Friday, June 1, 2007

Barney - an ambassador for our nation.

My first tutoring session went well. Far better than it could have all things considered (she speaks only a few words in English and can't read - I've never tutored anyone in my entire life), but there's much to improve on - for both of us.

We went over the alphabet several times, singing it, saying the letters & copying them down. There were several small children around, and they already knew the alphabet song, so they sang along with us. They also started singing the song we all love to hate - Barney's "I love you" song. And yes, I sang along. The vocabulary is basic and useful so I figured I'd go with it. Now, I can't stand Barney because he's stolen nursery songs and put new lyrics to them. As though somehow "Knick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone." wasn't good enough for him. Plus... he's a big purple dinosaur.... come on! But at the same time I'm always surprised at how vehemently people hate Barney. I can't figure it out. Sesame Street has it's fair share of silly songs, and large brightly colored anthropomorphized animals, but we love Sesame Street. In any case I hope the kids are watching Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, because those songs are a lot less annoying.

So between observing the literacy class, lesson planning, tutoring, and planning for our next session, I haven't been crafting much. I did a little more work on my secret project. And intend to spend a lot of time on it this weekend.

So to make up for the lack of pictures lately, and just in time for the Portland Rose Festival:

A very pretty little rose in my garden. I actually have a few blooms this year, but it was breezy so the pictures kept coming out blurry.

8 comments:

jenn said...

Wow, you are so brave. It sounds like your tutoring situation is pretty challenging, and that you handled it really well. Good job! And of course, I'm sure that your "tutee" is happy for any help and encouragement that you can give her.

As for Barney, back in the day I babysat for some kids that watched his video tapes pretty frequently, and I have to say that he's just more cloying and patronizing than Sesame Street. The kids on Sesame Street act more like normal kids and less like creepy, happy little automatons. A show is just better when characters are grouchy (oscar) or have OCD (the count) or binge eating disorder (cookie monster). I kid, but seriously, Sesame Street is enjoyable to children without making adults want to gouge their eyes out.

Rebel said...

But what if I like happy little automatons "She's fantastic... made of plastic..." ;).

No I think you're right. Most of the time on Sesame Street they just have real kids with the muppets and the muppets interact with them in a less scripted way. Maybe that's it... the authenticity factor.

Jessica said...

Congrats on your tutoring session! It sounds like it could be a very challenging job. I don't really like Barney. I can however tolerate Sesame Street.

Beautiful rose. They're everywhere! The fireworks are tonight and the parade is next week. Hopefully I'll get to attend a majority of the festivities! :D

Bezzie said...

I don't know. My mother swears that Mr. Rogers's song "Some are special on the outside and some are special on the inside" is about male and female anatomy and wouldn't let us watch that show because of the weird sexual messages she claimed it gave off. So now I wonder if Barney sings about gonads?
Glad to hear your first session went well!

Unknown said...

going round the ring, and you have a broken link!

can you check out the Knittyhead next link code? it doesn't work..

(i liked your posts, (even tho there wasn't much knitting stuff as of late!)

Jess said...

OH barney. I am glad he could be of use to you and your student!
How is the finger doing? ;)

Rebel said...

of troy - I'm not sure what's wrong. I've tried copying the code in a couple times now, and no matter how I enter my site ID (just the name or the name with the www. --- .com) it still won't work. I'll PM Pixieriot to see if she has any advice.

Anonymous said...

Barney...Oooooofff. We've managed to dodge that bullet so far with Jett.

But alas, he loves Teletubbies. LOVES. Them. *sigh* It's mind-numbing on a scale that makes Barney look like Masterpiece Theatre.

But in education, you use what your student can relate to. And if it's *shudder* Barney, then go with it...you just did what good teachers do. ;)