Kearstin Auxiliary Portfolio

About Me

My personal and educational background and current position

My Interests, the Final Project, and L.A. Expectations

how and why i chose my final project topic and expectations as a language assistant

My passion for communication and language started with literature and its translation. In school I read many stories whose original texts were in Spanish, Italian, and French. I found the study and translation of these stories to be fascinating! The meaning and history behind these stories based on their original language intrigued me to the point that I made an effort in discovering the whys behind certain words used over others. 

It is this curiosity behind the word choice, grammar usage, and cultural differences these translated stories provided that made me want to teach and share my linguistic passion with others. 

With my years of experience instructing, guiding, and teaching children I found the transition to my current language assistant position effortless. I enjoyed reconfiguring my knowledge of the English language into something that could be taught to children of a primary age, when their minds are like sponges, subconsciously learning from us more than they ever will.  

My only expectations coming into this program was that I wanted to make sure the children were always directly involved in the learning and that they were having fun. I wanted learning the English language to be directly related to activities that the children are excited about, such as art, dance, and interactive games that get them moving. 

It is with these expectations in place, my age group known, and my cultural background in American sports that I decided to do my final project on American Football for my students ages 5 years to 7 years.

My Final Project can be found listed below or in my blog posts.

School Placement

about my school placement and classes assigned

When I first arrived at the school I spoke with each of the main teachers (or the traveling English teachers) in order to know what the yearly curriculum would look like and what subjects we would be teaching. This helped me to prepare songs, games, or activities that I would be teaching the students to enforce the lessons.  For the younger children that I work with, these subjects were kept simple and the goal of the learning was supported by repetitional lessons and everyday vocabulary. Some of the subjects I was assigned to work with were: days of the week, the seasons, weather, clothes, event vocabulary (such as birthdays), and multicultural holiday celebrations (such as: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). 

My goals as an English language assistant were to make sure that each student was engaged in my activities and retaining some basic vocabulary through songs, dance, and games. The age group that I was assigned required me to make my presentations and activities very basic and approachable to children as young as 3. In making my lessons and activities my goals also had to account for the large number of students I was working with, making sure that each student was engaged.  My work, therefore, had a very wide range and I had to remain highly adaptable to my students. 

In summary,

Personal Goals: Maintain control of a class of young students, Engage the young students with fun activities at their learning level, Create energetic and adaptable lessons and activities that can be utilized for most level learners. 

Learner Goals: Observe and absorb basic English vocabulary, Participate in Cross-Cultural Activities, Create projects and tools to assist them in vocabulary retention, Explore the English language and American Culture in an encouraging learning environment.

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