Monday as I sat in the quad waiting to enter one of the 4 year old classrooms, a boy from the 5 year old class came sprinting out, on a mission to go ‘pee pee.’ As soon as he laid eyes on me, not skipping a beat in stride, smiled and said, ‘Hello Jenna.’ I said hello back and pushed a little further and asked, ‘How are you?’ ‘How are you?’ he immediately replied back, mimicking the same question I had just asked. He quickly turned around the corner and was out of my sight. (I was left thinking, ‘ok so he doesn’t quite understand the meaning of what I asked. No pasa nada (Don’t worry) I’m thinking. I mean I do only work with them 30 minutes, once a week. At least he did remember my name. He is 5 and did have to go ‘pee pee’ really bad.) As quickly as he was out of my sight, to my surprise I see the same sweet, little face re-appear around the corner. He smiled again and said, ‘I’m fine,’ turned around and continued onward to the toilets.
Immediately my face filled with joy. As the little boy sprinted past me on his way to the toilets, his little brain was processing the words exchanged. He recognized that I asked him a question, in which he indeed knew the response. It took him a second to realize what I had asked, but he did. My hard work and persistence is paying off. I continue to work with these little guys, poco a poco, and that moment proved I am here making a difference. One pat on the back for me.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I always work with the first grade bilingual class for an hour after recess. Yesterday as I followed behind the first graders into class, I caught David turned around in his chair. As soon as he laid eyes on me, he smiled and energetically yelled in English, ‘Yes, English.’ Enough said.
Today as I left the students in the first grade bilingual class to complete work from their workbooks, Adrian who sits in the front of the first row, for a reason (he never pays attention and is always talking to Jorge, his neighbor,) inquisitively asked in Spanish how to say ‘de nada’ in English. Normally one wouldn’t become so excited over such a question, but since sweet-faced, never pays attention Adrian suddenly became interested this afternoon, it made me happy.
It’s not very often my students are interested in wanting to learn a new word in English. English is required for all students and therefore many students feel the pressure to learn the language and it often times becomes forced upon them. So to have a young student like Adrian, inquire about learning a new word, you can’t help but smile. It helps reinforce one of the reasons as to why I am here, teaching English in Spain. I am making a difference and it sure feels good.
Team Jaèn: 3 points
First grade bilingual class <3
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