Books

This is a picture of me with my fourth course students. The books they are holding are "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" and "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" courtesy of my third grade teacher Mrs. Etcheverry and April Lane School in Yuba City. They changed the curriculum there and the books were just gathering dust. This is a really big help. The students all have their own grammar books, from which they do exerecises. But prior to this, in their classes titled "foreign literature", the teacher would have them memorize and recite the biographies of various authors. No actual reading took place. And I didn't realize until last week that most of the students have only ever read one full book in English, a simplified copy of the Wizard of Oz that they were assigned last year. We will read both books this semester. Every week I'll give them homework comprehension questions, discuss the previous week's reading, and give them some silent reading time. I appreciate the multi-cultural aspect as well; I've known this group of students since I got here and I'm still explaining "Americaness" to them again and again. So thanks for the help!