Two days ago I was told there was an opening in 4th grade and an "extra teacher", Sumaya, who is fluent in Arabic and taught 1st grade in the states would take it. I made the comment that I wish I could have it. They told me I could, but they did not want to ask me because I had "settled in so nicely". So, I left behind everything I bought and moved into a bare room with 26 and 31 (total 57) 4th grade girls. My first day I was quite nervous- If I failed here there was no excuse! So, I pulled some ideas off the Internet and started my day. What a difference! They do not speak well, but they could understand and a few girls are very fluent. I will say we are very far behind in math, and teaching the science concepts about body systems, scientific methods, and Earth and Space will be hard with the language deficit. Reading we have no books so I have to buy one at the book store and then type it and copy it. I was told there is no copyright here, so . . . I'm hoping that's true.
Today was day 2 and the girls would not pay attention so I turned into monster teacher. But they still loved me. Here are a few pictures of me after they adjusted my Shaylah. No, I don't have to wear the head scarf, but I may chose to do so out of respect.
We worked on place value and writing numbers (in words) to the hundreds place. Some of the girls work very hard and will make a lot of progress. Some, not so much. I think when the first report cards go home there will be a bit of a shock. The discipline here is nonexistent - even at home the girls order around their nannies and in the Muslim world children are without sin until the age of maturity (about 13 for girls and 16 for boys I think)
In reading we read The Cat In the Hat and they loved it! I then had the girls draw and write the English words for 10 things they saw in the book. Mostly I got 3-4 items like cat, cake, hat, or fish. One girl drew a picture and labeled it almost exactly like it was in the book even though I did not allow them to look back at the story! We will work on the basic first 100 site words and then start word patterns with Making Words, if I can get my hands on a copy of the book. Over all, I'm excited and have a much better attitude.
PS - the first 5 best days were getting married, giving birth (counts as 3) and getting my Master's degree.
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