Roller Coaster Ride

By Natasha Vrutska

I will remember Day 1 as the Roller-coaster, which  is probably true for the first day of any experience where you enter somebody else's space. We knew there would be surprises, and we were right. I'd like to think we handled them well and hit the road running.

While anxious to go into Day 1 prepared, I also knew from experience that I wouldn't be able to really plan until I knew who I was planning for, so it was important to stay open and be willing to play it by ear. Consequently, the first day for me was all about meeting the kids and getting to know them, their current level of English, and their needs. Before we even started, I got a chance to peek in on an English class that was taking place and meet Aya, an English teacher from Aleppo, and her small group of seven to ten year olds. Smiling shyly, the kids were excited to tell me their names and greet me in English. They let me watch them practice colors in a question and answer routine with their teacher, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they spoke a little English despite what we had been told initially. I was also relieved to find out Aya would be around to help me relay instructions to the students. The task ahead seemed more manageable by the minute.

 

Starting out with all of the kids in one space doing some warm-up drama activities with Naima proved a great way to observe the kids before separating them into smaller groups. You could spot right away who was going to be a leader and a teacher helper and who was going to need more support. The heat of the summer afternoon and a larger group than originally announced aside, the overwhelming feeling in the room was how excited both the kids and the teachers were to have us there.

As I don't have much experience working with primary school children, I chose to start with the younger group for our first break-out session. I wanted to jump in at the deep end and be done with it. Soon, the small classroom dedicated to English filled up with tiny people who were between three and six years old. Prompted by my wonderful helper, Aya, they were able to return my "hello" and tell me they were "fine, thank you". However, things got more challenging from there. The kids were clearly exhausted by the heat, by the excitement of the drama workshop that had just been through, and, simply, by what had to be a very long day for that age as it was 3pm by this time. We tried some simple activities with flashcards depicting animals, and some kids were able to engage in group repeat and recall activities. Both Aya and I tried our best to engage more of them which proved to be an exercise in frustration as more and more of them chose to nap with their heads on the desks or bicker among themselves in Arabic. We let them be and played another flashcard game with the very few still making eye contact with us. If I am honest, I was very happy to hand them back to Naima and to welcome the older group to my class. Feeling discouraged and dispirited, I needed a good experience to finish the day on a better note. The second group gave me just that.

We started with an activity standing in two lines facing each other and exchanging greetings, moving in a circle until everyone had talked to each other. I was happy to hear that the kids were stepping out of the offered script of "hi, how are you" and asking each other names and ages. Clearly, they had had more English instruction than we had been told. More importantly, they were brimming with enthusiasm to learn more. The hour flew by as we played games with the animal flashcards. I doubled the number of words for this group, and they met the challenge. We played multiple rounds of who could collect the most cards being the first to identify the animal, eventually expanding the task to include the color as well. As the kids' competitive streak kicked in, they couldn't get enough of the game.

Another big hit was sending one student out of the room for a few seconds and hiding a flashcard somewhere in the room. They would then have to locate it by listening to the rest giving clues as to its whereabouts by chanting the word progressively louder as the student got closer to the flashcard. After the first few rounds the students understood the game well and used the full range from low whisper to almost shouting. Of course, everyone wanted a go at having to search for a card. The kids were having a blast and I was enjoying their laughter. I have to thank my wonderful friend Maria for the idea for this game and, of course, Aya for helping interpret the instructions.

Wanting to check if they knew the alphabet, I moved on to Hangman, building from single words to collocations, and we finished off by playing a fast game of Hot Potato, using the vocabulary of animals and colors. It was dismissal time, but, although I said good-bye three times, no one wanted to leave. I wish all my classes ended like that.

To recap Day 1, I went through the full gamut of emotions from  the excitement and gratitude of being warmly welcomed into a bright, child-centered school through the frustration of feeling out of my depth and helpless with the little ones to the satisfaction of having things work well and seeing the kids engaged and learning. But, more than anything, I was exhausted and ready for a nice meal and a long debrief with Naima and Theresa.