I just finished another few days of teaching at Covenant Primary in Listowel Ireland. I have had such a wonderful week thus far. Like I mentioned before the teachers are absolutely wonderful and willing to help with every question. Each day I am asked "How are you getting along" and each time I feel more and more accepted and treated as an equal. It is such a great feeling to know that everyone is very interested to hear about my time here in Ireland and how they can best help me feel at home. I have never felt so at home in a school environment. Yesterday's school day was set up just like the others. I visited the same classrooms and was welcomed by the same smiling faces. It was wonderful to see how many children and teachers watched the presidential inaugeration. Beginning in my first classroom the children ages 5 and 6 could not stop talking about seeing President Barrack Obama on the television. They were so eager to hear what I had to say about it. This next statement sounds terrible and I am so ashamed, but I was working so hard to get some displays done for the one of the senior infant teachers that I completely lost track of time and missed it. This did not come across the best when I told all of the children. They gave me a hard time, which they should, and I promised to watch it online. I have kept my promise and watched it tonight on you tube. I was so impressed by how much world news these children know. They are very intuned to what is going on all over the world.
I did not want to interrupt any regular classroom lessons so I have waited until today to read my All About Me book to my classes. Each and every class was so thrilled that I had made something special to share with them that it made reading to them so enjoyable. The girls were very impressed with all of my pictures and could not wait to tell me everything they had in common or any stories that seemed relevant at the time. Each child I have come in contact with is so eager to learn as well as learn from me. I am already feeling the rewards of embarking on this journey out of my comfort zone and incredible learning opportunity.
In addition to helping out in each classroom with students reading aloud or creating interesting displays for the walls, I taught my very first lesson today. It was very last minute and the teacher asked me about 45 minutes prior to my scheduled time in her class, that she would need to leave for a dentist appointment and eagerly asked if it would be alright for me to teach. I was both excited and a little nervous when she asked me, but of course I jumped right in and said of course. I arrived right when I was supposed to and she handed me the book and off she went. I had a few rocky spots during the lesson but overall I was quite happy with myself. I taught a language lesson from a work book, read a story, and went over some homework. In total I taught for about 45 minutes and it felt great. I was very thankful for this opportunity and can't wait until tomorrow when I teach my very first art lesson to the junior infant class. The original activity I had planned will not work out because I was not able to get the correct supplies and the did not have them either. This is just part of the flexibility and openness I am in Ireland to learn, so I might as well start now. I am confident that I have found something else that will be great and I can possibly do the other lesson another time.
Tomorrow being Friday and the start to the weekend I am look forward to getting more comfortable with the local town and my host family. I will write again soon... until then have a great weekend!!!
P.S. I almost forgot to explain the reason behind the title of this blog entry. It is because my senior infant class asked why I talk so funny and I thought it was the cutest thing. One of the other girls replied, "It is because she is from America and that is how they talk". It was a great moment seeing as how I knew it was bound to come up eventually.
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