Even after meeting the kids for the first time the previous week, I was still a little nervous for the first lesson. The students had seemed excited to meet me and my partner the week before, but would they be as excited about our class? I shouldn't have underestimated the excitement of children regarding new people and novel situations. Since the class is made up of 5 and 6 year olds, I expected the normal fidgeting and talking that comes with a group of kids who enjoy being the center of attention and can't keep still for long. Other than some normal kid behavior, they were fantastic! Kids are always willing to answer the questions we ask them...even if it is just to tell us about the new dog they have or what jobs their parents have. That day's story was "Robbie's trip to the farm." They were interested to learn about the farm and what kind of jobs there were there, and very willing to talk about the animals someone would find on a farm. My favorite part of the class, and I think theirs too, was when they drew their favorite animals. The drawings were very imaginative and many of the kids were very creative in their use of colors. They were intent to show us their drawings and tell us about their pictures.
While my partner and I spoke Spanish to the kids, as per the program, I'm not sure if the children really appreciated it anymore than if we had spoken in English. Some of them responded with answers to questions that were a mix of Spanish and English. However, it was very beneficial for me, as I rarely use Spanish in day-to-day conversations. While I think our class went over well, especially for a first class, it was a bit awkward as we hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. With one class under our belt, the next one will be better!
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