Teaching Little Kids

A while back, when I was looking for projects, I headed over to the library to talk with the librarian to try out on her an idea I had.  I determined that since kids don’t have books, don’t read as a rule and are not read to, I would come to the library on some kind of schedule to read books to little kids.  The librarian’s name is Ladi and she is a gentle, thoughtful person who actually does read, the exception to the rule. The library is funded by the mayor’s office. There are books, but not many, and many they do have bear the stamp of one non-profit or another. There are some games and puzzles, too. The library is a gathering place for kids, little kids in the morning, when the instituto is in session, and big kids in the afternoon when the primary grades are in school.   Some come for help with school assignments. Ladi has patience and tolerance for all the noisy demanding kids and the skill to help them find something among her meager resources to help with an assignment or to pass the time.

I knew my idea had an obvious big flaw—my artless Spanish, but Ladi gently, quietly advised that while reading was good what the little kids really wanted was to learn how to speak English.  I really wasn’t excited about the idea of another English class, but agreed to give it if we could include 15 minutes of listening to stories in the hour each week I’d offer English. So Ladi  agreed and became my new counterpart.

The class has a core of 10 or 12 loyal attendees but the numbers swell every Wednesday depending on who is hanging out in the library at 9 o’clock and how fun whatever we are doing appears to passers-by.  The age range of the kids is wide—second to sixth grade. But, as I’ve said before, that isn’t a problem for the kids, and my little 2^nd graders hold their own in the skills of greetings, family members and animals, which, along with numbers and colors, has made up the curriculum.

I do get a kick out planning these classes. I love the elementary teacher-style materials.  For instance to practice greetings and introductions I made a cute set of finger puppets out of a couple of small pieces of folded paper which I stapled on each side to form a little pocket.  I put a face on each puppet and showed the kids how they could talk while the fingers wiggled them to life.  One demonstration ( “Hello, how are you?  My Name is Lucia.” “Nice to meet you, Lucia.  I’m fine.  My name is Marco.  Where do you live?”) was enough to get everyone drawing and stapling the supply of folded papers I brought to class.  When finished, everyone’s fingers talked to each other and then to their neighbor’s fingers—a great exercise because the kids did all the talking, practicing without embarrassment. 

But the best are the songs.  As I’ve written before, Nicaraguans love to sing.  To practice names of family members and greetings, I wrote a song to the tune of Frere Jacques: Mother, Father, Sister Brother, How are you? How are you?  I am glad to see you.  I am glad to see you.  See you soon.  See you soon.    Smash hit.  They can’t stop singing it.  I hear it in the streets as I’m walking by.  They break out in class   I thought we couldn’t top that until I taught them several animal names and then Old Mac Donald.  The chance to make all those animal noises brought the house down and, while pronouncing the words to the song posed some difficulty, there was none whatsoever with the ee-ay-ee-ay—oo. Everyone joined in on that one, loud and clear.

After 45 minutes of English I tell the kids to put their heads on their arms and Ladi reads a chapter from Charlotte’s Web (Spanish version).  I’m always pleased and gratified to watch them listening, resting and letting the words of a good story work their magic.

I now have a following among the elementary kids who flock around as they never did before my little library class.  Today school was cancelled for the Oct 12 celebration called the Day of Encounter—another story in itself.  I was attending the festivities when one of my 2^nd graders found me.  Wherever I moved there was Smith (pronounced Smit), peppering me with questions, and filling the others in on my answers. Here are two questions: “In the United States, do they hate morenos (darker skinned people)?” and “Do your sons have video games?”  Smith made sure I met his mother and his teacher.  I am his new best friend.   I’ll attach his picture to the next blog entry.