on the job: my little monsters
I mentioned awhile ago that I had found/developed a secondary project here in town. It’s not like I don’t have other irons in the fire,but while each Peace Corps volunteer has a primary assignment (organization or school), we’re really community volunteers. And secondary projects get you more IN the community.
A few weeks ago, I started a 2- hour class Kids’ English class at the Clubul Copiilor (the ministry of education’s afterschool instruction center). As I’m teaching adults in the evening and David’s teachings kids in grades 5 – 8, I wanted to focus on little ones in grades 1 – 4. We started the class when there were nine signed up. Wednesday, I had TWENTY little monsters.
This week, we learned colors and colored rainbows, sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes out in the beautiful fall sunshine, played/sang the “I spy” game/song, played multiple rounds of number bingo, and were generally loud and chaotic. My friend, Carmen who helped me set the class up, came in and said “Vai de mine. O nebuni?i pe Veronica daca vorbi?i asa de tare!” Which translates as: Oh my! You’ll make Veronica go crazy if y’all talk so loud. I smiled and giggled and just went with the flow. Kids are kids and this ain’t your everyday English class. I want to make it informal, fun and active so that these kids (a bunch of them from the village) are engaged in English and find that fun. Because if they are engaged and learn now in 2nd and 3rd grade, they are more likely to a) be interested later on even when it’s not fun and b) have something stick in the their noggins.
My friend, Courtney, says that her role as a teacher is to “keep a lid on the chaos, 45 minutes at a time.” And thank the Lord I’m not a classroom teacher, cause I’m just letting the chaos happen. Heck, I could be guilty of inciting some of it. But being in that energy and excitement, having little kids grab my hand as we walk, getting my shirt tugged on because a kid so wants to say something in English, having them think I’m fabulous because I draw a rainbow free-hand — it’s tiring and a bit intoxicating and that’s what it’s about. So the craziness (mine and theirs) is completely worth it.