baby love

in my thursday afternoon class, i've got a 9 month old baby. when i first saw him (or rather, his mother) talking with the office staff, i assumed that he had an older brother or sister. i was super surprised when they walked into my classroom.
inside, i was livid. what the hell were they thinking putting a 9 month old in this class? the other kids are for the most part 2 year olds, or at least almost 2. this kid can't do anything that they can. he can't speak japanese, let along english, he can't walk (and i sometimes have activities that require movement), it just seemed all wrong.
on some levels of course, i understand that it's great to expose your baby to a second language at such a young age. but it was an inappropriate class, given the age and ability of the other children.
the mothers in these classes come off as very competitive. they all seem supportive of the other kids outwardly, but i can see that they are sometimes jealous when another kid is more outgoing, or can pick the right answer on their own when their kid needs prompting.
that was three weeks ago, and this lil dude is fast becoming a favorite of mine. i'm actually quite amazed at what he can do. i'll sometimes lay all of the shapes, for example, on the ground and ask each kid to touch a specific shape. he can do it! of course, i make it really easy for him and only ask him to touch the shape that is directly in front of him. but today i tried to test him and i put two in front of him and he still touched the right one!
and what's super cute is that he's even starting to "give me 5". it's not quite the proper slap that a "gimme 5" should get you, but he does reach his hand out and put it in mine. it's so cute!
Tags: esl, teaching babies

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