Math and Writing

These are the two issue I want to talk about today. We had a bit of trouble in both classes, and I want to talk a little about both of these. Math is always an interesting subject to teach. The MPM book is organized in such a way that sometimes the children just understand, and sometimes that understanding takes time.

Today I found that a number of students had trouble with today's MPM lesson. Not everyone understood the method to arrive at the answers, but most students had the dedication to work towards the answers. Two students, Nado and Tiffany had more trouble than the others. It is not so much that they don't understand, they actually picked up the concepts required quite quickly. However, both of these students required someone to show them what to do, even after it was explained to the class. And both of them had trouble writing numbers, it is obviously unfamiliar to them. During the year they will have a lot of practice writing numbers, but the MPM book assumes that they are already proficient at this.

This brings out another point I wish to discuss briefly. It is possible for children to "study" too much outside of class, doing extra worksheets and classes focused on academic achievement. However, practicing some basic skills may be helpful for some. For those that have trouble writing numbers or the alphabet, practicing these things is fine. Allowing and encouraging the students to read for pleasure is also a good idea.

While we were waiting for the children to finish their MPM books, many other students had time to play with toys. This helps them learn so much in so many ways. Everyone gets to practice their English in a fun setting, and they also learn how to share and interact. Owen and Sean spent a lot of time and energy building a beautiful wall. Richard, Benson and Yoyo built some fantastic robots. Cherry, Vivian, Nana and Emily were playing some birthday game, although Emily hurt her leg. It sounded like everyone had a birthday today. Vivian and Gary from Snow White class played well together.

We read the story of "The Gingerbread Man" and everyone enjoyed that. It is a very active story and almost everyone joined in. I worry a little about Nado, as he has very strong reactions to things. He finds it difficult to concentrate and likes to throw the book down. He is young and will need some time to adjust to big class. Teacher Jojo and I are helping as much as we can.

The writing book is proving much more difficult that I had imagined. Last year in the early morning class, I was doing writing exercises with Goofy Class. Emily and Sean joined us for these classes and they often wrote good stories. However, the writing book is proving difficult for everyone. It is not that they are unable to make sentences. Today, we had to write six words for homework. As I wrote the words on the board, I asked the students to try and use the words in a sentence. A lot of the children had a lot of fun making crazy sentences, as well as quite normal sentences. However, when the writing book requires them to write a sentence, they find it difficult. It may be because the book is based on grammar and the children learn English as a first language, which does not require the understanding of grammar, or phonics, though learning English as a second language is enhanced by such methods. It is not beyond them, but it is difficult to grasp. It is not as natural as the way they learn language now. We will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this program.

Glen.