So, a few things have been going on lately. We had our first 4 day weekend. Almost all of the teachers went traveling around for our Independence/Teacher's day vacation. They took off Wednesday after the Independence Day parade and trickled back in Saturday and Sunday. There were mixed reviews of the vacations, but they all had stories to tell.
Kat, Lauren, and I felt a tightness on the ol' wallet and sprang for a Staycation. I was also house/dog-sitting for a missionary family that's back in the States for a few weeks. The main house/dog-sitter wanted a mini vacation too, so I subbed in for her. The house had internet, is about half a block downhill from my house, and has a very active golden retriever puppy.
Out big outing was on Friday when we walked and hitched up to the hot springs. We gave ourselves a kind of spa day and then hitched back down to town. It was a blast. Otherwise, I mostly cleaned, did laundry, or hung around in the other house. I did not do most (any) of the school work I intended to do, but I made up for it later this week.
The school week had two notable events. The first was when I learned and had the pleasure of informing one of my brightest students, who was previously being paid for by the Mayatan Foundation, which will only carry her to 6th grade, that a woman in the United States has decided to sponsor her through secondary. The look on her face was pure joy. She's the full package too. Sometimes we have stories of heart-break when a sponsor pours time and money into a student, but because of social pressures they drop out of school and get married. Elvira is smart, ambitious, and she has the familial support to go all the way. If her sponsor decides to take her through Colegio, which are the last high school years, Elvira could go college bond, easily.
The second, is the school came down with a widespread virus. Thursday night, around midnight for most of us, about 5 teachers found themselves ill. At school, 3 more came down with it, and a host of students too. That was less than exciting. Luckily, it was short lived.
Yesterday I hiked up to Yanitios with Christina and Kyle. It took us about an hour and a half to get there and on the way we saw the most incredible, huge, hairy caterpillar. I geeked out over it a tad bit. Once we did get there, both Napoleon and Dona Lucas greeted us and brought us 2 oranges each. We ground corn, then ground it more, then patted out tortillas, and cooked them. We ate a huge meal of beans with ground roasted squash seeds and tortillas. Then we explored around. Napoleon gave us nancies from a tree and took us down to where they grow sugar cane where we stood around, talking, and sucking on sugar cane. When we came back up to the house and Dona Lucas got clay so she could teach us to make whatever we chose from her pottery wall. I made a little serving dish and the others made bowls. Before we left, she gave us each a whiskil, we bought some pottery and paid her for the food. We hiked back down, stopping again at the caterpillar, who had finished his leaf and moved on to another one, and had pineapple smoothies at their house.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Dia del Nino
Friday was Dia del Nino at the school. We went to school an hour late, left at 11, and just played games and partied.
As per usual, the school was not on the ball. We were supposed to arrive at 7:30 to set up our stations and get the rooms ready for the party. However, none of the administration was here at that time. By 7:55 we were still waiting on the woman who had the maps of where the stations were, so no one knew WHERE to set up, I was still waiting on the woman who had my supplies (I was in charge of sack racing, and I had no sacks), and the woman with the copies for the students to get checked off when they went to each station was not there. Fifteen minutes later, stalling with a class of crazed, out of uniform students, we finally got everything we needed (15 minutes is a long time when you have nothing to do with them!) and sent the kids off and went to set up the stations, a bit after the fact.
I was in a high energy station, in which I was running around, helping the kids, and yelling instructions. I got to wear a silly hat one of my students brought me, because he didn't want it after making it at the hat making station, and the younger students ate it all up. For each race, I gave sticker to the winner and if it was anywhere near close, I called a tie. It was a lot of fun, but it was exhausting. I finally had to send one 1st grader away because he won 7 times and I wanted some other kids to get a chance to play.
After the events were done, the kids came back to the room, which was decorated while I was away by parents, and we gave our Secret Friend gifts. My secret friend was Luis, and I got him a chocolate and a toy truck. I was Fernando's secret friend and he got be a new giraffe mug and a bobble head cat. It took up most of our party, which was good. We still had plenty of time for our three pinatas, pizza, and cupcakes. My kids were surprisingly well behaved during pinata time, until the pinatas burst open, but that's excpected.
Emily and I had our first big moment of teamwork, when one of her students confessed to not bringing in a gift for her secret friend. Her secret friend is a special boy who already has a number of problems at home, so we didn't want him to know she hadn't bothered to get himsomething. We quickly went through out classrooms and got him a page of stickers, a box of markers, a grizzley bear bookmark, and a dinosour. We wrapped it in tissue paper and used airplane stickers ro seal it. At the end of the day, he told Emily that this was the best party he'd ever been to, so we assume he doesn't know, or if he does, he's not too bothered. (This is a boy who was born to a cleaning lady, adopted by his birth mother's employers, never wanted by his adopted father, who is a rich man, but will not pay for anything because he already has kids and treats our student like a chore.)
