I was scheduled to teach on Wednesday so I showed up to the class prepared and expecting the unexpected. 9:30 rolls by, no students but all staff members of the center were here. The coordinator of the Deaf program said that she was informed to bring all the teachers and aides so they could learn from us but nothing about the kids so she left to pick up some students who live nearby. They arrived around 10:30 and my lesson started.
It was difficult to plan for activities because we didn't know how many students would be coming, their grade/age levels and what their skills would be. I planned to read "The Rainbow Fish", discuss how it feels to be excluded, then have the students perform a skit of the story. Well when the students arrived, their skills were much lower than I expected and more than half were younger students so I adapted my plan to read te story, have a brief group discussion and then perform the skit as a group with my assistance. It went well and the students understood the basic concept of the story, so I am satisfied. I felt my lesson went quicker than 2 hours so I taught again today for a short time. I read the story again as a review with more input from the students then drew a scene from the book. That was much better because we split the group into two smaller groups-the younger students with me and older students with another teacher.
I am impressed at how well behaved the students are. They lined up in order by height and stayed in line to move from place to place. The students are adorable and the younger students aren't too different from the students I used to work with in terms of their language skills.
In order to have a class, we need students, correct? And since school hadn't started yet, an announcement was placed on the radio informing the community that we (the ribelles-white people) need students to do our practicum. Also, the mornings of practicum days, the field director drove around the area offering blow pops to students who are willing to come to school.
I found out that the supervisor of the Deaf center convinced students to come to school by telling them that ribelles (signed like moving your hand up and down the opposite lower arm) would be working with them today.
Shows how much they are fascinated with the ribelles.
Since I have met the staff members and students of the Deaf center, I am excited to start teaching. I haven't seen the 3-5 year olds yet though. I am very curious what they are like. One of the teacher aides calls them the "babies" and told me that they don't walk yet. Ah, gotta wait til around the 15th to find out.
