A Singapore American School community service publication
MICA (P) 056/08/2012 Volume 15, Issue 2-12/13 A Focus on WORLD LANGUAGE
Parlez-vous français? Page 11
DECEmber 2012
cww experiences Page 20
Call me Auntie Page 37
It’s all about the children martha castellanos Primary School Spanish Teacher When people ask me what is the difference between teaching in the Andes of Peru, the USA, or Singapore, despite the obvious differences, I respond, “None.” For me, it’s all about liking with passion your job and believing with all your strength in what you do. It is about being persistent, consistent, and doing your job as if it were your first day of your teaching career. It’s foremost and in the end all about the children. I tailor my teaching style and techniques to meet the individual needs of the children. I challenge myself to learn and acquire new and up-to-date techniques, games, methodologies, and technologies. I want to do the best job I can to shape their hearts and minds because they are the people who will shape our future. I have the privilege to work for this refined institution, and I am thrilled to serve the young community of learners. Children at Singapore American School have the world at their fingertips. They are the same in that they want to learn more; they want to have fun while learning and
exploring new horizons. They are avid learners and acquire knowledge like sponges. These young learners are more comfortable when exposed to experiential learning. They love kinesthetic activities, moving, expressing themselves, dancing and playing games, sharing skits and short stories, and tasting unfamiliar ethnic foods. One strong characteristic of my teaching style through the years has been incorporating music, singing, dancing, and the use of some typical Spanish musical instruments. I use music and songs in my classes to create a relaxing atmosphere, which in turn enhances learning. It helps develop my students' ability
to remember vocabulary words and grammatical structures, and it improves their pronunciation. Music is an important component in my daily teaching because it makes learning Spanish more fun. Songs are useful in teaching the rhythm of Spanish and informing my students about the culture. They also encourage my students to be actively involved in the learning process. Being active learners they become more confident in their learning ability and more motivated to continue learning the language. Sometimes I use melodies from children's songs, both from my culture and around the world, and I create a song in the spur Continued on page 4