December 30, 2013 Linda

  • strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/views.module on line 843.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_display::options_validate() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_validate(&$form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/plugins/views_plugin_display.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_display_block::options_submit() should be compatible with views_plugin_display::options_submit(&$form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/plugins/views_plugin_display_block.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_field_broken::ui_name() should be compatible with views_handler::ui_name($short = false) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_field.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of content_handler_field::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/cck/includes/views/handlers/content_handler_field.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort_broken::ui_name() should be compatible with views_handler::ui_name($short = false) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_broken::ui_name() should be compatible with views_handler::ui_name($short = false) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_boolean_operator::value_validate() should be compatible with views_handler_filter::value_validate($form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_boolean_operator.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter_many_to_one::init() should be compatible with views_handler_filter::init(&$view, $options) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_many_to_one.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_style_default::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/plugins/views_plugin_style_default.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_validate() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_validate(&$form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 0.
  • strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_submit() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_submit(&$form, &$form_state) in /home1/ucgit/public_html/goodworks/modules/acquia/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 0.

As a teacher it is always exciting to have moments when your students are engaged and excited about what they are learning. Vice versa it’s those moments when you just don’t have the children’s attention when you are most frustrated. Today I experienced both.

Our first English block was with 28 children who were between the ages 6-11. Most of them didn’t know English and they were still at an age where they are just so active and can’t seem to sit still. It was hard to get their attention and it was hard to explain the projects. For the last half hour of the class, United Youth Corps participants sat with small groups of children to play English computer games with them. Genki, the program we used for this portion, is a lively and colorful program filled with songs and visuals to help engage the children. This part was also slightly challenging for me personally, even though I only had two kids in my group. One child was so excited to play the games and learn English, while the other just wanted to watch películas (movies) on my computer!

The second block started out rocky as well. I was with the children ages 12-16. They came late to the class and seemed to have no interest in being there in the room. Our first activity was to pass beanbags between each other to keep the same pattern and learn everyone’s name. I told them to stand up and only few did. The rest pretended they didn’t understand what I said even with all my hand motions. Finally, through my enthusiasm and other volunteers’ participation with the game, they all stood up and played and surprisingly had so much fun! There was laughter and some joking around. I had a lot of fun with them during this activity.

One boy was adamant about not speaking English to me at first; even though it was quite obvious he understood every word I said. Every question I asked him in English he would answer correctly in Spanish. Soon he started opening up and even asking me questions in English. It was quite awesome to see the kids open up and genuinely enjoy the activities we had planned for them.

 

Tomorrow is a new day and I hope I can continue to engage the children and just be with them!