The rest of Week 6

The rest of the week was really tough. My lessons didn't go over very well and I think I got a bit ahead of myself. I am attempting to teach question words (who, what, where, etc.) but they don't have the vocab to either complete the sentence or answer the question in a sentence. On Wednesday I gave them words that either started or ended a sentence and asked them to complete the sentence. On Thursday I put them into partners and told them 8 facts they needed to get from each other and had them write the questions that they used. Both of these activities were a bit of a stretch because they are not used to creative thinking and having to come up with their own ideas. They will copy anything and everything that I write down but they struggle hard to come up with their own sentences, even if it is simply asking them what they like and don't like. On Friday we backtracked a bit and I gave each student a different question word and told them to stand up if their word worked in a sentence that I read. This didn't work at all. They are all afraid of being wrong and speaking up. They freaked out when I told them they didn't need to copy the sentences. I let them copy them in the end, although they are useless to the students because they don't comprehend what they mean.

The other goal I had for this week, which was a lot more successful, was to teach them that it is okay to struggle and ask for help. It is important that they learn that it is okay to ask for help and that they aren't expected to know everything right off the bat. This has actually worked and now they are asking more questions. I have told Amani that he has to speak to them in English which also has worked out well. So even if they aren't really learning the material, at least they are okay with asking questions and getting help.