Final Days in School

Tuesday, the 21st, I was with Anabel all morning. As usual, we started with the older students who are in 6th grade. Since I missed yesterday, I was behind on what the first section of 6th grade accomplished last class. The 6th graders are working on recipes and quantities of ingredients. The first class was able to sing the cook's song, while the second class was just learning the song. Both classes worked on cooking vocabulary like peeling, chopping, boiling, and frying. The first 6th grade class has a lot of trouble listening to Anabel, but throughout the weeks, I have seen her become more stern and make it clear that she is in charge. The first class was able to go through all the ingredients for a banana cake and they had to look up some pictures for reference. Afterwards, the listened to a recording that told them how much of each ingredient they needed. Groups worked together to make sure that all of them had the correct amounts. The next class of 6th graders just started learning the vocabulary; thus, they worked on a program that went through pictures and vocabulary that deals with cooking. Anabel made this into an activity and race between the students to see who could do the whole list correctly and the fastest. The same activity was in their textbooks so they had to match the words to pictures correctly there by the end of class. The last class I had with Anabel today was with 5th graders. They were working on the English program, Trainer for the class period. Many of them continue to work on copying sentences that deal with colors and weather. They work on numbers in the thousands and work on emotions. I am very proud of this group for working hard throughout the entire class.

In the afternoon, I am with Unai with 4th graders during gym class. I love this time of the week because I get to really bond with students and have fun with them. Today, they were working on group activities where the teachers expected them to listen to each other and think strategically. The first activity is where the students were first standing on benches that were half way to the goal line. They were given a limited amount of hula-hops and they couldn't step outside of them, if they do, they have to start over. With the first try, the students were all over and no connecting line for all of them to make it to the goal. Unai stopped them to remind them to talk it through and then work together to make it work. The second time around, they were able to start the train. After 45 minutes, they had made it to the goal line. They were all so proud of themselves that they sang and jumped together. After that, they split into 4 groups. Unai and the other teacher set up four square on the floor. Two groups at either station and they all had to run one-by-one to get 4 in a row before the other group. The groups were getting so serious and there was lots of screaming. After awhile, they switched it to 3 in a row and even switched groups around so they could play new people. Overall, the groups really had to think about what the other team is going to do. The big group had many long conversations in Basque and it was time to go. Cannot wait for Thursday!

Thursday, February 23rd, was a hard day to say goodbye to the school and the students I love. I began the day with Anabel and we were in a 5th grade class and 6th grade class. In the 5th grade class, we started the class as we normally do by talking about the day, what the did yesterday after class and telling the time. The 5th graders were working on the English program, Trainer during the whole class today. Unlike other days, they all were super into the program and were working hard throughout. Many of the students were on the same level that had them copy sentences with names, worked on vocabulary like coast, surname, and first name. Others were putting th or rd on numbers. Today, many students would ask Anabel to help them with words and or how to say certain words in English. This class left the room without saying much, which was a new thing to see.

In the 6th grade class, they were all very excited that Carnival is coming up this weekend. They all went around and said what they are going to dress up as. Some examples are: Lions, batman, batwoman, police, singers, and muscle guys. Here, they celebrate in the streets on Saturday and they celebrate Carnival at school on Tuesday; thus, many of them will have two different outfits. Anabel then began to review what they worked on last class, which was taking the quiz on the computer to practice cooking vocabulary before they work on the recipes. Now, they are asked to open their books so they can go through the ingredients for the banana loaf. Anabel had to show pictures of most of them to this class, but they were able to fully understand what each English word represented. Like the other day, Anabel played the recording that matched the ingredient to the quantity of that ingredient. She had to play it a few times before they worked as a group to make sure all of the amounts were correct. I had a group call me over to check their work and then they began to ask me about why I am leaving and why I wasn't at their school on Monday and Wednesday. I explained that I was seeing other schools and a boy told me that he wants to see those schools in the future as well, maybe there is a future teacher here. After each group checked their answers with the other students in the class, they had to match the utensil to the picture in their textbook. The recording named them and explained how they looked like so they could match them easier. Since this activity was all about banana loaf, Anabel cooked one last night and brought it for them to eat. However, she said she forgot an ingredient and they have to decide which one. She happened to have enough for me and we both agreed we did not like it, but all the students guessed right that cinnamon was missing.

I was with Unai to work with third graders next. His other student teacher was here again and was very sad that today was my last day; she is so incredibly nice. They began class by stating what day is today, talked about the weather, and saw if anyone was missing. Then Unai asked this class to tell us what they are going to dress up as for Carnival. This group was going as: thieves, animals, batman, ballerinas, vampires, witches, and cowgirls. Some of the students brought in activity books to work on later in class. Since they were so excited about Carnival, Unai asked them to bring in pictures of them for homework. Next, Unai had them play a game of pictionary with old English vocabulary words. The kids LOVED this game and came up with many vocabulary words. With only 10 minutes left of class, they opened their activity books to work on a coloring page. Unai had students read the instructions on which numbers were certain colors. While they were able to read it, he had to say many of these colors in Basque for them to connect the colors in English. At the end of class, many students gave me hugs and said agur.

In the afternoon, I was with Unai and 6th graders for gym class. They all were sad that today was my last day and I was excited that we got to bond again once last time in gym. To begin, they had to work on their dance for carnival. I had to fill in for one of the students right away and was lost the first cycle, but caught on quite well. This dance is to the same one as the 4th graders, but has different moves. I have a full video, but the blog won't let me post. After they worked on the song 3 times, they had three students teach the class for 20 minutes. The first game they had us play was one we played weeks ago. There is a cone set up on both ends and there are two teams. Each team is trying to tap the other team's cone without being tagged. The second game they played was 3 person tag. Each group had three people with numbers 1, 2, and 3. When they call your number, the other two members are trying to tag you. I was in the group with the other two male teachers and it was super intense.

For the rest of the class, the 6th graders were working on getting from one part of the room to the next with only hula-hoops, just like the 4th graders. These 6th graders were screaming non-stop and had a very hard time listening to each other. One student would have an amazing idea and then would change their mind when someone else wanted a hula-hoop. Unai stopped them about 5 times before they found a way to the other side. It took them twice as long as the 4th graders. I feel as though they needed to have a conversation as a group as to why it took them so long. Unai said he hopes they will do that next week.

I said my goodbyes and was very emotional. I am beyond thankful to have been able to meet all the students and work with these amazing teachers. I have learned so much and will miss them dearly.

Agur Anabel, Unai, and Arizmendi Ikastola!

Love,
Jillian