Tuesday 11/4/08

Today was yet again a truly amazing day. Words cannot describe the things I learn, think, feel and do each and every day, but hopefully some of my scrambled thoughts make sense a midst the rambling of this blog. I woke up around 5:20, not to an alarm clock, but rather to everyone in the family getting ready for the day. Even though the rooms are divided, each room does not have a ceiling therefore you can be heard anywhere in the house. Therefore, I fall asleep and wake up to noise. I ate an amazing breakfast of gallo pinto, an egg, toast and fruit (I’m still trying kindly ask Maria not to feed me so much, but this seems to be the hardest point to get across to Latina women). Maria and I headed to the school around 6:40 for my first day on the job. I met Junior, the English teacher for grades 1-3 who I’ll be assisting. His English is mediocre and I’m a little concerned that he thinks my time here may be a time for him to slack off (as he simply let me do the teaching and answered his cell phone during class). This means that I was basically thrown into the mix right away, with no plan, lesson, anything! I was teaching within minutes of my arrival. There are lots of differences between schooling the States vs. schooling in Latin America (a conversation I would love to have on a later day, as everyday this blog seems to be increasing in length). Junior and I jump from classroom to classroom and teach in 40 minute intervals to all the 1-3 grade classes. There are tons of 1-3 grade classes due to the fact that this is the only school in La Virgen and school is split up where half the children come in the morning and half in the afternoon. Throughout the entire work day (7-5) we teach in 9 different classrooms, with a short break for lunch (which is awesome because I get to go see Maria and eat the same food she prepares for the kids). I spent most of my day frantically quickly creating engaging activities at the drop of a hat to keep the kids interested and excited about what we were learning. I definitely learned how essential it is to be an organized and plan-ahead teacher (which seems to be something Junior lacks). If I had more time I would love to invest hours in lesson plans and be just like my daddy back home (who, in my opinion is the best grade school teacher I know!). Although this would be my ideal (making lesson plans, finding creative learning tools, etc) I know that my short time here is not meant to be one where I “correct” the system that is already in place, but rather incorporate myself into the system and understand how I can be of assistance. I also learned a lot about what a privileged learning is when you have tools, educated teachers, a library, etc (something that seems to be lacking in the school I am working in). After what seemed like eternity (yes, I learned in one day how hard and exhausting teaching is and am eternally grateful for the people who invest their lives in such profession), I finally headed home around 4:30 and was greeted with a plate of banana pancakes (delicious, but I obviously haven’t got my point across about feeding me less. This may be difficult considering cooking is Maria’s profession). After delicious banana pancakes I worked on some homework for the rest of the late afternoon. After homework, we watched the news (the only form of TV we watch all the time). We ate dinner, continued watching the news, and ate some ice cream with granola before calling it a night at a whopping 7:45.