Taylor feeling comfortable and getting involved at internship

This week, I got to spend a lot more time in the Grade R and Grade 1 classes, which was amazing!  There is one student who I spend a lot of time with named Clayton, and he is in the Grade R class. He is one of the students with cerebral palsy, so he cannot walk without help and struggles to pronounce certain words and full sentences.  During interval, which is like a break or recess, we go outside and play on the swings, and I have never seen a little boy as happy as Clayton is on the swings. He laughs the entire time and (only sometimes) cries when he has to go back inside for class.  All the other students are so fun when they play outside too, and always ask Maddy and me to help them cross the monkey bars, climb up the ramps, and get in and out of the swings. 

I’m really looking forward to getting more involved at Eros, especially since I am feeling a lot more comfortable in the classrooms and getting to know more teachers. I have been helping Esme with making some of her history and life skills lesson plans, and I really enjoy the life skills classes because they are teaching the students important skills for adulthood such as setting goals and self-esteem. I feel like these things are really important especially for children with disabilities, because they have and will encounter many struggles in their life and should be given the tools to be productive and have a positive self-image.  I have also been spending time in a vocational class with Maddy, where some older students with learning problems are taught life skills as well. We get to do a lot of fun activities with them, like teaching them the difference between clean and dirty by having them glue sand to a picture of hands.  The fun activities help them engage in the topic while also enjoying themselves, which is nice to see because a lot of them find school stressful otherwise.  It has definitely been nice getting to be more hands-on at school lately!

This coming weekend we are going on our home stay in Ocean View, where we are paired up and stay with a family from the community. I am a little nervous to meet the family, but mostly really excited because past students have said that it was their favorite weekend. I am excited to learn about the community and culture from such a close perspective and to meet more interesting people!