This year was my first time partaking in Classroom Assistance Time (CAT) and to be honest, I had not been having the best time at it. I felt mostly unnecessary, being that I would mostly cut out squares, triangles, and hearts for the duration of my time-slot. I became complacent with this, always blaming my lack of competency on my inability to fluently speak Spanish.
The school that I serve at is Bilingual, having teachers speak in both Spanish and English during class time. Most students’ home language is Spanish, so it is trying for them to talk to me. With this, every Friday at 2:00, I would go into the classroom trying to interact with the students, going mostly ignored.
When I went in last Friday, I expected the same routine, but was happily surprised. That day, the teachers had the class go to the gym making me very curious. It should be noted that I grew up in an extremely athletic family, my father being a coach and previously a summer camp owner. Because of this, knowledge and a liking of gym games has stuck with me from an early age.
We walked into the gym and I was confused to see that this “gym” was a basement half a basketball court with padded walls and a single hoop. The children were elated upon entry and started running sporadically and playing with a couple dodge balls. When I saw this, I was confused as to why nothing was organized or planned but then I found that the teachers and students were content in just playing.
At first, I stood on the sidelines with the teachers until I could not any longer. I walked onto the court and a few students immediately noticed. After inquiring about playing a game they were automatically for it. Before I could stop to take breath, I was chasing five children in a game of tag.
As we continued to play, the students became increasingly more comfortable with me, and wanted to interact. I think that in being able to communicate through the athletic activities allowed us to break the language barrier that was found in the scholastic environment.
When we arrived back to the classroom, I was delighted to have children ask me to read book after book to them. I even read a few books in Spanish and when I had confusion on what the text the students would assist me in English. This furthered both their comprehension of the story and their understanding of English.
When I left the classroom, the students were intent on knowing when I would be back to read and play with them, and I found myself eager for the next time I would be able to as well. Without finding our common ground in just having pure fun, I might have continued the semester without having much impact. Now I am sure that I will have many more exciting and promising experiences my class.
~Daylyn Weppner
Corps member
Team Determination
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