Day 2 into class and I’m proud to say I know all of my student’s names! I made a supremely concerted effort to say their names as often as possible on Day 1. I also wrote all of their names down in my notebook and made notes to help me remember who is who.
As I guiltily wrote the word “skinny” next to one girl’s name, who is absolutely lovely and rather delicate looking, I thought about that episode of The Office when Michael Scott gives his secret to remembering peoples names. It involves associating some prominent and unfortunate characteristic of their physical appearance with other things he already knows so that he can eventually wind his thoughts back to their names. Foolproof, provided he never reveals his secret, which of course he does…
Feeling bad about skinny, I wrote “Drew” next to a guy’s name who looks like a cute guy my friend is dating back in the States.
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My condo-mate/colleague/friend, K, and I spent the afternoon on his sunny patio brainstorming some fun ideas for our classes. We decided to Set Precedent. (K just passed the bar.) We’re implementing a Journal Warm-Up to open every class, one mandatory Post-Break Game, and a semi-optional Closing Game to end class.
The students took a while to warm up to my Warm-Up today, but I’m hoping tomorrow will be better. K and I will be refining our Day 3 topic a bit more and I’m hoping for big results.
Our PBG’s went over like gangbusters! K did hangman with his students, who are the most advanced of our 4 groups. My level 3’s, the second most advanced, got to play ABC Aardvark and learn the ABC song. ABC Aardvark is a game we invented where the students all stand up in a long line at the board. The first student writes A on the board, says “A”, and passes the marker to the next person in line. The second student writes B on the board, says “A, B” and passes the marker. And so it goes down the line until all 26 letters have been written and said. Then I taught them the ABC song.
The only homework I’ll ever give them during these 6 weeks is to practice singing the ABC song at least once a day. I told them, “One time every day, you sing. I don’t care when. You can sing in the morning. You can sing at night before you go to sleep.”
“We can sing in the shower!” one student suggested.
And then, I made them raise their right hand and swear an oath to sing the ABC song one time every day.
Yes, I’m absolutely sure they all think I’m crazy.
But one day these hotel receptionists, travel agents and tour guides will need to fill out a form with a client’s information. And when they can say with confidence, “Certainly sir, and how do you spell your name?” – rather than experience the heart-racing panic that I feel when asked to spell or take down dictated spelling in Spanish – I’m sure they’ll remember me and my crazy off-key kids song with a smile.
Teddy has a toy that sings the abc's in both English and Spanish. Sometimes I catch myself singing the Spanish version in the shower. I have know idea what the last part of the song means, but it sure is catchy!
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