I love the smells of a new school year...the fresh wax on the floors, the plasticy smell of new school supplies, MARKERS! There is something about a new school year that excites even the "worst" student. It's exciting to go blind into a class and find out what that teacher is all about. As a teacher, it's exciting to meet my new students and try to excite them about French. I do this a multitude of ways: First, I show the students my excitement by being happy to be there. I try not to act tired and my mantra those first days of adjustment is "fake it 'til you make it." High fives, whooping and smiling are ways that I fake it if I'm not feeling it. I'm pretty sure there's research that shows that you can trick your brain into believing that you aren't tired... Second, I share myself and ask them to share themselves with me. We've all heard it before...kids want to be noticed, but I think it's really true. I try to learn my students' names in the first couple of days, but there are always a couple of stragglers that just don't click in my brain. It breaks my heart when I can't remember their names because I can see the disappointment and deflation in their faces when I fail. It's heartbreaking.
We are now in our third week of school and my groundwork is paying off... I have two students who are going out of their way to SHOW me their excitment about French. One student happens to have study hall while I am on my plan, so he has dropped by twice to check with me about what he's learning. The first time, he wrote out the pronunciation for the alphabet so that he could practice over the weekend (no judgement on teaching the alphabet...it's a cute little authentic video that gives the kids a brain break from circling). The next time, he wrote me a letter all in French!! No google translate, my friends! He used the vocab from class to write me a letter! Now, there were a couple of mistakes (using the comparative "like" instead of the verb) and he did throw in a couple words of English when he didn't know a word, but I was so blown away! (He also brought me a teacher's favorite gift...dry erase markers...in neon!) I can't wait to see where he goes through the year!
My second experience was an email from a student in French. She used google translate (and admitted it!), but she wanted to tell me that she really liked the Coeur de Pirate song we listened to on Friday and was thinking about performing it in the school talent show!
Fingers crossed that I can reach more students, or that I already have and they're just not as vocal about their excitement!!
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