As my first exhilarating
week at St.Patrick's Regional Secondary School comes to a close, I take
this time to reflect on what I have learned.
My main sponsor teacher is an ELL / ELL CE teacher who is also the international students'
coordinator. There are 13 ELL students in total spread across 6 blocks,
so the size of each class is quite small and it feels much more personalized
compared to classes of 30 students. As a teacher, I get to know each
student and have a better idea of exactly where they are in terms of language
skills and how they are coping with living in a foreign country.
My duties in the library
include helping out at the front desk, serving as a librarian, and assisting
students who are working on coursework in the library. I have met many parent volunteers who have
come in to fill the role of a librarian.
One other thing I have
noticed is that while students usually dress up in a uniform at this private
school, on occasional dress down days, they tend to be more rowdy and much more
casual with each other. It is interesting to see how much an effect
dressing in a uniform brings. However, it could also be that students
feel like dress down days are rare and special hence they feel more excited and
want to treasure the moments.
As my placement is at a
Catholic School, I actively seek to immerse in Catholicism during my time here in
order to experience what it is like working in this special environment. School MASS is usually on Friday’s which I
will be looking forward to attend tomorrow.
I have chosen to teach CE (Catholic Education) for my ELL classes, and
it has become my number one challenge so far, as I have minimal background
knowledge in Catholicism. After
discussing with my sponsor teacher, we have talked about different ideas and
finally come up with a realistic project and plan for the students. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes
and will reflect on the exciting experience next week!
