Today and yesterday I've been subbing for one of the Special Ed TAs. This usually puts me in a regular classroom setting as support to the teacher... mostly helping with the sped kids that are in the class, like an inclusion specialist.
I don't only offer my services to the sped kids though, I'm often helping the other kids as well... pretty much whoever seems to be struggling and needs help.
Yesterday I met an adorable little girl named Thao (yes, she's made even more adorable for having my name). Another Vietnamese student (who adorably calls me "Co Nguyen"--accent and all--everytime she sees me) was letting Thao know that I was Vietnamese and she should ask me if she had any questions.
It was obvious Thao had no intention of asking me any questions, despite the fact that she speaks little to no English. She'd rather copy down the notes in gibberish (with letters that look like her alphabet, minus different vowels and their accents and a d with a funny line through it) and figure it out later.
So I tried my best. They were going over a warm up on density. She had the D=M/V formula down, and she even did the problem, because she recognized what she should do... she just didn't know why she should do it.
Imagine explaining density to a kid... and then imagine trying to dig down really deep to explain it to them in a language you can barely speak because you have the vocabulary of a 3rd grader (if even that...)
how wonderful that you even try...keep it up
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