On February 2, 2011 I became a teacher. I spent the entire previous day planning exactly what I was going to say, how long each component would take and what I hoped my students would take away from the lesson. Christine was a great help on the details and suggested a couple fun activities to make the class more interactive. I was anxious before the class, but as soon as my watch read 10:30 I immediately felt comfortable. The students' timeliness was a lot better; those that were late were not so late they disrupted the flow of the class. To break the ice I had my students discuss common English idioms; Wednesday's included: Achilles' heel and needle in a haystack. Then we used a verb wheel to get in English mode; students had to verbally construct three sentences: one using simple present, one in simple past and one using the past participle. It was a great way to get them thinking more creatively and create a more open environment. I introduced narrative paragraph writing: the structure, the flow, the transitions, etc. I then had students work in pairs to piece together a jigsaw of a narrative paragraph. After more practice on the details of the structure, each student selected a noun card from my Apples To Apples stack. This card represented their topic, their setting or one of their characters. To finish class we did a progressive narrative paragraph. I started with the first sentence: "Last year I went on an exciting trip to the Amazon jungle." Each student added one sentence to the paragraph. By the end of the paragraph I was in love with my guide and begging him to leave his wife for me. Needless to say, the students had a lot of fun with this one!
I taught another class last Friday. This group is very small (only 6 students!) and they are all very bright and committed to their major. They are the most advanced group I have, they're taking Written Communication III. I introduced essay writing to them. We looked at the structure, the necessary components, different types of transitions and the characteristics of each paragraph. We stressed the thesis statement and the introduction, mostly. Then we analyzed a traditional 5-paragraph essay on the influence of Latin Music in the US. They were all so focused and flew through the lesson with no problems; I was really impressed.
I found out a few days after teaching this lesson that I've already started to have an impact on my students. A colleague told me she ran in to one of my students, a very bright girl from Venezuela, who told her my entire lesson with great enthusiasm. I was so glad for a few things: 1). that she learned something and remembered it well enough to re-tell it! 2). that she was excited about it and 3). that my colleague told me. This was such a confidence booster. I can tell in the classroom that my students like me, but to hear that even just one student had that much passion for one of my lessons was so fulfilling.
Yesterday I taught opinion and expository paragraph writing; tomorrow I will teach comparison/contrast essay writing. Good thing I was an English major with a writing concentration!
I went to the beach for the first time last weekend. Even though Panama City is built on the Pacific coast, there are no beaches within the city limits. Christine and I took an oversold, small bus a couple hours to Santa Clara beach. We rented a little cabin for shelter from the hot summer sun. There was a group of about 20 "racataca" Panamanians (that's what Christine's local friend called them...search racataca on Urbandictionary to see the interesting meaning). They were completely plastered, loud, invading our shelter (that we paid for) and very scantily clad. By 1:00 the beach was scattered with empty Balboa and Atlas cans and they were sprawled out in beer comas. As annoying as it was in the moment, it was a really interesting cultural experience. We took the bus back and returned to the apartment in time for the 4th quarter of the Superbowl. Glad the Pack won.
Tengo una clase de español! Noris came by last Friday for my first Spanish lesson. She's a retired journalist and has promised to teach me about indigenous Panamanian cultures and more about the city. She gave me a placement test and an interview to check my Spanish level. I have my second class with her tomorrow so hopefully I'll have a better understanding of how it will function and help me with my Spanish. I've spoken with a couple of you about how this isn't your traditional abroad experience. My daily life is in English: I teach English classes in English, I live with an English-speaking roommate, I'm here to promote the use and instruction of English. So I'm not getting the Spanish-immersion experience that you normally would through study abroad. I am hopeful that my class with Noris will form a Spanish world for me.
On a somber note, my mentor teacher Alba has been admitted to the hospital. She's currently undergoing treatment and her immune system has been weakened. I'm going to visit her tomorrow. Please keep her in your thoughts/prayers and send positive vibes her way.
Next week is Access summer camp. I'll be teaching US holidays and US culture and helping with basketball to 160 kids the first session and around 130 the second session! I will be inaccessible from Sunday evening - Friday evening but will definitely create a post about the camp when I'm back in the city. I'll also get to meet the US Ambassador to Panama on Wednesday when she will give a presentation to the campers.
Have a wonderful weekend and week next week. Y feliz día de san valentín!
Cuídate.
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