Swimming, Floating, and Fruits & Vegetables

This week, we read the poem “A Year Later” and the book Foods We Eat.

In "A Year Later," we learned about a girl who could only float, wear a rubber tube, hang on to a boat, and sit on the shore because she didn’t know how to swim. But one year later – she didn’t have to do any of those things because she could swim!

In Foods We Eat, we learned about how fruits and vegetables get to the supermarket, a recipe for a cheese sandwich, and foods that are eaten in the U.S.A. We discussed our favorite fruits and vegetables, who cooks in our homes, and restaurants we like to eat at.

We played more vocabulary review games this week, with Spiderman (Phil, Andrew, Henry, and Leo) vs. Iron Man (Gwen, Yo-Yo, Aston, Irene, and Benson). Spiderman squeezed by with the win (final score: 25-24). And we did a few rounds of Bingo.

Andrew: Andrew produces great written work; it’s just a matter of getting him to focus long enough to complete it. I separated him from Yo-Yo, so I think that has helped to cut down on the distractions.

Aston: Aston still has difficulty focusing. He needs to talk less and do more written work. He tends to draw pictures unrelated to the assignment, when he should be copying the vocabulary words.

Benson: Benson has been maintaining his usual standard of excellent classwork with a lot less complaining this week. So hopefully this will be a permanent trend.

Eason: Eason has a hard time sitting still and focusing. He had to face the wall because he refused to do his work.

Gwen: Gwen keeps getting out of her chair without permission. She needs to settle down. But her written work is fine. I would like to work more on her speaking.

Henry: Henry produces really meticulous drawings to accompany his vocabulary words and his handwriting is always excellent. However, he threw a fit when the Bingo game began before he completed his board.

Irene: Irene fluctuates between producing excellent work to doing her work grudgingly and sloppily on occasion. Not sure what is the cause for her changes in attitude, but generally, she’s a good worker.

Leo: Leo has been adjusting nicely to class. He completes his assignments and he seems to enjoy the drawing component of the assignments.

Phil: Phil has been producing good written work. I would like to work more on his speaking.

Yo-Yo: Yo-Yo has difficulty focusing on his written work, and is slow to complete assignments. However, he has managed to get more done now that he is no longer sitting next to Andrew, and therefore, is less distracted.

My Friends and I... + Vocabulary Games!

This week, we read new stories and learned new vocabulary words.

We read Quack, a story about a girl moving houses, and talked about what we would move from our old homes into our new homes. "I would bring my toys," was a very popular answer.

We read What Does Pig Do? and reviewed the days of the week. The students wrote sentences and drew pictures about the things that they do during the week. Many students are currently taking piano classes.

We read My Friends and I, a book that discusses how we play together, how we feel, our bodies, and our toys.

Finally, we read The Path on the Map. Afterwards, everyone drew their own maps and each student presented to the class where the path on his/her map went. A few maps led to Taipei 101, a few maps led to money, and a few maps led to garbage. The path on Leo's map went to America, and Yo-Yo's went to the zoo.

We spent Thursday reviewing the new vocabulary we learned this week with a game wherein each team took turns sending a member up to the board to read one of the week's vocabulary words. It was Dinosaurs (Benson, Irene, Phil, and Leo) versus Beetles (Henry, Gwen, and Aston). It was a close game, neck and neck until the very last word: "drawing." In the end, Dinosaurs pulled through with the win.

We finished our week with a game of vocabulary-based Bingo. I wrote a list of the vocabulary words on the board and the students had to fill their Bingo board with the vocabulary words. We took turns choosing words to cross off, and in the end, everyone had at least 10 Bingos.

Andrew: Andrew is a good student. He reads well, understands the work, and gives clear, intelligible responses. He can be distracted at points, but when made to focus on the classwork, produces good work.

Aston: Aston continues to have problems focusing. He is very verbal and expressive, and understands the work, but has a problem with always wanting to play instead of just doing his work.

Benson: Benson does really great work. He reads well and understands the classwork instructions, and fulfills them well. He spent a little too much time this week playing with his ruler and had to go and face the wall, as a result; hopefully, we will have less of that next week.

Eason: Eason does good work when he commits to doing it; he has excellent handwriting and is clearly very bright. But he likes to play around and his resistance to doing work at times can be really tiresome. But he's new to the class and seems to be adjusting easily.

Gwen: Gwen has been really great. Her speaking and reading have improved a lot since I first met her. I am pleased with her progress. She still gets a little hyper from time to time, but has been better at focusing on her work.

Henry: Henry missed a lot of class this week because he was absent. But when he came back to class on Thursday, he dived right in without needing a lot of directions. It was great to have him back.

Irene: Irene does great work. She always raises her hand, is quick to help others (particularly Aston), and always has it together.

Leo: Leo is a very sweet boy. He appears to daydream a bit and is a little slow with the work, but I think he is still adjusting to being in a purely English-speaking environment. Generally, he has a good attitude, and I am excited to see how he progresses over the course of the semester.

Phil: Phil has been producing really great work. He is very good at writing his vocabulary words and drawing pictures that convey the proper meaning. He's been speaking more and has a better attitude overall with respect to classwork. He still resists public speaking at times, e.g. he was very upset when we did individual introductions and really resisted, to the point of almost throwing a tantrum; but when we presented our maps to the class, he did that very ably. So, I'm not really sure what the exact issue is... but we'll work on that. Overall, I am pleased with his progress.

Yo-Yo: Yo-Yo is a very slow worker, partly because he is distracted, and partly because he just doesn't want to do the work. He is clearly very capable of doing the work itself, and simply needs a little attitude adjusting towards actually completing it.

Back to School - New Semester!

We started this new semester with a bang, reading two new ESL books - Our School and Family and Home. We read aloud and discussed the different aspects of each subject.

For Our School, we talked about the different people who help us at school and the different activities we do in class.

For Family and Home, we talked about the people in our families, the different rooms in our homes, and what our family members do for work.

After the readings, we reviewed the new vocabulary words and the students practiced writing them five times each.

This week also introduced three new students into our classroom - Andrew, Yo-Yo, and Cody. I had the students go around the room introducing themselves by saying their name and something that they like to do.

Andrew, Yo-Yo, and Cody fit right in and look to be great additions to the classroom.

As for the rest - Aston, Benson, Irene, Gwen, Henry, and Phil - they seemed to dive back into class without a lot of fuss, and I think we had a really good week reading and learning together.