The End is Nigh!: Reflecting on my time with Junior Achievement

Welcome to my last blog, all you (2) people who have viewed it.  I appreciate it.  I have successfully completed all five Junior Achievement classes without any real problems.  I feel accomplished!  It was a really, really fun experience for me, largely due to the awesome people I had during this time.  I'd like to thank the Academy, Ms. Valero, who is an amazing teacher and has the patience of a saint, my fellow Junior Achievement volunteer Megan, and of course, the great group of crazy kindergartners I attempted to instill fundamental business principles into with only 5 classes.  I'm not sure how well that succeeded, but I think all of us had a great time.  

it's a shame that they're all so camera-shy...

One of my favorite things about Junior Achievement was just hanging out with the kids.  I love kids, and love how they can get excited about what, to us, seem to be everyday things.  But their excitement makes me excited, too.  Hanging around kids makes you feel like one, which just makes everything fun.  Plus, they appreciate my lame sense of humor, so everyone was happy.  In terms of my Spanish ability, I think it has helped a bit, especially in terms of figuring out how to not only breakdown more difficult concepts so children can understand them, but to do so in Spanish.  However, it was only 5 sessions, so it didn't have a huge impact on my Spanish speaking. If we had continued to do this program longer, I'm sure I would have noticed a bigger change.

Brittany with her completed activity book.  

And I think my love of teaching in JA ties into both my love for kids as well as the fact that I learned how to breakdown these concepts in Spanish for the kids, which I couldn't do before.  Teaching them was really fun because, although they can get fidgety at times (they are 5 and 6 year olds), they were really excited to see us every Friday, answer questions about the readings, and do the activities.  They especially liked to show us their finished activities--kids do love attention and praise!

I'm definitely going to miss these kids, even if they did only get my name right about half the time (apparently "Allison" is difficult to remember).  I can't really complain.  I'm horrible with remembering names, too.

Kindergarten camaraderie: Emilyn and Luis

Candid camera!   Traffic jam at the crayon station

Megan and kids

I've learned a lot during my time with Junior Achievement, and not just about Spanish. While I'm not sure just how much of the JA message of the importance of business, saving, money, etc. is to the community, the family, and yourself got across, I think it's a great idea to start this young.  Even if the kids don't actively learn something in kindergarten, they are being introduced to these important concepts at a young age, so that they are already slightly familiar when they are learning about it again as they get older.  I'd like to thank the Junior Achievement program and my SPN302 class for giving me the opportunity to do this.  Goodbye and goodnight.