Journal+Entries,+6

__Journal Entry 1:__ The Nursery that I went to in order to fulfill the required service hours was called Mama Lou Lou’s Nursery. The owner allowed me to stay as long as I wanted in order to teach the kids the alphabet, numbers as well as some art skills. My first day at the Nursery was very interesting. It was a great experience. At first I was very nervous as to whom I would see and what condition the kids would be at. When I first walked in, the nursery wasn’t really big, it was basically the size of a small apartment and it was divided into different sections. There was the big room with round tables and chairs where the kids sat to eat and wait for their parents to pick them up at the end of the day. There was another room where the babies were supposed to sleep. That room is very crammed and holds about 5 beds (for babies). Then there is the kitchen and a small bathroom as well as a small porch and a room where the kids played with leggo, drew, and also watched movies (if they were good). I gave my English lessons in the room where they had the tables and chairs. The kids that were at the nursery were okay. They looked happy to be there at the nursery with their friends. The kids were small; age’s four to six years old. The first day all the kids didn’t know who I was and they got bored 15minutes into the session. So I decided to let go of the teaching and just talk to the kids, in order for them to get to know me a bit better. The teacher over there were used to hitting the children, which of course was a whole new concept for me to understand.

__ Journal Entry 2: __ As I became a frequent “guest” at the Nursery the kids got used to me gradually. As they got used to me they became very noisy at times and they were very demanding, but that was very natural. Thankfully I had authority figures present with me to help control the situation. At first the whole teaching process whether it’s with the numbers or the letters was frustrating I must admit. These kids had no clue; they didn’t know anything about the English language. All they knew was Arabic, which is, and will always be their mother tongue. I witnessed some improvement in almost all the kids. I tested their knowledge of the letters as well as the numbers by setting up a small quizzical game. Basically, I would ask questions like “what is the first letter of the alphabet?” or “what word corresponds to the letter B?” If they answered correctly I would reward them with a small piece of candy like chocolate, mint, gum etc. If they got the answer wrong I would give them an easier question, hoping, they would get it right. If they did, they also got a reward. The point of this game was first of all for me to see what they needed work on, how much of the concepts they were grasping and which ones they had trouble with. This game made them competitive and encouraged them to review what they learnt frequently in order to get more prizes as well as to beat their classmates. It was a great experience, and I must say they had a lot of fun. Of course they weren’t quite there yet but they were trying and I could see all the effort they were putting in. That to me was a great reward. To see how these kids were actually learning from me, learning something so new to them.

__ Journal Entry 3: __ As I spent more and more hours with the kids at the nursery, the more they learnt regarding the letters, numbers and art skills. Step by step they were able to write all the letters and the numbers in the correct way, however, they still had difficulty with the pronunciation. To help them with that obstacle I started repeating the letters as well as the small words over and over. I made them say it after me several times and I quizzed them as frequently as possible to help them not forget it easily. As for the art skills, the kids were now able to draw a noticeable flower, which they have been working on for a while. My next step was to teach them how to color them in. I showed them the realistic colors of the flower but I left the color choices open for their own preferences. Some students chose very bizarre colors and others worked with the original. The pictures of course weren’t amazing but it was definitely an improvement from the first time they drew it for me. At this point the kids were starting to get there. They were able to write and read the letters and numbers. They were able to draw the flower independently, however, there were a few exceptions. Some kids did need my help. For the next couple of days I have to decided to work on pronunciation because a common mistake between the students was between the b and p, as well as saying the number 3, some students said free or tree instead of three. Hopefully I will these students will master all that I taught them soon.

__ Journal Entry 4: __ On my last day at the nursery (since I successfully finished my service hours), I was proud to see that all the students had improved immensely and that I reached my SMART goal just in time. The students were able to say the entire alphabet with minimal pronunciation errors. In addition to that, they were able to connect the words with the corresponding letters in the alphabet. For example A is for Apple, B is for Bee, C is for Cat etc. Moreover the students were able to count up to 10 and were able to write the numbers down correctly. As for the art part, the students made beautiful pictures and even went above and beyond by drawing houses and roads and even cars. The flowers turned out great and they used beautiful colors. The pictures the kids drew were so good that the lady hung them up all around the nursery. The kids were very happy and proud to see their work up there. For me, that was a great thing to see, and I felt very rewarded seeing them so happy. After achieving my goal I played with the kids for a while and just sat and talked to them. In addition to that I taught them some games I know like tic tac toe, Simon says and many others (of course this was all in Arabic). The kids enjoyed it very much and still play it until now. In conclusion, this was a great experience and I look forward to going to the same nursery next year and teaching them more advanced things. I really hope that I do one day make a change in their lives and help them achieve something great or something they really wanted to do. But for now, I will try my best to teach them everything there is to know about English in the upcoming years.