In order to practice comprehension in both reading, listening and speaking, we tried to incorporate fun games into our class. The girls have been taught many domestic and artistic activities but our goal is to try to better prepare them for every day life. Not only do we want to teach them English, we'd like to teach them about their future lives and we want to better prepare them for it. Today we took it slow and we used games to improve the girls understanding in hearing and speaking. We wanted the girls to first be able to understand what being said to them and then we saw how they interpreted it. From this we saw in which areas the girls were strong in and which areas needed improvement.
First, we introduced them to a new game, Twister Moves. This game requires knowledge of certain colors, body parts, and movement patterns. We used this because it would challenge their ability to listen and comprehend what instructions were being given on the disk. It didn't take very for the girls to catch on to the game but it was a bit hard for them to keep up with the dance moves. Because only 4 girls could play at one time, we had the other girls be judges to see if anyone had missed an instruction.
After the listening game we started a speaking exercise/snack. In order for the girl to be able to verbalize what they're thinking we practiced communication by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. First, we showed them how to prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and once they understood, it was time for them to tell us each other how to make one. This exercise proved to be a bit more challenging than the last. Most of the girls, though excited to make a sandwich , were very nervous to come up and speak. The thing the girls struggled the most with was articulation. The girls knew what they wanted to say but they could not find the words to use. Though the process takes time, the girls are very fast learners and it makes me happy to see that they're progressing really well. These small steps will be their building blocks in to more advanced English. Though the progress is slow at the moment, I know they will soon reveal their full potential and I look forward to seeing what they'll be able to accomplish in the future.
