It's as easy as 一，二，三！

      Sorry i'm just now getting around to posting this, being a senior can be surprisingly hectic. Our second class was also a delightful surprise. This time, roster in hand, the collection problem was really easy.  All the kids seemed really excited and were singing the "Ni Hao" song on the way to class. We decided to begin the class by reviewing what we had learned last time (four basic phrases "ni hao" "zai jian" "xie xie" and "wo jiao"). I was shocked at how much the children remembered after only one 45 minute class. With a little bit of prompting everyone remembered all of the words, how to introduce themselves, and had pretty much perfect tones. The complexities of the pinyin system are a bit advanced for children who are themselves just now learning how to read and write proficiently in English, but their pronunciation is flawless.  Instead of getting into the buisnes of the four tones we simply speak slowly and add the correct tonal hand motions (I.E. if a word is fourth tone and pronounced high to low we make a slashing motion with our hands), and the children are very diligent in mimicking our behavior. I think this comes from the fact that it is natural to them to copy the sounds of the words as well as the words themselves. Research has shown that this is a key window of opportunity for language learning and even just two classes have made this apparent to me.
     In this class we decided to delve into the world of counting, and I was a bit concerned that the writing aspect of it would be too much for the children to handle. Once again, most of these kids are just now learning how to write in English. I thought the best way to begin learning to count was with a craft. These children are at a very hands on stage, and at the end of the day you have to keep them engaged or risk total chaos. We ended up making counting caterpillars: ten circles from construction paper hole punched, linked together with brads, containing one a circle with a googly eye and a smiley face. I have an incredible respect for all teachers after experiencing exactly how long it takes to prep a craft.  After we managed to get all of the caterpillars assembled my wonderful assistant Meg (who has much better handwriting than myself) would write the character for one, yi 一 on the board. We would explain that this is number one, have everyone pronounce it, and then write it and it's pinyin on the first segment of the caterpillar's body. I think the most impressive thing about this class, is how easily the children took to writing. They easily managed to write one through ten on their caterpillars (many of our Central Mississippi Chinese Language and Culture School leading the way!) and seemed to enjoy doing so. I'm really excited to see this, and I hope it continues as we progress.
    Huge thanks to Mrs. Ford this week for taking photos! I seem to be having some difficulty loading them right now but I will try to have them up before the next class. Meg and I have our hands full during class and can't snap any! Also another huge thanks to Mrs. Every for providing some Chinese cookies for the class which we all enjoyed! Until next time, 再见，佐伊姐姐。