Day 4: They Called me "Profe"

What an amazing day!  We started with class this morning with a group working with me and Sr. Monahan on the rooftop patio while Sr. Rivera worked with another group on the ground floor.  We reviewed the two Spanish journal entries the boys had written, and they were the best first entries we have seen of any CASA group so far.  That doesn't mean we did not have much to do in class, but it means we did not have as much background information to review.

 Reviewing irregular verbs in the Preterito with Sr. Monahan

 Sr. Rivera reviewing the first journal entries

After class the boys went home for lunch and then met up to go to Aldea SOS where they would put their lesson plans from the day before into practice.  When we got to the Aldea, the boys had a few minutes to meet the teacher and review their plans before their students woke up from siesta.  Sr. Rivera and I were particularly impressed with how well our boys did considering it was their first day teaching students they had never met.  "Profe" is a Spanish abreviation for "profesor" meaning "teacher", and all of the boys earned that title today.Take a look at the video above to get an idea of some of their successes and challenges from their first day teaching.

Reviewing the lesson plan before class

Working with 5 year olds

Reviewing numbers, colors, and animals

 Working with 4 year olds

 Learning to write the letters of the alphabet

"Profe"

Making a connection

Lending a hand

Monitor and adjust

Working with 7-12 year olds

Divide and conquer

We packed the boys up after class and took them to a cafe so they could debrief their experience and process what went well, how they could improve, and talk about their goals as well as what they had learned from their first day teaching.  While they enjoyed some snacks and milk shakes, they made some illuminating comments like: "Teaching was incredibly hard!", "the students did not like sitting around, they like more interactive classes", "we were able to keep their attention for about 45 minutes and then they started losing focus", "we worked well together", "everything went well until we started winging it", "we didn't have enough planned", "they knew more than we thought they would".

With such a solid start to their community service, the boys were so excited that they all used their free time in the afternoon to go back to the hotel patio to plan for tomorrow.

Tomorrow the boys have some free time in the morning before they teach in the afternoon.