Ethan's first day of preschool. Still no pictures but I thought you deserved an update on Ethan and his daily happenings. Ethan has always been a very social person. He loves everyone and everything and is hardly ever unhappy except when it's time to leave an activity he is enjoying. He's a very curious child and since I'm used to being a 1st grade teacher it has just come natural to teach him things. So when we were looking for a preschool this year I wasn't worried about him learning much. He's basically ready for Kindergarten (so are most kids who sit through 2 hours of Primary each week and therefore already know how to sit in a chair and raise their hands). He knows his letters and numbers and can read an analog clock and sound out most 3 letter words. He writes his name and has all capital and most lower case letters down. So really I thought- what was he going to learn in preschool that he couldn't easily learn here with me at home.
Taylor's mom is a principal of a Charter School here in Utah so she helped us explore the alternative education opportunities around us. We found a Spanish Immersion Preschool just 10 minutes from our house that was actually set up by one of the professors I had at BYU. It's been going for over 10 years now and I love their teaching strategies and philosophies. Basically it's full immersion. So from day 1 (August 31st) Ethan showed up at his preschool and hasn't heard a single word of English from his teachers. It's in a little house and each room is set up to teach different things. He rotates between rooms and between 3 different teachers- all native Spanish speakers from different countries so he hears all their accents. He plays dress up and does games and acting in one room, then moves to another to do arts and crafts, then another for singing time and dancing, then on to the kitchen for making and eating snacks, and finally outside to play. There's one more but I can't remember now.
Taylor was more skeptical that he would actually be picking up words and phrasing but amazingly he is. It really comes naturally since everything in his preschool world is visual as well as auditory. They're basically never saying words without holding up a picture or pointing to something just becasue that's naturally what you'd do in a preschool anyways. Everything is very hands-on. For example if they're going to color a picture they ask him which color paper he'd like while holding up several to choose from (all of this is in Spanish of course). Being totally lost he just sits there so they shake the papers a little and ask him again pointing to the different colors. He points at the red (his favorite) so they give it to him and say this one is Red and repeat it several times. All of the kids wear little token bags around their necks and whenever they speak in Spanish they get a token that they can exchange at the end of the morning for small toys (think Chuck E. Cheese prizes). This is major incentive for Ethan to talk.
So far his favorite part of every day is their snack. They do some pretty creative things and the kids get to help with the cooking as well as the eating. Today he made a mummy out of a hot dog and bread dough wrapped around it. In art class he colored, cut, and glued a mummy onto a stick all the while talking about mummies (who knows why they're teaching this now instead of in October but Ethan loves it). Last week everything was butterflies and catterpillars.
Honestly I could care less if he learns much Spanish or not. He's loving being there and as a bonus he's picking up some Spanish. He's surprised us the past few weeks by suddenly speaking words and phrasing. One evening we were in the car and heard him tell Isaac "excelente" over and over. When we asked him what it meant he said "I don't know, maybe good job.". So really he is understanding things even if he doesn't see the blatant English cognate there. His most frequently used words are Hola, Adios, Amigos, Rojo, Excelente, Rico, Sabes Que, Mariposa, Elefante, 1-10 numbers, and Si.
One of the cutest parts of this experience has been that almost every day when we pick him up, he bounces out of the house and hands Isaac a little toy or puts a silly plastic ring on his finger and says "I picked this out for Isaac because I knew he'd like it". Isaac honestly could care less but I love that it comes so naturally to Ethan to be looking out for his little brother even when he's not around. Isaac is really cute too. Whenever I say "let's go get Ethan from school" he goes running for the door and stands there and points until I open it up. He can't wait to have him back.
We'll keep you updated but for now it's a success!
Taylor's mom is a principal of a Charter School here in Utah so she helped us explore the alternative education opportunities around us. We found a Spanish Immersion Preschool just 10 minutes from our house that was actually set up by one of the professors I had at BYU. It's been going for over 10 years now and I love their teaching strategies and philosophies. Basically it's full immersion. So from day 1 (August 31st) Ethan showed up at his preschool and hasn't heard a single word of English from his teachers. It's in a little house and each room is set up to teach different things. He rotates between rooms and between 3 different teachers- all native Spanish speakers from different countries so he hears all their accents. He plays dress up and does games and acting in one room, then moves to another to do arts and crafts, then another for singing time and dancing, then on to the kitchen for making and eating snacks, and finally outside to play. There's one more but I can't remember now.
Taylor was more skeptical that he would actually be picking up words and phrasing but amazingly he is. It really comes naturally since everything in his preschool world is visual as well as auditory. They're basically never saying words without holding up a picture or pointing to something just becasue that's naturally what you'd do in a preschool anyways. Everything is very hands-on. For example if they're going to color a picture they ask him which color paper he'd like while holding up several to choose from (all of this is in Spanish of course). Being totally lost he just sits there so they shake the papers a little and ask him again pointing to the different colors. He points at the red (his favorite) so they give it to him and say this one is Red and repeat it several times. All of the kids wear little token bags around their necks and whenever they speak in Spanish they get a token that they can exchange at the end of the morning for small toys (think Chuck E. Cheese prizes). This is major incentive for Ethan to talk.
So far his favorite part of every day is their snack. They do some pretty creative things and the kids get to help with the cooking as well as the eating. Today he made a mummy out of a hot dog and bread dough wrapped around it. In art class he colored, cut, and glued a mummy onto a stick all the while talking about mummies (who knows why they're teaching this now instead of in October but Ethan loves it). Last week everything was butterflies and catterpillars.
Honestly I could care less if he learns much Spanish or not. He's loving being there and as a bonus he's picking up some Spanish. He's surprised us the past few weeks by suddenly speaking words and phrasing. One evening we were in the car and heard him tell Isaac "excelente" over and over. When we asked him what it meant he said "I don't know, maybe good job.". So really he is understanding things even if he doesn't see the blatant English cognate there. His most frequently used words are Hola, Adios, Amigos, Rojo, Excelente, Rico, Sabes Que, Mariposa, Elefante, 1-10 numbers, and Si.
One of the cutest parts of this experience has been that almost every day when we pick him up, he bounces out of the house and hands Isaac a little toy or puts a silly plastic ring on his finger and says "I picked this out for Isaac because I knew he'd like it". Isaac honestly could care less but I love that it comes so naturally to Ethan to be looking out for his little brother even when he's not around. Isaac is really cute too. Whenever I say "let's go get Ethan from school" he goes running for the door and stands there and points until I open it up. He can't wait to have him back.
We'll keep you updated but for now it's a success!
2 comments:
What a fabulous post! Ethan is amazing, and it sounds like he is having a wonderful experience. Ches still talks about Ethan, and asks when he is going to be "done with his grandma and grandpas house and come home." It is hard for him to understand that this is not like all of the other summers, and that you guys aren't coming home. With Ethan and Elise gone, Ches is feeling a little left behind. We are glad Mark is still here (he is actually playing at his house right now).
p.s. email me your new address, give me motivation to send you the joy school DVD I finished AGES ago.
I really loved this post! Ethan is such a smart guy! What an interesting school. They have Hawaiian immersion schools here, but I know yet if we're going to go that route with the kids.
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