Personal experiences in the classroom

I have been working for about 3/4 months with my multilingual children. It is difficult to explain here, but in my "group/classroom", some of the children come from another "Spanish/German" groups, and some of them come from the "English/German" groups, which means, less than a half of the pupils, had had a previously knowledge of my language. At the beginning (only a few months ago) it was really tough to make myself understood to them, and, apart from using my gestures all the time, I had sometimes to ask my German colleague to translate what I was saying to them.  But just a short time after, they started listening simple instructions, or even answering my questions in their language. Sometimes they even used their body language for me, so I can understand them. It's not being easy, to work as a foreign teacher, although it is being absolutely fantastic. These are brief descriptions of the situations I am starting to watch and listen in my classroom now with my children:

Situation 1:   Every time I ask a child or a group of children to do or not to do something, there are, at least, a couple of children who are able to "translate" for me, although they are also starting to listen to Spanish for the first time now; but those children are already bilingual at home, which probably makes their brains to be more stimulated.

Situation 2:  Last week I started to sing a spring song on Monday for the first time. I had made up the song myself, so it could be easy for them, especially, because just the word spring, "Primavera", in Spanish, could be quite difficult for them. I probably sang it three or four times during morning circle. On Tuesday, I could hear my children singing along: "Primavera, primavera...".

Situation 3: Also last week. a couple of girls asked me, in turns, if they could go to the toilet. One the first ones came to me and asked me; I said: "claro" (of course). When the second one came, I answered, "sí" (yes). The second girl started walking towards the first one, and asked her:  "What did Ana say to you, she said: "SÍ" tu mí". And the other girl, nodding her shoulders, said: She just said: "CLARO".

Situation 4: We were in the "German week" during morning circle, and all the songs and games were done in German with the children, and I hadn't had much time to sing in small groups or anything with them. I was doing some paperwork around the classroom, when I started to hear one of my little girls, singing in perfect Spanish (she is 100% German): "Arroz con leche, me quiero casar...".

Situation 5: I need to say that my children are starting to repeat almost every single word I say (I suppose it is because I repeat every single word too many times, ha, ha). The other day, we were getting ready to go outside to the garden. I had asked my children to put their jackets on ("chaqueta", in singular). I was helping one of them, and when he went to reach his jacket, he said: "chaqueta, chaqueta".

Situation 6:  Again, I need to say that my children are starting to repeat almost every single word I say. But I feel they are starting to introduce my vocabulary into their own one. A few days ago, I  told one of my children we had to go back upstairs, and I said to him, "vamos" (let's go). He asked me: "Warum vamos? "  ("Warum" means why in German).

Situation 7: On the last week of April, one of the mothers told me she had asked her daughter which day of the week it was on that day (in German). The girl started singing the days of the week in Spanish. Later on the week, at lunch time, I was serving potatoes (Kartoffeln in German), asking the children "¿patatas, quieres patatas?". Some of the children repeated the word "patatas" after me. The day after, one of the mothers, told me her son hat asked her, "mum, do you know what ""patata" means?".