name to the instrument. I asked her what it was in Spanish and she said "maraca" and I was "Yea, THAT'S IT!" :) Luckily, the name is the same or I don't think I would have thought of the word maraca.

I suck at being an English teacher.

Haha, I also had trouble coming up with the word "shades" as in blinds for windows. Of course, I didn't come up with blinds until way later, so I don't even know which one was better to teach...whoops. Like I said, I suck. Who thought native English speakers would make the best English language assistants?! It's not easy. For example, I had a teacher ask when to use "other" versus "another." I had to google it... At least I know now. And the another auxiliar at my school got a question about the words "already" and "yet." And don't even get me started on the word "though." I've been trying to figure that word out ever since I got questioned about it in Peru...and that was two years ago.

Anyway, after lunch I had two more classes. In the first class, the classroom teacher had no voice so I did all of the explaining. I think the students actually sort of paid attention and the majority finished their book activities, which is awesome! They are catching up to the other classes now and starting to comprehend. Yay. In the last class of the day, the students were learning how to ask to borrow something. For example, "Can I borrow a pencil?" Not all of the students got to this activity, but it seemed to be going well. Can I just also add a little bit of humor to this post? In British-English, an "eraser" is called a "rubber." Now imagine someone asking to borrow an eraser in British-English... You're welcome for the smile. :)

Also, although tomorrow is a Thursday and it's usually another full day for me, I don't have to go to school. There is a teacher/student strike going on so we aren't required to go because there are going to be very few teachers there and possibly very few students as well. We kind of got lucky, because I know other auxiliares that still have to go to school tomorrow. I wouldn't have minded going to school, but I'm not going to argue with them when they say not to go. :) So tomorrow's a free day for me. What shall I do with my day?! Oh, I guess I should tell you what the strike is about, even though I am not positive on everything, but it's not only about the teacher's pay/benefits, but it's about the changes in the education system as a whole, which is why the student's are striking, too. I wish I had more detail than that, but I don't yet. I'll let you know.

After school, I had two/four private lessons. The first one went well, we chatted for a little bit than I let her choose from the three books that I bought for her to read. I told her what each one was about and I said, "This one (Bridge to Terabithia) does not have a happy ending" and without hesitation she chose that one. She read the first couple pages and did a very good job with it. It will be fun to watch all my student's vocabulary grow as they read semi-difficult books. I then had a short lesson with her mom where she read a little from her English textbook (she's taking an actually English language course) and we chatted about comprehension. Then, I moved onto my next two lessons, a pair of sisters. The younger one did very well and is an extremely fast learner. Also, her pronunciation is great. It's good to get that pronunciation down early. Her sister is also very good at pronunciation and her comprehension while reading is amazing. Seriously though. Spanish is fairly easy to read once you know the sounds, but English pronunciation rules are non-existent in my eyes. So, when she is reading, I expect her to stumble over some words and she blows right through them. It's incredible.

I arrived home rather late and missed part of El Hormiguero, but it wasn't a huge deal, I was only half paying attention anyway. Now, it's time for bed and I have a busy day of doing whatever tomorrow on my day off. Have a great day! :)