Evidence of November 7th, 2013

Drawing Zara made of a Princess and her castle

November 7th, 2013

This was the second class that I had with Zara, once again the class was conducted in my mothers classroom in the primary side. This time, Ms. Brooks was not present because Zara was already comfortable being left with me. Although, Ms. Brooks did come drop Zara off and my mother was present during the entire class.

As it was planned between Zara and I we were going to read a book as she had asked me too. The story that I read her was called "Eu Como." This book was very basic and easy to understand once again. Just like last class, I decided to ask her questions baout the book to guarantee she understood what was happening and to make sure she was listening to me. A few of the questions I asked her were:

• What does the book talk about?
• What do you eat for breakfast?
• Who do you usually eat with?
• What did you eat today for breakfast, lunch & dinner?
• What is your favorite meal of the day?
• What id your favorite food?

After reading the book and answering questions we played a game somewhat similar to domino called "Ja Sei Ler." The game was very good to see how she relates drawing to the words. How Zara does not know how to read in Portuguese yet, I read each word and she would then join it to the image. For example if there was a card that said "Pato (Duck)" she would connect it to the image of the duck. After playing the game Zara wanted to play with play dough. While she was playing we talked about:

• What she was doing?
• What color the play dough was?

Lastly, to complete the class we decided to draw since Zara asked me to. Instead of her being the only one drawing and me asking questions, I decided to do something different. I told Zara that both her and myself were going to draw. When we were done she would give me a detailed explanantion of her drawing and I would do the same with mine. I decided to do this so that it would become an oral activity. When I ask questions, her answers tend to be very short so I thought this would be a good way to mix different skills up.

Duration of class: 35 minutes 

October 31st, 2013

October 31st, was the first class I had with Zara. I met with her after school in my mothers class where both my mother and her mother, Ms. Brooks were present. I decided to start off with something rather simple and easy. I first wanted to see what level of portuguese she was at so that I could plan future activities and classes. I decided to read her two stories about cats. They were very basic books. As I was aware she in unable to read, although she understand very well. After reading her the story I asked her questions such as:

• What was the story about?
• Who were the main characters?
• What were the names of this character and that character?
• What was your favorite part of the story?

After reading the story and asking her comprehension questions, I asked her what she wanted to do. I gave her a couple of options such as:

• Drama center 
• Drawing
• Play dough
• Puzzles

She decided she wanted to draw, so we both sat down together drawing. While drawing she was explaining to me what she was doing in Portuguese so that it became an interactive activity rather than an individual activity. Following that, I asked her questions about the drawing so that she could use her descriptive words while explaining.

Lastly, she decided she wanted to play at the drama center with the dolls and the doll house. Zara was explaining to me in Portuguese what was happening in the family, what they were doing, what their names were and so on.

Before ending the class I asked her what she would desire to do next Thursday when we met up again. She said she would like to read a book once again and from there we would see.

Duration of class: 35minutes