First week of Summer English classes

Sunday night June 2nd, I spent a few hours getting content and materials prepared for this week. I also mentally prepared myself to have only a few children show up. Monday morning my fears were assuaged when I spotted 2 sisters walking to the school, and then 6 more showed up within minutes. I had them start by making simple name cards and writing a few sentences about themselves in notebooks I provided.

Suddenly an English teacher I'd never met showed up at the classroom door with 4 primary kids plus her son in tow. I'm sure my face showed my displeasure to mix these younger students with 8 secondary students. But she said they had come from another village and wanted to learn English. I spent the next few hours reminding myself to be more flexible, but I kept thinking about how unchallenged the older students were. I resorted to colors and numbers to see if the primary students could manage that. Then it was Bingo with English words, and a few Raffi songs.

I went home trying to think of the ways I could teach a multilevel class and what a challenge the rest of the week would be. I looked at my vocabulary lists, drawings, songs, anything that I could make work for 2 different levels. I ended up deciding to focus on Tuesday on house and furniture – drawing on the board and writing furniture vocabulary. I drew furniture on index cards with English word on one side and the Azeri word on the other. I also made some color cards as busy work for the primary students. And then I translated the song 5 Little Ducks just for good measure. How could I make this class interesting and memorable for both levels?

Tuesday morning arrived and students were in the room before I could turn around. I just decided they could wait while I prepared the blackboard. I busied the 5 primary students while I engaged the older students with drawing a house in their notebooks. I slowed things down by asking students to come to the front of the classroom to speak. I discovered the primary students had quickly figured out word Bingo, so the time went fast. For an hour and a half, all 16 students seemed engaged.

After the 10 minute break, I allowed time to sing songs, and gave in to the girls who wanted to play “Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky.” I think the primary students especially liked 5 Little Ducks – it was a new song for everyone; repetitive phrases, noisy quacking plus a happy ending. But I surprised all students by asking them first to draw an animal. I put a couple drawings on the board and they quickly copied them. But I fooled them when I asked them to come to the front, say what animal they drew in English and Azeri, and then they had to make the sound of each animal. Lots of laughter – that's the kind of stuff that makes learning fun!

So now I'll need to top that with something fun for Wednesday.