BEARS ACADEMY 倍而思美語

這學期很高興我有這個機會和A3學生們一起讀《魔法樹屋─雨林大驚奇》這本小說，因為這本書不只極富教育意義，我們也從書中學得很多雨林的相關知識。小說的故事本身已經相當引人入勝，當然A3的小孩們也很期待每次的上課時間，但使得這次課程更加與眾不同的是我們在6月底進行的校外教學：《亞馬遜生態展》，這時候《雨林驚奇》這本小說就成為了一個非常好的導覽員，而看到A3學生們可以一一指認出書中所提到的生物也讓我感到非常開心。我必須說他們看到獨木舟那驚喜的反應是讓我印象最深的一幕。因為小說中的兩個主角總是搭著獨木舟在河中四處歷險，所以當他們一發現真正的獨木舟，便立刻朝著我大喊，要我趕快過去跟他們一起看。

我想這樣特別的一堂課需要一點特別的東西來紀念，所以我讓孩子們畫出他們想像中Jack的筆記本，他們不只需要寫下他們印象尤其深刻的一幕，也要畫出一種喜歡的雨林生物，最後我還讓他們寫了一首和雨林相關的藏頭小詩，大部分的人都很好的完成了這張學習單，也能寫出書中他們覺得有趣的片段，這讓我感到十分的驕傲。

我上次教這個班級已經是12年秋天的事情了，但今年我覺得我好像正在教導一群充滿天分的小小英語藝術家，他們驚人的進步讓我感到十分欣喜。我相當期待下次的課堂活動，也等不及想看看他們還能從這本小說中發現什麼。

The Magic Tree house series has taken A3 and me to some pretty amazing places. I was very fortunate to start reading Afternoon on the Amazon with my students during the start of Fall Semester 2013. This particular book was really informative and we all had an opportunity to learn a great deal about the amazon rainforest. The book by itself was rather enjoyable and I think that all of A3 looked forward to the class time that was set aside to read this book, but it was Bears Academy's field trip to the amazon exhibit that made a normally ordinary experience, extraordinary. Afternoon on the Amazon acted like a precursor to our trip to the amazon exhibit. It was truly wonderful watching the A3 students identify various animals that were mentioned in the book. I must say that the moment the students saw a canoe was probably the most enjoyable moment for me. In the novel, the two main characters were traveling up and down the Amazon River in a canoe and it was great that we were able to see a real canoe at the exhibit, as soon as they spotted it, they yelled for me to hurry over to them. Their reactions to that canoe took that whole experience to another level for me. I think that this particular lesson deserved a little something extra which is why the students created a simplified version of what we believe Jack's notebook to look like. The students were asked to write about anything that particularly stuck out to them, they also all needed to draw a picture of an animal from the amazon and lastly the last slide is of an acrostic poem, that HOPEFULLY describes or relates to the amazon. Most of the students were able to recall some very interesting facts, the section labeled Jack's Fact's was really well done and I am extremely proud of the end result. The last time I taught this class was Fall 2012 and it is AMAZING how much they have improved. I feel like I am teaching a class full of intelligent, English speaking artists. I am really looking forward to our next class project and I cannot wait to see what they will come up with for our current novel.

I know that the focus of this particular project is to get creative with writing in English but A3's drawing most definitely stole the show for me- I had to include this as the last comment because I am currently in awe after scrolling down to look at all of A3's work.