Kaqchikel/English Class

Today I was one of the teachers of a Kaqchikel/English class. We learned greetings, hot and cold, numbers, and what is this/that? This/that is a marker. First we would demonstrate the phrases, questions and responses then we would have the students do it with a teacher standing by to help if they didn't know. Then we would have then do it with us first in English and then in Kaqchikel. How hard! Good things about this method were tons of production allowing for practice. Bad things were lack of continuation from topic to topic allowing for no overlapping words or ideas to cement. A lot of times the students could say the phrase but didn't know what they were saying. Saying it together helped with anxiety and pronunciation and is something I like pre-production but the production itself was meaningless. This/that didn't come across because we didn't demonstrate enough times. The students were a fun haphazard mix- some adults some kids. The kids knew the English better and the adults the kaqchikel better. They all tried hard which made the experience really nice. Everyone wants to learn if we help them. This class was held on Chalo's patio while construction went on overhead and we dodged falling cement. Not the ideal learning space- but that just made the experience more fun. I enjoyed myself.