Lydia is enjoying the 6th grade, and it seems to be a better match for her than the initial placement she had in 5th grade. He teachers are kind, and they say that she works hard and pays attention in class. They assure us that she is understanding a lot of Spanish, but she is not speaking much. We think she is like me, in that it is better for her to have a complete understanding of the technical parts of the language in order to feel more confident to speak. We are hoping to increase her time with one-on-one Spanish tutoring, which has been extremely limited up to this point. She continues to be a friendly, and positive influence on her peers at school, and enjoys gymnastics and the sciences. Her favorite thing so far is how much time they spend outdoors. Her biggest challenge is leaving for school at 5:15 in the morning, and intense homework schedule.
Abby has finally made some friends and is no longer sitting outside of class crying. Her teacher reports that she is chatting away in Spanish, and understands everything that she is told. Abby is involved with equitacion, which is "trick-riding" on horses. Her report card in this class said that she is cooperative, responsive to others, very brave, and willing to try new moves, even if they are challenging. Her class is a bit behind the U.S. curricularly, but she is working hard, reading in both English and Spanish. Her favorite class is P.E. and the hardest part for her is lunch, because sometimes she has to try things that she does not like.
Andy's teachers are very happy with his progress. They said that everyone wants to be his friend. He works hard, and is diligent with homework. The hardest part for him is math, and he really enjoys that some teachers play games outdoors and use active learning in the classroom. He lives for Fridays when he gets to do roller hockey. What we are learning about Andy is that he is quite shy, especially with speaking Spanish and when talking to other adults. They are hoping they can get him to speak up more in the next bimester, because they know he has good things to share.
sounds like their teachers have a pretty accurate perception of who they are. a good sign!
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts on Andy sound SO much like Eric here in France - unfortunately they his teacher does virtually no outdoor activity, or physical activity of any kind, so the days are long and bookish. He is also quite shy when speaking French, both with kids and adults, but is working hard on his homework and classroom work. He would adore roller hockey at school!!! Sounds like your kids are gradually settling in - Naomi said yesterday, for the first time (5 months in), that she likes living in France (for the moment) :).
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your sharing, Jen.
Wow! They did a really good job. I can imagine how hard it is to learn/study in another country with another language.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about one thing, so they go to local public school? not an international school?
Viliya, They go to a local, private school. The are the only "gringos" in their school. There are a couple other international students, but most are Colombians. We are very grateful.
ReplyDeleteso, now i know.
ReplyDeleteIt must be even harder for them to be in a local school.
They are really great and this will be a precious experiments for them :)
Lovely summary. Very enjoyable to hear how they are integrating nicely. So cool to be bi-lingual.
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