Lunch with a special student
I think every teacher desires to truly understand their students. Discovering passions and encouraging talents is part of the excitement of working with young children. One of the benefits of working with nearly 120 kids across 2 grades is the opportunity to form a unique relationship with each child. Students are studying different languages, creating personalized culture projects, and moving at the pace that best suits their learning. There is a great deal of variety in each class, and the passion of each student is, of course, unique. Today I had the opportunity to practice language in a new way with one very special student.
Outside of Rosetta Stone, Nathalie enjoys reading familiar books in Spanish. This is a great way for her to improve her pronunciation, reading, and comprehension skills. Over lunch we read through two children’s books together. Nathalie brought the books, and excitedly began reading with confidence. The first book she read was Clifford, one of my childhood favorites. I was impressed and inspired by her ability to read Spanish text and use clues to deduce meaning. As I listened to her fluid speech and beautiful accent, it was clear that she practiced these stories at home before. I have learned a new strength and passion of one of my students, and I enjoyed the one-on-one time. We set another date to read through other books and practice The Lord’s Prayer, in Spanish. I cannot wait!
This was perhaps one of my favorite lunches this year. I was delighted to see this student experience language in a way that was meaningful to her. I know other students are experiencing language in significant ways such as singing songs, writing stories, or creating comics. I look forward to supporting students to find the way they best learn language, and I am hopeful that I will have more one-on-one lunches with enthusiastic students.
Julia Kuipers (Fifth and Sixth Grade)
January 29th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
[...] Kuipers, Trinity’s Fifth and Sixth Grade World Languages teacher, beautifully describes her role as a teacher and the powerful connection that she shared over lunch w…. The World Languages team maintains a blog, updated regularly, and it serves as an excellent point [...]