More six grade stress

Here are two groups of six graders giving a presentation of their projects which took way too long and had way too little English usage. The girls are good artists though.

I've taught the six graders for one semester - about 18 weeks - and I can't tell if they learned anything. It seems they don't give a shit either. I've moved my six grade classroom from my
English classroom to the six grader Chinese teacher's classroom. This is to reduce the amount of Chinese being spoken in class. They are much quieter here. The other day I asked them what they thought would help them learn English. At first I got deadpan faces. So I asked if they understood what I said. Still deadpan. Finally, a few students gave me their thoughts. Movies, games, jokes and sports. Okay. Now what? I did show them a movie yesterday - "Fly Away Home," in English and with English subtitles. It's a good movie. They liked the movie but didn't like the part where I told them they have to give an oral report about the movie. Not surprisingly, they just want to watch. . . .

I blame myself though. I've been a poor teacher and failed to reach them and teach them in this class. Fortunately, I feel successful in my kindergarten, 2nd and 4th grades or I'd start my burrito food stall at the night market...

Next semester the school wants the English department to focus on projects 30%; Fry Word List and Dolch Word List 25%; Guided Reading 20%; Readers' Theatre 10%; structure work book 9%; and they want it all to be fun! Whew, I am glad winter break begins February 1...