Teaching Children

I have found myself in the midst of the weekly stuggle to teach 4 children. And not just any children, but 4 siblings of odd ages (11, 9, 7, and the youngest 5). There is an old saying that children say the oddest things and in fact it is true. Somehow I feel that these things come out often during English lessons. Here is an example from this week:

Samo (age 11): I want to go to Harvard. Why is Harvard so expensive?
Me: Because it can be.
Samo: Oh. (pause) No really?
Me: Because the teachers who write the books, teach the classes.
Samo: Oh.

Same day -- different activity.
Samo: What is volunteering? (questioning a vocabulary word)
Me: It is when you work for a good cause, for free. You give them your time.
Samo: That's stupid. Why would anyone work for free?
Me: Because it is a good thing to do.
Samo: No, it is dumb to work for free.
Me: You need to volunteer and put it on your application to get into Harvard.
Samo: Oh.

Meanwhile, Kubo, age 9, has drawn an entire set of cars and weaponry on his worksheets, waiting patiently for me to give him my undivided attention.

The next day, I travel to their school where I teach one hour with the girls (age 7 and 5) and then one hour with Kubo again.

I arrive. Place my stuff in the classroom that we use. I take a super deep breath and go to Ema's kindergarten classroom to collect her for our lesson. I go there first because her teacher is the only nice person in the whole building as far as I can tell.

Ema sees me and smiles a big excited smile and then proceeds to hide from me around every corner. Her hiding is not so much hiding, but rather a duck and cover sort of half-game. I am not offended, I know that she likes English.

Then Ema and I go to collect her older sister. This trip up the stairs could take hours if I let it, because there are so many things to talk about. I knock lightly, peek my head in the door, the teacher gives me an "oh it's you again look" and tells Daniela, "Máš Angličtinu". Daniela dances to the door the other children stare in awe as she is singled out.

Class with the girls is a three-ring-circus. I give them mints to make them happy. They think they are candy -- can something that is sugar-free be candy? Daniela is sharp as nails, at age 7 she is reading in English and can write anything you tell her to. Her sister, again age 5, wants to go slow and color. It is hard to manage these two levels at the same time.

The last lesson Ema thought it would be funny to answer every one of my questions with the word "kovačik", after which she would burst out laughing and then hide under the table. Daniela wants my attention and screams at the top of her lungs, "Emma!!!", which Ema thinks is her name, because officially I am Miss Emily to her.

There lesson ends when their brother, Kubo, saunters in and tries to shoo them out. Ema cries and Daniela whines, while Kubo pushes them both out the door. I keep my cool and become more and more calm in the face of this chaos... I only wonder what those outside the door think.