Storytime, week 1; writing woes
Sep. 9th, 2007 06:07 pmToday was Sundae Sunday, the first regular church service after the summer sessions. It was also water-sharing, but I was so busy remembering that I had to get there early for RE that I forgot to bring a bottle of tapwater symbolically representing Cass Lake. *sigh*
I am teaching RE (Religious Education, or Sunday school) again this year, after taking last year off. I volunteered to fill in gaps in the schedule, and was promptly dragooned into teaching Pre-K. Um. I really have no experience with kids under 6 years old, unless you count about ten cumulative hours of watching my cousin Benjamin and one two-hour joint session watching a neighbor's kid with my sister.
I think the biggest problem is going to be my inability to understand what the kids are saying half the time -- they don't always project or enunciate well at 3 or 4 years old, and I am bad at distinguishing muddled sounds. For example, if you have a strong accent, I will misunderstand you a lot until I get used to it. I suck at picking out individual instruments from orchestral recordings, even if other people assure me they sound very distinctive. And I tend to interpret a lot of half-heard conversation as meaningless noise even when it's in English, spoken not three feet away from me, and about things I should be paying attention to. *bigger sigh*
Still, the kids seem cheerful and willing to listen (within limits), and lesson plans for this age group are mostly one story, one mini-activity, and then free play, so there isn't too much pressure. Unless they have crises. I don't know how to cope with toddlers having a crisis; you can't reason with them.
Oh well, that's what co-teachers are for. :-)
---------------------------------------------
On another topic, I would like to know when my subconscious decided that 'work on your really delayed
femgenficathon story, or any of your really delayed fanfiction!' actually meant 'start writing an original paranormal romance story set in Ithaca, involving a were-tiger and a cook at the local Mexican place.'
*headdesk*
Some days I hate my brain.
I am teaching RE (Religious Education, or Sunday school) again this year, after taking last year off. I volunteered to fill in gaps in the schedule, and was promptly dragooned into teaching Pre-K. Um. I really have no experience with kids under 6 years old, unless you count about ten cumulative hours of watching my cousin Benjamin and one two-hour joint session watching a neighbor's kid with my sister.
I think the biggest problem is going to be my inability to understand what the kids are saying half the time -- they don't always project or enunciate well at 3 or 4 years old, and I am bad at distinguishing muddled sounds. For example, if you have a strong accent, I will misunderstand you a lot until I get used to it. I suck at picking out individual instruments from orchestral recordings, even if other people assure me they sound very distinctive. And I tend to interpret a lot of half-heard conversation as meaningless noise even when it's in English, spoken not three feet away from me, and about things I should be paying attention to. *bigger sigh*
Still, the kids seem cheerful and willing to listen (within limits), and lesson plans for this age group are mostly one story, one mini-activity, and then free play, so there isn't too much pressure. Unless they have crises. I don't know how to cope with toddlers having a crisis; you can't reason with them.
Oh well, that's what co-teachers are for. :-)
---------------------------------------------
On another topic, I would like to know when my subconscious decided that 'work on your really delayed
*headdesk*
Some days I hate my brain.