I have been very open with both the K5 and third-grade students here about my language learner status and desire to improve my Spanish proficiency. One third grader said, “Why don’t you know all the words yet?” Great question- I feel like I ask myself that all the time. I responded by telling them that I was still learning and taking classes, but it takes time and it was a little bit difficult for me. There was an instant shift in the room when I said it was a little difficult. At first, they seemed a bit surprised, but then a student said, “Tranquila, we don’t know all the words yet either.” We decided we would help each other with “all the words.” Their reaction and excitement about both of us learning words reminded me of the importance of being vulnerable with our students. There is a calmness and safety that comes when we see the people around us facing similar obstacles.
K5 students, as I mentioned in previous posts, mostly communicate in Spanish. Though, they will greet me in the morning with, “Good morning, Lindsey.” And, in the dramatic arts play center (restaurant/kitchen), the students will often ask me to play in Spanish, but then they will try to name the food in English when they give it to me. I also attempt to communicate in Spanish, and it seems to bring them great joy as they confirm or kindly correct what I say. Last week, students had been exploring outside and created a research journal with pictures and terminology in English. I was checking in with some of the students and asking them to read to me and tell me what they found (using the pictures and the words in English). They showed me, and then one girl said, “In Spanish?” (gesturing to me to try it in Spanish) as she pointed at the pictures alongside the English words. I got my first word right, and she yelled “Si, si, si!” I got the second word right, and she clapped excitedly and gave me a thumbs up. When I finished my third word, the whole table was clapping and one little girl threw her arms up in the air and was pumping them up and down as if I had just scored a winning goal and she yelled, “Perfecto. ¡Sus perfectos!” She was just genuinely so happy that I was able to identify the words in Spanish. I am not exaggerating, you can see the screen shot of her below with her cheering arm above her head. What if all learning, vulnerability, and taking risks resulted in this kind of experience?
I am excited to be heading to Chicago tomorrow for the Reading Recovery conference, but will be back the following week with information about the instructional collaborations we are working on here in Colombia!