When I was trying to figure out my placement with GP the only stipulation I had (aside from living somewhere with flocks of wild chicken) was that I didn't want to be an English teacher. I didn't want to teach English as my job. Mainly for the fact that I was taught whole-language in school so aside from speaking it, I really don't know anything anything else about the English language. And because of that I didn't feel qualified to teach it to others.
We have 6 students. They range in age from 7-14 years old. Katie does most of the teaching, I'm just there as a helper and for moral support. One of our teammates developed this awesome step based learning program. It starts with the basics - alphabet and sounds -- before they can move on to learning words. It's great because they can move from step to step as fast or slow as it takes them individually to complete it. The kids love it because it's fun and different than school and we even play games like alphabet bingo and go fish with the alphabet.
They're actually having so much fun they requested the class two times a week now that they are on summer vacation. Yikes!
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| Our English students playing Go Fish |
So what changed my mind about teaching English, or holding an English class in my house? I guess I realized that this is a great opportunity for us to serve, not only the kids by teaching them English but also the parents who can't afford private English lessons. There are 2 ways your children can get ahead in school: pay the teachers (most effective) or send your kid for private lessons. Knowing English opens up many other opportunities for the kids in the future as well. I figured sharing the little information I knew would be more beneficial than keeping it to myself. Hopefully our students will be able to pull better grades in English next year (well, assuming the primary second language taught in schools doesn't switch over to Chinese next year like rumor has it.)
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