It began the way all new relationships should. Over pizza. Meaning, I was amazed to find how all of our first conversations somehow related back to that delicious food and how 2.5 - 3.5 year olds can't say enough about it. In both classes I was only able to complete half of my intended lesson plan because I hadn't properly allotted ample time to discuss cheese pizza. Other than that though, the new young ones proved to be more hilarious and adorable than I could have hoped. To tell you the truth, they were so cute I just wanted to eat them!
When I walked into my second school today, I was met by familiar faces. My class in the Tenderloin is made up of children who speak very little English and some of my ideals for the group involve teaching them new words through dramatic art. On my first day at their school, back in September, I found myself unable to verbally communicate much with the students or their teachers. After several attempts at conversation, I finally gave up and began to mime "making a cake".
It was a weird choice, sure, but at least it's confirmed that when I don't know what else to do, I'll always rely on baked goods. And the kids ate it up. (See what I did there?) They loved adding in their own ingredients and working together on a creative treat. And luckily for me, w
e were able to create a bridge of communication over a cake. Thanks to our beautifully decorated pretend dessert, the kids started to open up; they soon trusted me to lead them in a series of imaginative games and we've been working well since then. So today, we began our class with an old greeting... "Hi, hi! Cake lady! Let's make a cake!"
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