I Teach English

I teach English to 3 little kids 2 times a week for only an hour at a time and its by far the perfect amount of time. No wonder 80% of classes are no more then 50 minutes. Anything longer then that and there is an obvious wall set up by boredom. Their names are (I have no idea how to spell them) Doru, Barlak, and Barg. They are all 4-5 years old and don't speak English at all. They each know like 100 or so words so as you can imagine communication is a bit of a hassle.

The first time we meet was somewhat impossible since the mothers were in the other room having tea, the kids wouldn't sit still, they kept running into the other room to ramble on to the moms in Turkish who would then try to tell me in English but it never really worked since the mothers don't speak perfect English either. The second night was awesome! The moms decided to meet each other elsewhere and so it was just me and the kids. We went through some worksheets about the weather that I found online. Lots of coloring and pictures which worked great! Its an amazing feeling to be able to teach something. (Even more amazing when they remember it the next time you see them.) Doru is the girl, she is the smartest so far out of the three, or maybe its cause the others are boys and don't really take me seriously. Its interesting to me to take a step back and teach something to children whom I cannot communicate with at all really. Barlask will just repeat everything I say, for example I will point to a flashcard of a rainy day and say "What is the Weather?" he says in an answering tone "What is the weather?" How the heck to I explain to the kid that I was asking a question not labeling the flashcard!!! So reverse and put point and say words which works well.