F is for Father, M is for Mother,
Father and Mother, I love you!
What word does it spell?
How sweet does it smell?
Put the first letters together,
Does it ring a bell?
What word does it spell?
Everyone can tell!
F-A-M-I-L-Y is family!
I printed out the lyric in big fonts so students could try to follow along while we sang. First, I gave them the beat using the shaker that I made last week, while chanting the first two lines. Then I asked them to repeat after a couple of times, until they got it. And then I sang them the melody, and asked them to sing back. I did that two lines at a time. After we sang the last line, I sang the whole song to them again twice, and then asked them to sing with me. Zara said she loves the song, but Babak said it's hard. I asked him is it because there's too many words, and he said yes. So I told him that I'll go home and try to think of a way to teach the song so it'd be easier to learn, and I'll also find some songs that have less words and are easier to sing.
After singing the song, I asked each student about their family. It was then when I realized that Iris didn't mention her Dad. Nuclear families are no longer the norm, so I really have to be careful and sensitive to my students so they wouldn't feel bad about themselves. This song might not be an appropriate song for those who have a differently structured family, so I'll have to be careful next time I choose or write a song for the kids.
Then, I handed out an instruction sheet for making an origami house. I went over it with them step by step, and then gave them blank sheets of squared papers. I demonstrated how to fold it and they followed along. Then we decorated the house with markers and crayons. They did a pretty good job on that!
Iris's work:
Franklin's work:
These kids love to talk, but it is also easy to engage them into talking about a specific topic together. I learned from my AQ instrumental music course professor that if we expect students to watch us when we conduct, we need to give them something worthwhile to watch. I believe that this applies to any teaching. I have to stand up in front of the class and show them the reason for listening to me and interacting with me, and I know that it's a neverending learning process!
2 comments:
You are putting so much effort into your class. And you seem to be enjoying what you are doing. Good for you!!
I really like the way you integrate a theme into each class. it will be amazing if they are able learn abstract concept like "home" from your singing, arts and crafts and other activities. The more inter-related content they learned, the longer they will remember the effect of the activities.
Remember that they request to sing a song that they learn from previous class? They seem to have some concept of time. They may be able to manage a theme that span a couple days or even a week.
Take home activities is good, but those kid may not come everyday. so it may be hard to manage.
Good JOB!
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