The Summer English Course for 6 and 7 year old children - Day 4 - The 14th of July 2016

(...)

We had a quiet morning till the break in which I felt really proud of the children and what we had achieved as we worked through rehearsing and doing some new identification exercises. A moment of collective euphoria made me feel unexpectedely disappointed and I must confess I didn't take it lightly and silently showed the children how sad I had suddenly become. 

Classes ended twenty minutes earlier, though I still managed to hand them some pages from a book of puppets and show them a water puppet performance video, so they could identify the difference between the various types of performing puppets. 

Ana and I finally finished decorating the room for the exhibition having displayed some of the dolls from countries I had spoken of during the course not only because of the 3D constructions the boys had made but also the children, whose lives they had become acquainted whilst watching the film on paths to school.

Because I had some puppets like the ones they saw in the pages they had been handed out I also decided to have themon display.

I honestly don't know what the final performance will be like but I'd like to believe they will not let me down ...

(To be continued)

The Summer English Course for 6 and 7 year old children - Days 2 and 3 - The 12th and 13th of July 2016

I had asked João, a former colleague who has recently retired to come and take some photos of the children's rehearsal performance, once he is a keen photographer whom I had counted on several times before during the children's Summer courses. By the time he reached the centre we had already covered the vocabulary which was needed, done some exercises and had our morning break. 

Children were working on their artistic projects, some of which looked as if they wouldn't be finished in time for the Friday exhibition (according to the photos I had taken the previous evening as I cleaned the classroom), Big Ben and Eifffel Tower being the exceptions regarding the boys' artistic pieces, together with Camila's painting on the part of the girls'.  

Before we called in the course secretary to watch the rehearsal João strolled around the working room and still managed to see the above mentioned finished works.

As Ana and I got the children ready for the rehearsal we weren't exactly sure what would come out of it, but I am glad to say that it must have been one their best performances. Isabel and João were both impressed, and so were we.


After having witnessed what the children were able to do in such a short period of time (two mornings) I felt a lot more reassured as to  the forthcoming Friday's performance for the parents and grandparents, as well as the author of the book whom I intend to send the film and photos to.

The children's facial expressions together with the obvious enjoyment say it all ... 

Camila, Salvador, Filipa and Luz spent the afternoon with us and thus managed to finish their artistic pieces, with Camila having done two for the exhibition.

Wednesday was strictly speaking a hard working day with no time for photographs, though I managed to film two of the reaharsals, one in the classroom and another one in the auditorium, where the  children will be performing next Friday. We finally covered all the vocabulary and  I am proud to say that all the artistic pieces were finished and positioned in the right places for the Art exhibition.

We have still got a lot of decorating to do in the classroom in spite of having counted with Camila; Salvador and Filipa's precious help, once they spent the afternoon with us., 

(To be continued)