This is probably what the kids here would say about going back to school in two weeks. All of August and some of July, they have been working with me on English; they have also been working with one of the teachers from their school in Godet on math, French, history, etc. since the end of June. No summer vacation for these kiddos. Trust me they didn’t exactly agree to this but they have been troopers:) So with the school year beginning I figured it would be a good idea to let you know what these guys have been up to during English summer school.
Since the beginning of August I have started giving 30-45 minutes of instructions and then 15-30 minutes of play time. Living with 17 other kids doesn’t really provide anyone with the opportunity to have his/her own toys. Inevitably some other kid takes the toy or breaks it so any toys our kids do have they hide away to keep them safe. Because of this, I have made a ‘safeplace’ for playing every day. Some days the kids have free reign of the toybox which has Legos, dolls, yo-yos, cars, blocks, and other little trinkets. Other days we play games together like Go Fish, Candyland, and Memory.
Go Fish is always interesting since the kids don’t quite get that letting others see their cards is not a good strategy. And then inevitably there’s 2 of them that try to sneak a win by mouthing to each other what colors they have so they can ask each other for what they need. I have caught some kids picking specific cards from the Go Fish pile and other kids leaning back so as to glimpse the cards of someone else. It is craziness but we always have fun.
And then some days we color in coloring books and then spend some time just looking at the collection of picture books. Some of our kids make beautiful, fridge worthy artwork while others scribble their way through so they can have more time to look at books.
Probably the coolest thing to watch is when they do puzzles. The first time I presented them with a puzzle they struggled to understand how the pieces fit together and how to find the right pieces. In my family, my grandmother does a puzzle every Christmas which my siblings and I always helped with as children. Plus every preschool classroom in the states has the wooden shapes puzzles that get those puzzle juices flowing. To be 8 years old and never done a puzzle is kind of an anomaly in the states. But I have kids of all ages that have just recently completed their first puzzles and the looks of triumph on their faces was great. Now we do puzzles at least once a week. Someday I hope to do a 100 piece one with them, now that would be an accomplishment.
Along with the play comes the work. We have recently been learning weather words like sunny, windy, etc. as well as the months of the year. The older kids are looking at questions with who, where, what, etc. and our youngest ones are learning colors blue and yellow as well as farm animals. Additionally, a handful of kids have been coming in for math help. Samson, Marie Elande, and Ednel struggle to recognize numbers so I work with them a bit each day; we also work on handwriting by tracing letters. Then Nerlande, Losentia, and Emmanuel come by for help with addition and subtraction.
Our guys work hard during class and I am very proud of their development. Still a bit like caveman English but always improving. If anything they will be the most polite cavemen you will ever meet: they are very good at remembering their pleases and thank yous. 🙂
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