Classes and Kids

18.9 Today, I want to talk about my students. The first week of teaching we had about sixteen students—last week we went down to about eight. We were bewildered as to why this was happening—we saw a few of our students in different classes at the same time as English class, while other students simply weren’t anywhere to be found. It turns out that most of the students are sick and a few of the younger students dropped the class because they wanted a longer nap beforehand. The children usually sleep from 1-3 and have a snack from 3-3:15, when class starts. The younger students weren’t happy about being awoken so soon and they dropped the class; they may show up late once they’re sufficiently rested. I found that rather entertaining: how many students wish they could drop a class simply because they wanted to sleep instead? I suppose if you have the kind of money these kids have, you can. The twins, Paulina and Alycia, dropped to the little kid class at the school, which is probably good as they were too young to focus on our lessons and to comprehend anything. I’m glad we can still see them around the school, though—they’re absolutely adorable in their matching outfits and curly hair. We teach from 3:15-5:15 every day. Whitney and Shelley are teaching the basic method with the younger, less advanced students; Ally is teaching Basic Reading with the more advanced students who have been in the program for at least a year. The older kids are pretty well behaved and are learning quickly, though Savva has the attention span of a three-year-old. The younger kids are at differing levels of success and good behaviour. I’ll give you a run-down of all our (current) students: Basic Reading (age 5-6): Robert has one of the broadest vocabularies of all the students; he’s accustomed to having the other students and the teachers look to him for help with communication problems. He has a fluffy dark brown mullet and chubby cheeks. Sasha P. also speaks English very well (compared to the other students) and can usually communicate her thoughts and desires. She can already sound out most of the English alphabet and therefore sound out basic words. Unlike the other children, however, she lacks a sense of humor and is usually very stern; I’ve heard tell that her parents are similar and rather intimidating. Savva probably has a better vocabulary than Robert, though he’s one of our wildest students. He’s incredibly bright and catches on quickly, but he would rather goof off or tackle a friend. He’s also rather hilarious with the things he says; he definitely has a sense of humor.

Imasha, or Iman, is Asian/Russian and one of our best-behaved students. She’s first to sit in her chair and focus on the lesson and the teacher and loves to participate in the activities. Nikita is another wild child, who likes to grab my arm and pretend to squeeze the life out of me. He has also blown me kisses and loves it when I sit by him; I believe he has a crush on me. Oh boy. I tease him a lot by naming the subject of the story we’re reading after him, and he objects but I can tell he loves the attention. Basic Method (3-5) Sofi, 4, although she is a perfect little diva princess, has already stolen my heart. She can summon tears faster than anyone I have ever known and throws fits when she doesn’t get what she wants (we call her our little Mustafina), but when she’s participating in the lesson she comprehends most everything and is extremely bright and just so darn adorable. One time, she walked past me and I gently put my hands on her hips and swayed her back and forth; she giggled, and then walked away like a diva with her hands on her hips. Last Friday, she came into class upset. The Russian teacher told me, “Sofi, last class. No more class.” Because Sofi refused to participate in the lesson, I figured she was dropping because she didn’t like us/the class. She sat on the couch and I sat beside her. I tickled her knee and rubbed her back, and she finally gave in and leaned into me. Not saying it was my fault, but she’s come to class every day since. Yesterday, she threw another tantrum and walked out of the room. I followed her and knelt in front of her. She said, “No class. Run!” She motioned to the room we were in—the gym. “You want to run?” I asked. “Yes, no class. Run!” Thinking quick, I grabbed a ball from the supply wall. “You want to play catch?” Her sky blue eyes lit up, and her doll smile appeared. So, we played catch; although she thought she was lucky in skipping English class, I was really tricking her as I had her speak English to me while we played. “Do you want the ball?” “I want the ball!” “Should I throw it high or low?” “Throw high! No, low!” Before long, she was giggling and smiling like a little angel; that was when she realized the class was coloring, and she decided to return and participate. From then on, every time she saw me she would instantly smile. Today, I was watching Shelley teach her class and I stood behind Sofi. I began to play with her light blonde hair with gentle ringlets, and she leaned her head back to see who it was; when she recognized me, her face broke into a smile and she turned around to wave. I think she got me. Irada, 5, is quiet and doesn’t usually act up, though sometimes she is stubborn and simply refuses to participate, but for the most part she is very sweet and active in the lessons. Jemalia, 5, is very well behaved and loves to participate in the lesson. She is always smiling during class and waving to us outside of class. Her English skills are better than most, but she is not advanced enough to enter Basic Reading. Yacov, 3, is Jemalia’s brother. Just like her, he is well-behaved and very cute. He is easily entertained by the littlest things and can sit quietly and focus on a popsicle stick for a long time but will look up and repeat anything you ask him to; I still don’t believe he has any idea of what he’s saying though. Nikito, 4, doesn’t like to stay in his chair but he will say anything you ask him to just to get something, like saying, “I want a pom pom” in order to receive a pom pom; he refuses to participate in the lesson though, and won’t use his supplies to build anything—he just puts the materials in his pocket. He throws a lot of pointless fits as well; I’m not sure he quite likes English class—perhaps because he can’t understand anything. There were a couple new kids today as well: Ygor and Timo. Ygor seemed sweet and quiet, and knows little to no English. Timo only knows No, Yes, and Hello. He got frustrated after the first class and refused to go back in so I took him to Irina, the head teacher at the school. Apparently, he doesn’t understand anything and so he doesn’t like the class, but Irina told him that eventually he will understand and to give the class a chance. However, after the next class he again refused to go back in, and one of the Russian teachers sat in all his classes from then on to reassure him. We’ll see if he comes back tomorrow. Some teaching days are better than others, but everything seems to be going rather well.