Ending

I recently finished my internship; this will be my last blog post. My last day at the school was a bittersweet experience. As I taught the children I realized how much I had grown to know them each individually although I wasn’t there for very long. As I looked into these children’s’ faces I was really happy to have met them, but sad that I would not be able to spend time with them anymore. At the end of the day, I went to each class and said goodbye. The youngest two classes recited a poem for me about fathers and father figures. I was really touched.

I have been reflecting on my internship and how it will help me in my career as a dentist. When I signed up for the internship I did it because I thought that it would be fun and that it was a good chance to improve on my French. After the internship I realize that it will help me directly in my career as a dentist. I learned how to teach various subjects in French, but I also learned how to interact with young children in the role of an authority figure. I have a goal of being a dentist that children are not afraid of: this internship helped me move towards this goal.

Sharing breakfast with Directrice Mialy

After school I ate a meal with the school principal that also acted as my internship supervisor. It was a really cool experience. Although we are two generations apart and she was acting as my supervisor, the mood felt like a couple of friends sharing a meal. I was happy with how comfortable I had become with her and the other teachers. Before my first day of teaching, I was really nervous about how I would be received. I was especially afraid that I would be looked down on as a foreigner. During my internship I was warmly welcomed in the school.

I am extremely thankful for this unique experience that I was able to have. I know that the experience I gained will directly help me throughout my career and family life.

Dual Teaching

One thing that I have noticed during my internship is how busy the teachers are. They never seem to get a break, yet they seem to handle the

workload well.

One of the teachers teaches two classes. When I first arrived I thought that perhaps she was substituting for another teacher that was sick, but I later realized that she just teaches the two classes. When I realized this I thought that there was no way that she would be able to take care of both classes and help them both learn, but she does. She simply goes back and forth teaching and giving assignments. For example, she will teach the younger class a principle of math and then give them a few problems to do while she teaches the older class geography.

The students are well behaved and actually do what they are supposed to do when the teacher is teaching the other class. The two classes are separated by a wall that does not quite reach the ceiling. There are slats on one side through witch she will talk to the other class if they are not doing what she assigned.

She even creates time where both classes are working on problems. When I saw this for the first time I thought to myself, “ok, she will finally take a break.” Instead she started correcting previous assignments that the students had completed. I was amazed to see how effective she was with her time and how accustomed she had become to teaching the two classes.

Happiness

            One thing that I have really noticed from this internship is how easy it is for children to be happy. They don’t need a lot to make them happy. Most of the students seem to be happy most of the time. When I get to the school in the morning the children are smiling and when I leave they are smiling.

            I am not sure what makes them so happy compared to adults. It may be because they don’t have as many responsibilities or concerns. It may be because they are more naive. It may be because they like being at school with their friends. I really do not know what it is, but I have noticed that it makes me happier.

            Sometimes when I get to school I am not too excited to be starting another day of work, but the children make me happier and seem to give me energy. This is not to say that each day is great, but they are better when I let myself be happy.

            I am not sure what makes the children so happy most of the time, but I hope that as I spend more time with them I can learn to be happier. This internship has already helped me to reconnect with my childhood and to see life from a new perspective.  

Love

            As I was talking with a friend here about my internship I told him that it was hard to teach the younger children. Before I was able to explain how the children don’t pay attention or how they talk and yell when they are not supposed to or how they eat their snack during class, he told me, “You need to love the children more.” Instead of defending myself I thought about what he said.

 I realized that when I was frustrated it was mainly because I wasn’t being patient enough with the children. As I thought to myself I was reminded that these kids were six and seven years old. It was unrealistic for me to expect them to be perfectly obedient during class and to learn everything I wanted to teach them the first time that I taught it.

 I thought about what it meant to love the kids I was teaching. In summary it mainly entailed thinking of them as people rather than objects. I realized that I needed to put myself in their place and consider how I would feel, or imagine one of my nieces or nephews that is the same age as the child at hand.

As I continued teaching I made more of an effort to love the kids. When I would feel myself beginning to be frustrated I would think to myself, “Love this kid.” As I did I didn’t always think about what the child was doing wrong, but what I might change to help the child. It has been a really fun experience. I have noticed that when I focus on teaching as much material as I can, I am ineffective and the students do not retain what I am teaching. On the contrary, when I try to help each student have a positive experience, they seem to retain what I am teaching. Consciously trying to have more love for the children has helped me be happier and less stressed at work and has made the kids happier as well.

Teaching Techniques

                                    While teaching I have come to realize just how short young children’s attention spans can be and how much energy they can have. On days where I work with the six and seven year old children for hours at a time I have a really hard time maintaining their attention. Now that I write this it seems obvious that children have a hard time focusing in class for hours on end, I sometimes have trouble focusing for 50 minutes during my college classes. I have begun to try different methods of keeping my class interesting enough to maintain the attention of these children.

            One of the first things that I started to do was trying to engage all of the students in the lesson. This is harder when the class has thirty to forty students. I began calling on each student in the class in a systematic manner. For example when practicing pronunciation I would have the class repeat the word after me together and I would then call on each student individually to pronounce the word. This is only sometimes affective because the students that are not being called on become bored.

            I then tried bringing a couple of students in front of the class to practice with each other. I would chose two or three students to practice vocabulary words we had learned, or have conversations with each other. The students enjoy this, but I have the same problem of calming the students that are not currently participating in the practice.

            I have also tried incorporating songs into the learning process. We have sung simple songs to practice vocabulary and pronunciation. These seem to work well except that when the class sings together it is difficult to hear the individual students and recognize who may need additional help. I didn’t realize how hard it was to teach until I started trying to teach. It is really fun, but definitely takes practice and experience. I have become better at interacting with young children and connecting with them.