Miss Corissa begins.

I decorated my class with signs and posters in English and planned my lesson for the first week of classes this weekend. Last night, I worked hours on power point slides and printed them on transparencies. The slides were in spanish and supplemented with photos. This way, i could start by speaking entirely in english on the first day, but also ensure that my students are able to understand essential information, such as the rules of the class, why they should learn english, etc. You will soon see how I am able to teach english, without knowing much spanish, to a class that can only speak spanish. After much preparation, my first day of "real teaching" in Curico went as follows:

6:30am- Woke up, got ready, gathered materials, drank coffee, sat nervously on the couch and waited for Elisa to accompany me to school

7:30am-Left for school by foot

7:45am-rearranged desks, attempted to locate man that supplies overhead projector

8:30am- finally found technical assistant and brought the projector to my class

8:35am- My first class arrived. I did not allow them to enter until I explained the directions (in english but with huge gestures)= that they would be finding a seat in the front of the class, and that they should sit quietly. I would walk in and they would stand up. I would greet them "good morning class" They would answer "good morning miss Corissa". And then sit down.
Then, i allowed the class to enter. I watched them sit. If they did not follow directions, I would point them to the front of the class (desks were grouped in fours in the back for other activities) I went outside, waited a few seconds, then entered. If the class talked at all, I said "no talking" (gestured hand talking by mouth) and I would say "again". I went back out in the hall and repeated this training until they got the greeting down perfectly.

8:40-Attempted to do an "interest survey". It was a questionnaire was written in english and spanish, such as "how do you like to learn?". And the answers had photos along with the words. After about 5 minutes of watching the students struggle with following my directions, that were given in english, I adapted the format of the survey: oral instead of written. I asked the questions in spanish, and told them to raise their hands (in english with gestures). Then i would give them the options for answers in english with motions, such as "listen to music" by pretending to listen to music. The students voted by raising their hands. This method was more effective because I could note their interests quickly. (thus my plans were changed from a written to oral interest survey for the next 5 classes)

8:50- Introduced myself via technology: the overhead projector saved the day! The slides worked out great! The students were able to read along in spanish while I spoke entirely in english. Also, it sparked their interest further to see pictures of Austin, my family, etc. My students were able to comprehend my expectations of them in class, because this is very important to convey before you begin teaching (ie. the rules, consequences, rewards, schedule, grades, etc)

9:10- The last slide instructed that the class would need to make up a "class name". I teach 10 classes of 40 students, but ( if you remember) the classes are split in half, so I actually see 20 classes of about 20 students every week instead. I thought it would be fun if the classes were more like a team. Until now, the classes were called by a grade and number, such as 7b or 8a. I want to build camaraderie and also, it will be easy to identify the classes for me this way. I hope to encourage competition between classes as well.

All classes were able to decide on a class name, except for one class that consisted of about 16 teenage boys. They couldn't discuss without yelling or calling out crude ideas for a class name. The others thought of these names: the zombies, los stuart, the mateos (the dorks), the gorillas, and the ninjas.

9:15- At the end of the first class, I realized that there was no time for the "name game" I had prepared. Thus, my lesson for next week is already planned ! :) I have to quickly evaluate while i teach often, and adapt my lessons. This is fine because its better to save something like this than to rush into it.

....i repeated this 5 more times until 1:30. And i will repeat it again all day tomorrow, wednesday and thursday.

Next week i will concentrate on introductions and play the name game!