THE BIG DAY! WEEK #1 FEBRUARY 1ST!

Today was a very exciting day. I woke up ready to go and looking forward to getting in 2nd grade with the children. I was not completely sure what to expect, but was pretty confident that what we had planned would be well received. When we first met the learners in their classroom, I felt nervous for the first time. I really wanted them to like me, but also respect me. During physical education it was a little difficult because they did not really seem to get what we were doing. I’m not sure whether it was too complex, the language barrier, or their excitement, which caused them to miss the point. After the first two games we tried did not seem to fully keep their attention, we improvised and played “duck, duck, goose.” They really seemed to enjoy this, which I think was because they got to be in control when choosing who had to chase them. This sense of power and control seemed to excite them.

We moved back to the classroom for their life skills time and we were a little surprised to see that Mrs. Jephtha left it all to us. We had been under the impression that this was time that she had planned. It was good that we had come up with an activity beforehand to do during this time. We had them draw pictures of themselves with their best friend doing something they enjoy doing together. This went well and many of the pictures ended up being pictures of us with them. Once again we weren’t sure if this was because they didn’t understand the directions we gave in English or if they were just excited to meet us. Either way, I took it as a compliment and it made me feel good.

In the afternoon we taught them a little bit about Van Gogh’s life and then had them draw what they thought a starry night over a town would look like. Although once again I wasn’t sure how much of what we said they understood, Mrs. Jephtha explained in Afrikaans the assignment and they all went to work. It was very cool to see all the different variations they came up with and how all followed direction, but interpreted them differently. After they were finished we showed them what Van Gogh’s version looked like and they all seemed to think it was pretty cool. However, I think I liked some of the ones that they made better, but I’m biased.

The day left me feeling satisfied, but also extremely motivated to think of more activities to do with them that they will find fun and educational. My imagination hasn’t stopped going since I left the classroom this afternoon.