I love my job.

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As we head into the third week of school, I'm becoming much more comfortable with the routine of things, and I just love my job. I really do.

I always feel a disconnect in the summer because I stop working with kids (I spend my summers waitressing), so I always doubt my teaching abilities. However, when I enter school again, it all falls back into place.

My days are spent playing games with kids. Simple as that. The smallest accomplishments are what make my days amazing. When the kid that speaks no English comes up to me and says a new word he's learned, I can't help but feel ecstatic. I walked out of our teachers room today to get four kids for a tutorial group (tutorials are when we take small groups out to work with them on English). I was assaulted by my ENTIRE first grade class hugging me. I had seen them about 2 hours earlier. So adorable.

I had my first tutorial group today. I worked with the four lowest kids and we sat up in a classroom and learned the very basics. During a lot of my instruction, I have the kids point at the pictures in the textbook as we discuss something or listen to a skit so that they can make the association between the words and the pictures they're pointing at. These particular boys were not even aware of what pointing was and hadn't caught on in 2 weeks. So today we worked on pointing. Now, (and hopefully this sticks), whenever I say the word "point," they all stick their index fingers in the air. I love it.

My fourth graders are less cute. Last year they had BIG problems with their English teacher. The teacher had NO control over the class (they're notorious for bad behavior) and they powered through the textbook without any repetition or returning to previous lessons to check for comprehension. So the parents were really concerned this year. The kids are fine with their Hungarian teacher, but I don't have her in the classroom with me. It's a struggle, but it's getting better. I can tell they have more and more respect for me. They actually did their work quietly today, so I consider it a win because they all hate writing anything down. Plus I do read-alouds all the time with them because it's really good for language learners, plus we get to work on comprehension and how to break down stories.

My planning is not super stressful either. I plan with my co-teacher Rea once a week, and we plan all of our science, music, and PE lessons in a half hour. I plan my own English lessons.

I'm sitting at home tonight copying worksheets down in my notebook because I have no access to a working printer. Love it.

I volunteered/was guilt tripped into going to a camp with the 5th and 6th graders this weekend. So, that should be fun. I'm sure I'll have stories. Go team camp games.

Another thing that's adorable about school: All of the first hold hands. All the time. Regardless of gender. They just love each other.

Also, I taught my first graders "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" yesterday. They're obsessed.

Ok I think that's it for now.

Szia!

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