March 14,2012

Today I arrived almost right on time. Ms. Austin was already starting class. She was dictating and they were writing. I felt bad for being late. Ms Austin wanted me to read those sentences. After she was done reading, she had the students come to the board and write the sentences on the board. For the most part, the students got them right. There was a couple who didn’t know how to write the word right. One guy wrote “health” wrong. He left off the “h.” It’s understandable because in the Spanish language you don’t hear or sound out a “th.” I don’t even think it’s written in that language. A woman got the word “weight” and “way” confused. It’s easy to see how that could have happened. Especially since if it’s being dictated, and the teacher didn’t put emphasis on the “t.” There are a few more new faces I don’t remember from last week.  Ms. Austin told me that generally no student comes on time. After 20 minutes usually everyone is there.  So, Ms. Austin stated she will always start with some board work, for the first 20 minutes, to give everyone a chance to get there. Today, Ms. Austin announced they will be typing on the computer in the lab. They would be typing some paragraphs they composed the week before. This would take place during the second half of class. I was just there during the first half. So, during the first half we did book work. Ms. Austin told me I would be helping book 3 again. There are three books in class and usually book three is behind.  It is usually because they work at different paces. Ms. Austin wanted me to only have them discuss where it said “discuss.” They will be wasting time and take up too much time if they write everything. I know my group did that last time. So, it was my goal to keep them on task and have them discuss. Ms. Austin explained that it was better for them to speak rather than write the answers. This is because they would be able to learn faster. I understand that.  Based upon my own personal experience, I feel better speaking Spanish because it helps with my nerves. Also, it helps with pronunciation. Today, we had a new guy in our group. His name is Miguel. He is very good when it came to speaking. He can work quickly. Everybody was more on task. Jumi and Veronica still want to write because it helps them. I didn’t tell them they couldn’t. They were a little behind but not as bad as the time before.