My hump day was nothing short of routine, which I find very enjoyable. After years of inconsistency I have finally found peace in my personal and professional life. Some might say that I am having it all! I am an elementary educator in Nebraska. I teach at a very diverse school with students coming from all over the world. Places may include, but are not limited to: Mexico, Guatemela, Sudan, Egypt, Burma, Iran, and Thailand. I am really aiming to start a model UN club next year, wish me luck!
One of my newest students is a little girl from Guatemala. She speaks absolutely no English and gets by mostly by imitating her classmates. We work together in a small group with other English language learners where we work on English. We draw pictures of things that begin with ‘c’ or we sound out all of the sounds in the word ‘cat.’ She works very hard but sometimes she is left very confused and just responds with the very few English words she knows.
Today we were working on the letter ‘G.’ After what seemed like an eternity of going, “guh, guh, guh,” the little girl stopped what she was doing and shouted, “Green!” It finally clicked! She began saying other words with the letter ‘G’. “Glass! Girl! Goat! Give!”
About the author: John-Paul Gurnett is an elementary educator from Nebraska. He spends his free time practicing karaoke and dancing. He can be found online at @ro_bopanda.
