Spanish 1 for Spanish speakers. Period one. Monday.
It was an extra period for me, so we got in the room late, and I scrambled to get up to speed.
The lesson plan said they should get their notebooks and take down the week's vocabulary. It said they do it every week, so they knew what to do.
Easy enough. I told them to get their notebooks and get started.
No one moved.
Some classes can be belligerent. They could be talking over me and not hear my instructions. They could be oblivious. But no. This class was silent. Attentive. But not moving.
"We're not allowed in her filing cabinet."
Their notebooks were stored in her filing cabinet. Apparently she passed them out every day. But the lesson plan didn't say for me to pass out the notebooks. It said for them to go and get them.
However, they were not going to touch her filing cabinet no matter how much I said it was okay to do it with the sub.
Okay, fine. I figured out where the notebooks were, got them passed out (and somehow figured out her filing system so I could put them away correctly), but they still weren't working. What now?
Her lesson plan said to pass out the page with their vocabulary on it, but there wasn't a stack labelled "Period 1". But, there were two stacks labelled "Periods 2 & 3". It turned out that one of them was just mislabelled.
Sigh.
I swear, it took me half the period to get them set up. At least they were a cooperative group. They were silent even as I was scrambling. And then working when they had what they needed.
I think I was more stressed out than if I had been fighting them to get to work. It's funny what you get used to.
Do you have your files organized just so? Had you ever heard of a Spanish class organized for those who already speak it?
Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...
This would have stressed me out too, especially if they were willing to do the work, which it seemed like they were willing to do so.
ReplyDeleteI do have my files organized just so. I have to thin them periodically though otherwise they can get a bit to manage.
betty
I tookSoanish in junior high and high school. We had a few native speakers in my classes, who were encouraged to take the class tolearn proper grammar, etc., the way we take English class.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who explained that's why he took a Spanish class. I made fun of him because he was born in Mexico but was struggling in his college Spanish class.
DeleteGreat post ;)
ReplyDeleteI guess the teacher has them appropriately terrified. Or they just really wanted to avoid work.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, I guess every teacher has their own quirks of organisation.
ReplyDeleteJosefine from
Getting to the end
They so do. Each classroom is an adventure, trying to figure out where things are. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI was never that organised as a teacher but when I was doing casual work I once had a year 6 who ran their own day. Every time I suggested an activitiy they said, "We always do our journal now" or "now we do ten minutes of silent reading". It was an easy but unusual day.
ReplyDeleteThat can go bad, too. Especially when they insist on one thing but the lesson plan says another.
DeleteHi Liz - at least they weren't being disruptive ... interesting how the lesson progressed - glad you worked it out. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteSounds like they have a good teacher. Shame you couldn't appreciate the class fully!
ReplyDelete*Interesting* instructions ;-)
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Switzerland we had a lot of Italian immigrants. both parents would work so they sent their kids to an Italian speaking after school program where they would also learn to write the Italian language.
This may be the case at your school, too? Only because kids speak Spanish fluently don't mean they can spell or know anything about grammar?
This is true. They may speak Spanish with their parents, but they've been educated in English.
DeleteI am a queen filer and organizer. My last job in the US I worked with a master organizer. It was bliss. Then I moved to China, where nobody can ever find the file you JUST sent them last week. Insanity.
ReplyDeleteThat would drive me crazy, too.
DeleteThe kids were silent, attentive and cooperative too. Still it was stressful for you. I wonder how it would have been if they were distracted, talkative and generally in a disobedient mood!
ReplyDeleteI was just joking that I was not used to this sort of behavior.
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