adventures in learning

It's interesting what will engage kids, and sometimes there is no legit reason for it. For example, my CEI03 class, which is full of 6/7-year-olds and is alternately the best and worst class I have (their moods change with the weather) today was almost impossible to engage in games that involved a sticky ball (plastic ball covered in suction cups, it sticks to the whiteboard), which is normally their favorite. However, when I had them sit on the ground around me and I read a book to them about a kid who leaves his teddy bear on the bus, they were ENTHRALLED. It was a simple book and I did nothing but ask them if the kid was happy or sad, or have them look at what was in the pictures, but they were quiet and focused as if I was hypnotizing them.

Two hours later, enter my second class for the day, CEO6D, whom I absolutely adore. They're 9/10-year-olds and will pretty much go with whatever I throw at them. They're insanely energetic but decently well-behaved, and usually feel bad when realize they caused actual trouble. Their last activity before their break, reading a book, wasn't as enthralling for them as it had been the younger kids. There are only seven of them, but when they're all talking at once and some not even talking to me, it seems a little chaotic.

However, jump to the activity we'd just completed, where I gave two students flashcards with familiar vocab words and pictures on them, and designated these kids store owners (the "food" store and the "school" store). Then I gave the other five kids fake money I'd printed out and told them they had to each buy three items: one food item, for "breakfast," and two objects, one a "gift" for them and one for their imaginary grandmother/grandfather. I was amazed at how well they took to it, although the fact that Taiwanese culture involves a lot of shopping probably contributed to it. The two students I'd made the store owners got right to work the second they had their flashcards. The girl began making a list of the prices for all her items, and the boy began laying out the flashcards with the English text showing so his "customers" could view everything he had in an organized fashion.

Then the buying frenzy began. I'd given them basic phrases to use, all of which they've been studying for two days already: "How much is this ___________?" "It's _________ dollars." "I can/can't buy it." And I heard them saying all of these A LOT, but what was really great was how organized the chaos was. The store owners were taking orders and naming prices and making fast change with the money I'd given them. They didn't seem intimidated by their duties, though, possibly because they see people working all day, or maybe some of the kids' parents own stores. Commerce is familiar to them, so they went at this with a will. It captured their attention far better than the book did later.

Then, after break, we did an exercise we'd done before, where I gave them letters written on squares of paper and had them make as many words as they could, writing each on the board. I owe a lot of the success of both these activities to the kids themselves, as this class really does take to just about anything with a will. I also think, though, that it has a lot to do with the self-determination involved each activity, where the kids are running the show and making things happen, practicing interaction and teamwork. With the word exercise, each team automatically designated one student to write the words on the board while the others spread the letters on the ground and made words with them. With the shopping exercise, the process of buying probably wasn't new since I've seen kids their age buying things at 7-Eleven, but that's also likely what made it fun for them, since it was something they had a specific context for.

My biggest problem with teaching, most days, is that I want my kids to have these kinds of fantastic learning experiences every day, and it isn't possible; there simply isn't enough time to plan for it. I do my best, though, and it's getting easier as I teach more and more, and the nice thing is that when other classes get to this level, I can come back and use these lessons again. My goal is to build up a stable of activities and games and learning experiences that I can re-use so more classes are epic than not.

Speaking of planning classes, I have one to plan for tomorrow, so I need to stop writing. I've been behind on this blog, anyway, although that's partially owing to me stressing myself out over trying to teach epic classes every time. Possibly the most important thing to learn, though, is not that I can make epic classes every time, but that simple things can be epic to kids (like reading a teddy bear book to little kids), you just have to keep throwing stuff at them and see what works.