As the second semester is unfolding after the winter vacation, the
children of Infantil II have adjusted well to my arrival, another person
speaking only in this perhaps strange, but becoming all too familiar
language, English. It has been challenging for them (and me) to adjust
to each others requests and questions however I am very proud of the
understanding, respect and friendliness they have shown towards me. For
the first few weeks I took a relaxed attitude with them to allow them
the time to get used to me, but also to get an idea of exactly what
their level of understanding was by doing simple activities with them
incorporating some basics of English, colors, animals and numbers.
More recently, I have began to start reading Nursery Ryhmes to them.
Nursery Rhymes are an excellent way of getting a child interested in
English by using music along with some activities and even dramatization
to get the children to act out the Rhyme. It leaves the melody going
round and round in their heads all day and it has also been argued that
Nursery Rhymes set to music aid in a child`s development. Research also
supports the assertion that music and rhyme increase a child`s ability
in spatial reasoning which leads to greater success in school in the
subjects of mathematics and science. Firstly, we studied one of the
absolute classics "Humpty Dumpty" doing activities involving making a
brick wall, singing the rhyme along to the CD, watching Humpty Dumpty on
DVD and by Friday we were even acting out the ryhme using an actual
wall and two wooden horses for the children to ride to Humpty Dumpty`s
aid after he fell off the wall. This was a great success and the
children were even coming up to me during the day asking me to sing
the rhyme again and again and again. This week we will begin "Jack and
Jill" with some great activities involving pales to follow.
Also this week we will begin our second semester project on aniamals
focusing on three in particular, the horse (land), the shark (sea) and
the butterfly (air). This will be done in conjuction with the childrens
portuguese program. Many exciting activities are planned including the
arrival of one of these animals into our very own classroom!
Overall I am very happy with the start I have had with these children
and I am very honoured to have been given the opportunity to work with
these amazing kids to make English a fun and enjoyable part of the their
everyday lives. I am looking forward to the rest of my time here with
them and at this fabulous environment at Leonardo da Vinci.