PAEC Volunteering: Week 1

On Thursday, 6/23/11, I volunteered with the PAEC (Panhandle Area Education Consortium) Program to work on teaching English to children of migrant farm workers. I worked with about 15 students in the Pre-K to 3^rd grade age group. I learned some interesting things about teaching from the experience. The one thing I wish I would have had was a better grasp of Spanish. I think I could have been more useful in helping them out. Many of the kids spoke only Spanish with broken English including basic phrases such as “Thank you”, “me”, “you”, and, of course, “snack”. I agree with D. Snow in that it is important to encourage students to be self-motivated in their studies especially since these children move around a lot during the year (See pp. 11-12).

The kids loved doing things with songs and games: Duck, Duck Goose and Tag were fairly easy. It wasn’t focused on language so much—maybe it’s one of those universal games?

We sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”—the kids liked that. Another song they liked was something classed the “Big Pig Song” that the teachers showed on YouTube. Here’s the link for your amusement (I’m telling you, the kids loved this one!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOu-QkmInKc

They started to get restless with a few things. Color and shape bingo caused restlessness in that it took too long for anyone to get bingo. Is it possible that kids need more variety or work the best with an element of fun?

One kid had on a Batman shirt and we talked about superheroes for awhile: He knew Batman, Hulk, Luke Skywalker, Star Wars, lightsaber, and Spiderman in English. I was impressed. Again, D. Snow covers connecting student’s interests with speaking English (See “intrinsic rewards” pp. 14-15). It is evident that he learned the English name for something he cared about: superheroes.