Superman Makes For Super English

Metaha,

This week’s class began with both adults and children raising their voices in song. This is always a refreshing start to a class. It brings out smiles and laughter and also expels energy the children buildup sitting in school all day. Naturally, it was difficult to truly capture the enthusiasm in photos but we will do our best to capture it with words and eventually we will capture it via digital camera. Then you can experience what we are lucky to experience every Friday.

This week and next week we are focused on English understanding and there is no better way to expose second language learners to English than through Hollywood. We are watching “Superman" and engaging the learners in language activities geared to increase conversational English, reading, writing and vocabulary. There are frequent checks for understanding and discussion of the plot. We are fortunate to have the captions on so the children can hear and read what is happening. And the Volunteers are not the only teachers. It was amazing to watch older children assist the younger ones. Future Red Cross Volunteers perhaps? The learners conversed in small groups to help each other put the pieces of the movie together. A vocabulary activity we implemented was asking the children to remember one word they did not understand or know the meaning of. As the terms surfaced, we went through the definitions to assist with understanding. Once we can supply the children with journals, we will be able to add more of a written component for the lessons. In this way, we touch on the four essential pieces necessary for second language learners: reading, writing, listening and speaking.


This Friday we will finish the movie and continue to practice English. We are excited to watch the children discover the classic story of “Superman". We wish you a safe and productive week.

Until next time…Uhara Nawa