A breakthrough

Kids classes! Always challenging but today was a little rewarding. My assistant and I have been working very hard to encourage one of my ten year old girls to talk in the class. She’s excruciatingly shy and doesn’t say anything. Today I was so happy when she asked me in a whisper how to say my assistant’s name. Why? So she could give us this picture. And then, as agreed with her and her mother at last week’s parents meeting, we spent 15 minutes after class talking. She whispered only, but it’s a start. I’ve said I’ll do it every week. She’s so scared of making mistakes when she speaks, that she doesn’t, to the point of almost shutting down in the lesson. Some of the other students are also a little shy, but she’s our most extreme case. Good language learners take risks but many of our kids are punished, not supported in their learning.

Parents Day can bring about many positive changes; this was the most heartwarming one.