March 17th, 6:30-8:30pm
Tutee’s home in Sienna Square Apartments
Today I taught/reviewed the present tense of the verb “To Be”
with the kids and taught them 12 emotion words, such as “happy”, “sad”, “scared,”
etc. with lots of pictures and acting. I struggled to find a definition in
Kinyarwanda for some of these words before I went, and I thought they would be
able to piece it together amongst themselves, but several words like “shy” and “excited”
really didn’t seem to translate well. I felt nervous going into today’s lesson.
I had a rough day at work and wasn’t super confident in my lesson plan, and I
just felt anxious and sort of dreaded going. The kids are so sweet and have
such positive attitudes, though, and they made me feel much better once we were
all there and got started. I have felt similar anxiety before giving lessons
when I volunteer taught in the past; I don’t know if this is a good indicator
that I shouldn’t go into teaching, or if it’s just something to get used to and
get past with more experience. I was glad to meet Damarce’s parents this time
and to see that her mother is out of the hospital and doing better. We went
over on time tonight and some of the kids drew on their arms with my marker—I’m
not sure how to communicate with the parents about their expectations, and I
hope they’re not annoyed with me. I still feel like I tended to teach to the
older children more, and I hope Damarce still benefited from the lesson.
I often feel anxious before tutoring, too... Just know that these kids probably don't get a lot of one-on-one practice with English. We're making a positive difference, even if it's a small one! :]
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