Beatrice House

Instructor: Joel Corriveau

October 27

There is one mother and son who have been coming for almost a year now. I can remember how at first, she was very reluctant to participate (or attend, even!) Her son would sometimes appear alone, and we would have to send her back to their apartment to bring her down.

One week, I overheard her speaking French to her son. (She is from Guinea). This was my chance to make a connection! So I started to speak French with her before and after class. I ask her questions about how her days has been, etc, and she always asks how my wife is. She has really warmed up, and now she is one of the most passionate participants of the program. She's often the first to arrive at class. She is the first to get on her feet to dance, and she always helps encourage the other mother's to loosen up and get a little silly.

This week before class, she asked if we could sing some French songs in class. Absolutely! It's great to get feedback and suggestions from the mothers, and I am happy to take requests.

Nov 3rd

Today was an interesting day at Beatrice House. Our typical classroom was being used for a meeting, and so we held the class in a nook/lounge area near the front hall of the building. The smaller, more contained space actually helped with the children's focus. There was enough room to move around, but not so much space to run.

We sang, "Do the Monkey" which involves a lot of action, jumping around and making animal sounds and gestures.

The average age of this class was predominantly older. And as they have all been with me for a while, they are far from shy. During the jam session, there is A LOT of sound that comes from these kids with their shakers, tambourines and especially the drums. But as we sang, "Down in the Valley," I got the distinct impression that several of the loudest players, weren't playing in sync, but were just banging it out at their own tempo. Time to shift gears!

I set my guitar aside, picked up a maraca and brought everyone close, into a tight circle. We sang the Alphabet Song, with the specific instructions to only make a sound on a letter. I had to start and stop a few times, to make sure everyone understood. (For some of the children, English is not their first language.) But by the end, they all got it, all of the instruments were clanging on the beat, and we were now playing as a group!