Sometimes you do get a second chance…in your classroom
anyway.
In my Spanish class this year, I have been teaching verbs
in the present tense. We began by
learning the subject pronouns (I, you, he, etc.); then we learned some regular –ar,
–er, and –ir verbs and their present tense conjugations. Right before Christmas break, I began to get
frustrated because the kids were not retaining things the way I would have
liked. I felt that I had taught the
material well and that I had reasonable expectations for them. However, I couldn't move on in
the new semester because they hadn’t mastered the information. I needed new ideas.
Then God gave me a second chance! Due to certain circumstances, we had to
reorganize the Spanish classes starting in January. This means that I gained two students in my
class. Perfect! The two new students have never learned to
conjugate verbs in Spanish, so this is my opportunity to go back to square
one. Now I can set a stronger foundation. Also, having a greater number of students allows
me to be more creative with class activities.
One more bonus…my original students will have opportunities to teach their
classmates. If I’ve learned anything so
far, it’s that teaching is the best way to learn.
One of the greatest struggles the kids had the first time
around was learning the subject pronouns.
So this time, I’ve come up with new ways to teach it. Because deaf students are primarily visual learners,
I try to use pictures and video often.
Here is one activity we did.
After we set up and took the photos, I printed them and used them to
make flash cards. If anyone has more
ideas…please let me know!
