Parents' Day

At the end of the week the parents like to come and watch the final class through the window. Since this is a boarding school the parents all have to come pick up their kids Friday afternoon.

They usually only show up a few minutes before the end of class. The first few weeks were very awkward because my final class is a second grade class, and they are the most difficult. They misbehave a lot, and it got a little awkward that I would finish scolding a student and turn around and there's a parent peering in through the windows. I've worked a little harder so the parents could see their kids being smart and successful instead of me constantly ragging on them. Some days I seriously feel like all I ever do is say "No! No! Stop!" and "Not good!" I've learned which activities get them to misbehave more and which are better. The problem is, the "fun" activities get them really wild so they are bad. But the activities that keep them in good manners are the ones that get boring quickly and that means the kids won't behave well for very long.

Well, today we did the body activity where they drew a body part out of a cup (mouth, leg, ear, etc.) and then rolled the dice (they LOVE throwing things). Then whatever number came up on the die they had to draw that many. So the monster would have like four eyes or six legs or something. They LOVED this game, but they got out of control very quickly because they have difficulties taking turns and waiting for each other. It's kind of to be expected in a class of forty kids, I guess. So then I got them all back in their seats and quiet. Then played the quieter game. I write a word on the board like "banana" and then the next word has to begin with the last letter of the first word. So it would go, "banana->apple->elephant->taste->ears->sit" The kids actually LOVE this game but they end up yelling over each other. It's a lot better than running around the room, though. I thought it would be a good one for the parents to come in on, and my idea surprisingly worked. All the kids were actually participating. They were all yelling English words and we had a looooong list on the board.

So, the moral of my story is that even though I'm not really a great teacher, and I seriously struggle to keep these kids in check, I can at least fake it enough to keep the parents and other teachers happy. :) Gosh this experience is amazing!