School Days

Last week I subbed for a Grade 1 class. I hate subbing, but thankfully it was just an hour and a half, and the teacher gave me two assignments for them out of workbooks most of the students had in their desks.

Dialect differences are fun to play with.

Kermarl: Miss, Jeanie kicking me.
Jervehn: Miss me too.
Me: Who?
Jervehn: Miss, Jeanie.
Me: Bring her here.
Jeanie: Yes, Miss?
Me: Jeanie, what kind of animal kicks?
Jeanie thinks for a bit, then says: A horse?
Me: Yes, horses kick, and so do jackasses. Are you a jackass?
Jeanie: No?
Me: Do you want to be a jackass?
Jeanie: No, Miss.
Me: Then do not kick. Little girls do not kick, jackasses kick. Tell Jervehn and Kermarl that you are sorry.

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Today at VF Primary I called in Joshua for a one-on-one session. Just as we were starting, he said he was hungry.

"I didn't have break, I lost my dollar."
"Do you have lunch?"
"No, Miss."
"Does anyone share their food with you?"
"No, Miss."
"So you didn't have break and you don't have lunch?"
"No, Miss, I lost my dollar."
"But you have gum, where did that come from?"
"Miss it's a plum.*"
"Someone shared it with you?"
"Yes, Miss."
*sigh* "Well let's look at these sounds."
"I'm hungry, Miss."
"Ok, Joshua, I have some bread with cheese and mustard. You'll come in when lunch starts and you can take it."
"Yes, Miss."

*A "plum" here is a very small fruit that has little more substance to it than a stick of gum, and it certainly doesn't last as long.

He did come in during lunch, when I was setting up a chessboard for a game with Zea. I took the bread with cheese and a banana. He was about to unwrap the sandwich, but I asked him to go outside with it. I don't let any children eat in the Resource Room. Instead, he stayed to learn to play chess. He played one game with Nabila, who helped him with moves, then I showed him pawn game.

He played black, and he beat me.

Pawn game lacks other pieces, and the goal is just to get to the other side of the board. White has the advantage, since that player makes the first move. Joshua had never played chess before.

Joshua is the academically weakest student I work with at that school. A few months ago he finally got the connection between sounds and the words they make. We have 11 sounds of the alphabet down solid, and we're working on 2 more now. He still has trouble with numbers between 11-50. I'm currently teaching him the difference between first, middle, and last. He is in Grade 5.

Joshua probably does not have a learning disability--just a severe disadvantage. He lives in Shanty-town, and often stays home from school because his mother doesn't have money for him to buy lunch. She might be illiterate herself, I don't remember. He says he has one book at home. He is the sweetest kid I work with, and even when he's hungry or tired or sick or all three, if he's in the room with me he tries his hardest.

(Names are definitely changed in this post.)