Week 4-BABIES!

Dear everyone,

Week 4 means that we got a whole new batch of kids on Monday, YAY! This camp has been super interesting because normally the ages range from about 6-14, and this camp we have a ton of 6 and 7 year olds, and the oldest kid who isn't the directors daughter is 11. So that's been fun, they definitely have quite a bit more energy than our last group of kids, and they (at times) can be more lovey and dependant on the teachers to play things. For instance, as I was preparing my room for the next activity one day, I turned around and found a tiny six year old boy waiting at my door, I walked over to him and he asked "Basketball?" My heart actually melted. But this week also hasn't been as flawless as I paint it, because this camp is so young, I have had to lesson plan, and re-lesson plan, and assess and re-assess all week long. Currently my music class is 2 days ahead of where we should be, and my language class is a day and a half behind, so my brain is just everywhere right now. I've been really learning through this week is that kids are never EVER going to be predictable or "one size fits all", it's part of the magic of teaching. This week has been all about me learning to have grace with the kids as they struggle to learn this silly little thing called English, but also to have grace with myself, when a tunisian assisstant needs to translate, when I need to explain the same thing 5 times to finally get some understanding from the kids, or when a kid decides he just wants to shut down and stop participating all together. It's about meeting the kids in the place that they're at. If you don't get done what you had planned, that is OKAY. That's going to happen when you are dealing with tiny humans and big emotions. So do I know what this week will look like? Hopefully yes, but if not I have two whole planning periods each day to get my language club figured out. When push comes to shove, my final goal is to be able to help my students to learn even a little bit more English than they knew before coming to camp. My kids are individuals, not to be judged against another, and I just need to be okay with that. Stay tuned for how this week ends with these sweet kiddos!

<3 Rose