more teaching tales

Thursday's post ended in a computer glitch; sudden internet failure gave me the tough choice to publish or perish, so I decided to post what I'd written, unedited. Way too much TTT (teacher talk time) when what I really wanted to do was show you the students.

The student response to my request to read in front of the class: shy hesitation, some students eager and excited, some clearly appalled at the idea. They all came up front eventually, seemed relieved that everyone is in the same boat. I get the impression that some students are used to participating, many more are used to sinking into the background.
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Specific difficulties: confusion of boy/dog, smiles/smells ("The boy smell at the gull?" (really?)), person/animal, long/short, shirt/skirt, also verb form (most omitted the "s" on third person singular present tense verbs). The students generally know when they aren't sure on something, know the polite way to ask: "would you repeat, please"
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Politeness, by the way, is definitely part of the picture. Each class period I wait quietly for the signal by one designated spokesperson who surveys the room to make sure all (or most students, at any rate) are present, then says: "Stand up, please!", at which all students stand, pause, and shout in unison "Good morning, teacher!" or "Good afternoon, teacher!" I pause, say "Good ___, students. It's good to see you today. You may sit down." They then shout in unison, "Thank you, teacher!" and sit. After that, pandemonium is de rigeur, but the formalities have been observed.
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I've found the most successful technique for me is to take my questions around to small groups in the class. Even when the designated Bright Students have successfully answered questions such as: who are the characters in this story? How does the story begin? How does the story end?, I find as I go around that half to two-thirds of the class didn't absorb the import of that question-answer exchange.
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I'll walk around with my written story, lean in on the desks between 4 students. Eager faces of those four; the rest of the class takes advantage of the freedom to babble away in Thai. "Who are the characters in this story?" "Repeat, please." I repeat, with variations: "Who is in the story?", "Who means a person or an animal. Who are the people or animals in this story?" One of the four will glow with a "got it!" expression, gives an explanation in Thai, at which all four are with me--now we see what "who" means! They then scan through the story on the paper in my hands, which I've placed so they can see it right-side-up. "Girl, cat, dog, boy!" or in the case of the song-story (next lesson), "Mary, lamb, children!" They get it! Characters! They practice saying characters, and are ready for the next question: "how does the story begin?" This time it's pursed lips, determination. We got the "characters" part, what's "begin"? I paraphrase: "What is the first thing in the story?", "How does the story start?" I point to the first line in the story. Again, someone will usually say something in Thai which gets everyone reading aloud together: "The girl sits with the cat." By the next lesson it seems some more of the students answer readily, while there are still some who need all the steps before they can point to the beginning: "Mary had a little lamb." A very few made the intuitive leap from "How does the story begin?" to "How does the story end?" Most needed a hand gesture: "beginning is here, end is here. How does the story end?"
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I think the most fun for me is the pleased astonishment of kids who initially insist "I no sapik English!" and then find that they can be understood, in English, by this person who understands only English! And they answered a question correctly! If I could do the same to help kids "get" algebra or calculus, I'd gladly be a math teacher...
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Re-reading my previous paragraph, I recognize that I shifted tenses and person without much rationale. I leave it as is to pay homage to the difficulty for learners-of-English as they ask me: how do you know when to use...? My most honest answer is: I use whatever sounds good to me at the moment. Not very helpful for students who really want to know the Right Answer.
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I got another glimpse into the Thai student of English, as I was asked to assist with a Dictionary Contest. Twenty-four teams of two students each met after school; each team was issued an English-Thai/Thai-English dictionary. My role was to read a word (30 words in the list), spell the word, re-pronounce the word. Then the first team in each grade level (this was only levels 1-3, grades 7 to 9) to find the word in the dictionary would raise their hands. A teacher verified that they had the right page and definition, recorded a point for that team on the board. No time to give a definition or explanation for the benefit of those teams who hadn't found the word; that would break the momentum. The students were avidly interested throughout the hour to get through the first 25 words. At that point every student was given a piece of candy and all but the top 9 teams were excused. Then the winners vied for first-first place using the last 5 words. Cheering and candy all around! Words I remember from the list: skipper, wale, viand, wonky, wangle. Those are the oddities, which is why they stay in my mind. In general, it wasn't what I would consider low-level words. Maybe just interesting to find in the dictionary, and once you can look things up in the book, you're golden.
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I asked, was given a dictionary on loan for the duration. I've found it very difficult to use, as I can never remember what order their alphabet goes in, also don't know exactly where word breaks are as they run all together, similar to computerspeak.
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I've purchased a few kids' books, obviously the easiest of the easy; still I can do no more so far than speculate from the pictures what might be going on. I chose the books based on what I think Remy might like.
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I have been able to sound out a few words in the Real World. I saw the sign for paddle boats at the park yesterday, was delighted to phonetically push out: jak-ri-yan. Isn't that bicycle? Next part nam! my favorite word! Water-bicycle, paddle boat! What fun!
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The other chuckle was a few nights ago, as I tried to sound out the name for the barbecue place. Sounding each letter, I came up with: Bahbikiowreesohart--Barbeque Resort!
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Fun with language; that's what it's all about (for this moment; other moments it's fun with food, with elephants and crocodiles and orchids--more about that later).