Mid-day hasn't even arrived yet, but we're done at school for the day. I don't really know how to write about the past few days experiences, because there have been so many.
When I observed on Monday, I saw that the teacher put one of the students in the corner for misbehaving. I'm a bit unsure how that would be looked upon at home in Norway, but I thought it was a better way of disiplining than hitting them (which I've also heard happens at school here). When I think of the thing the kids want the most, I think of companionship. They seem to want to be a part of the whole, the group. Therefore this form of disipline works well. On the other hand, is it wrong to put them in the corner in front of everyone else? Does it degrade them, or psyche them out? I don't want to hurt them in any way, but just being nice doesn't seem to work because they then think they can walk all over you.
I had my first lesson yesterday, and was surprised at how well it seemed to go. I was nervous before I went in the classroom and was therefore a bit flustered the first few minutes of class. I guess that was just as well, because it seemed to take the students several minutes to understand my accent. After about 6 minutes they started to participate and understand what I was trying to teach them (we were learning about the difference between beat and win). The last thing I did before class was over, was give them exercises to do. Some of them finished, others took it home to do.
The first thing I did today was correct their homework. There was only 1 student in the class who got all of the exercises right (10/10). The main bulk of students got around 6-7 right. It sort of made me wonder if there perhaps was a different way I could have taught them so they would have understood better.
Today's lesson was about Jesse Owens. So naturally I was thrilled. I love sports, and thought the kids did as well. We got into what sports they play (netball, basketball, football, volleyball), and talked about what is needed to succede in a sport. I was surprised at how few of the kids answered when I asked something, and also how bad they seem to be at reading. I had wanted to hear them all read. So asked them to read one sentance each. We started at the front of the classroom. When I heard how much the first girl struggled I decided to read it out loud (for the sake of time). It was at this point I decided to put one of the boys (who had been trying to push the limits all class) in the corner. He was disturbing everyone else and acting out.
Another thing I was surprised at was that they had never heard of the Olymic games before (either that, or they didn't understand me even after explaining several times/ways). They didn't know what a bronze-, silver- and gold medal was. I really should have brought the picture we took at the sports conference I went to last year. I encouraged them to watch the olympics on T.V. or live if they ever had the opportunity.
Lastly, they were given questions to do. I was again surprised at how long it seemed to take. I really wish I could work more with them on their reading skills, because it seems like they are a bit lacking (it seems like the Headmaster is trying to help them by giving them extra after-school classes).
Anyway, that's what's happened so far today. If anything interesting happens I'll write another post.
P.S. Sorry there's no pics today either....
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