Looking for Learning

On we go. Doctoral classes are underway, and my 4th grade class has settled into the 2008-09 school year. Always a surprise with each new year… this year, Norberto arrived in our class. He speaks no English and we have absolutely no program, materials, or plan for non-English speaking students. But a challenge is always welcome, and since I’ve been playing with Mandarin Chinese for the past four years with our Taiwanese Internet project connections, I feel skilled, or better, just comfortable, in finding language resources on the net. On to Spanish.

So far, it is going okay. Norberto is helping me as I try to have him fine tune my pronunciation such as when I ask him how to say various words (usually a noun, pointing at a desk, clock, pencil, etc). Now we need to move to the next step – I really want to talk to Norberto about his behavior, about touching other students, about writing in library books, just in general I want to speak with him. So – I have asked Delia, a teacher from Los Angeles, to Skype with me, to video her way into my classroom and speak with Norberto and me at the same time and we’ll see what we can do about understanding each other. Also lined up for skyping, is a class in Bridgeport, CT, a group of kids from Nicaragua, Mexico, and Honduras. I had a skype session on Friday with a class of 3rd graders in Oklahoma City and Norberto was too shy to speak into the microphone – but I hope this will change when he hears Delia speaking Spanish. Adios.