First Day of English: A Success!

My first day of teaching in English was yesterday and going into it I was TERRIFIED. The kids had had a hard enough time in French, even with me speaking French as well and I thought English would be a total bust. However, the circle time was amazing, they all (all 26!) actually sat still and listened, about half followed but I was perfectly content that no one was rolling around on the floor or running in and out of the classroom while I was going on and on in English. We talked about the weather, we sang 'Happy to See You' (which I kept hearing throughout the day!)' and made happy and sad faces and I explained the activity and they all did it on their own at the tables; each kid's name tag on their cubby and chair is accompanied by an image that begins with the same letter their name begins with so they begin by identifying the image and eventually their name. Anyway, so I printed enlarged copies of their images to color and get to know. One kid, Jigens (who is below in one of the lacing photos) absolutely blew my mind and colored his 'jupe' or, skirt, perfectly. He is only three and from Port Leocan which is the very poor neighboring community. I lavished him with praise and he beamed and was so proud, which made it even better. After recess we did 'Open and Shut Them' and of course 'Head Shoulders...you know the rest' for something more active then they sat and listened to my rendition of the Hungry Catepillar. They all made little catepillars inching along with their fingers and ate up all the fruits. Then I explained the art activity, gluing black circles to red hearts to make the strawberries from the book, and they all did it! They had some trouble opening the glue sticks, but whatever. One of the goal's this trimester is the circle and red. Don't ask me why they only do one color and one shape every three months but I'm determined that my kids are going to know it and we are going to move on! So much for rules, we're talking about expectations.
Anyway, here are some pictures I snapped quickly from the class. Olwitch was the champion of lacing, something they are apparently not supposed to 'learn' until the spring. Well, check that box. Looking forward to tomorrow, the second day of English this week.