* * *
On Sunday, I went to the library because Norma Murcia had invited me to go to Los Sepulturas with a few folks from the library for a lunch. This was my understanding of it in advance, anyway. When I got there, more details began to unfold, as more people arrived, including Tiffany and Davean. By the time we had loaded up the truck with bags of clothes, pinatas, and candy, I still was sure what was going on. When we drove past Los Sepulturas (another part of the Mayan ruins, that I actually haven't been to yet), to the next dirt road, drove down it and were greeted by a host of children from the nearby villiage, I began to get a better idea of what was going on.
We parked the truck and let the kids help us carry all of the supplies we brought. We crossed a wooden hanging bridge, with several repaired spots, that swayed as we walked. We continued to walk through a large grass field with old drying barns for tobacco, that are now used as chicken houses. I was dressed as though I'd be walking a firm trail, not through puddles and in ankle deep mud.
We called all the kids down from the villiage. We set up the pinatas, played games, and read them books. We gave out cookies and coca-cola. At first we gave out 3 cookies to each child, but there was plenty left over, so I then gave them to the mothers who were around and to children who looked at me with any amount of longing. Some of them were just hungry.
Before we left, we gave each child a bag of candies and an article of clothing that would fit. There were left overs of the clothes, so we kept handing them out, but some of the girls, especially the older ones, and some of the mothers were very pushy. It was hard to blame them, there were two early girls, budding into puberty who wanted all the cute clothes. It was interesting, and probably good for me to see, that it's not just in our culture of excess that teenage girls want more and want to be as pretty as possible. They got fairly grabby by the end, and it was hard to make sure that the more timid kids also got their share of the clothes.
After we'd given it all away, we picked up all the trash, left it in a bag, packed up the rest of our things, walked back through the field and mud, across the bridge, and to the car, where we sat in the back and ate empanadas with cabbage. We then drove back to town.
As per usual, the school was not on the ball. We were supposed to arrive at 7:30 to set up our stations and get the rooms ready for the party. However, none of the administration was here at that time. By 7:55 we were still waiting on the woman who had the maps of where the stations were, so no one knew WHERE to set up, I was still waiting on the woman who had my supplies (I was in charge of sack racing, and I had no sacks), and the woman with the copies for the students to get checked off when they went to each station was not there. Fifteen minutes later, stalling with a class of crazed, out of uniform students, we finally got everything we needed (15 minutes is a long time when you have nothing to do with them!) and sent the kids off and went to set up the stations, a bit after the fact.
I was in a high energy station, in which I was running around, helping the kids, and yelling instructions. I got to wear a silly hat one of my students brought me, because he didn't want it after making it at the hat making station, and the younger students ate it all up. For each race, I gave sticker to the winner and if it was anywhere near close, I called a tie. It was a lot of fun, but it was exhausting. I finally had to send one 1st grader away because he won 7 times and I wanted some other kids to get a chance to play.
After the events were done, the kids came back to the room, which was decorated while I was away by parents, and we gave our Secret Friend gifts. My secret friend was Luis, and I got him a chocolate and a toy truck. I was Fernando's secret friend and he got be a new giraffe mug and a bobble head cat. It took up most of our party, which was good. We still had plenty of time for our three pinatas, pizza, and cupcakes. My kids were surprisingly well behaved during pinata time, until the pinatas burst open, but that's excpected.
Emily and I had our first big moment of teamwork, when one of her students confessed to not bringing in a gift for her secret friend. Her secret friend is a special boy who already has a number of problems at home, so we didn't want him to know she hadn't bothered to get himsomething. We quickly went through out classrooms and got him a page of stickers, a box of markers, a grizzley bear bookmark, and a dinosour. We wrapped it in tissue paper and used airplane stickers ro seal it. At the end of the day, he told Emily that this was the best party he'd ever been to, so we assume he doesn't know, or if he does, he's not too bothered. (This is a boy who was born to a cleaning lady, adopted by his birth mother's employers, never wanted by his adopted father, who is a rich man, but will not pay for anything because he already has kids and treats our student like a chore.)
* * *
On Sunday, I went to the library because Norma Murcia had invited me to go to Los Sepulturas with a few folks from the library for a lunch. This was my understanding of it in advance, anyway. When I got there, more details began to unfold, as more people arrived, including Tiffany and Davean. By the time we had loaded up the truck with bags of clothes, pinatas, and candy, I still was sure what was going on. When we drove past Los Sepulturas (another part of the Mayan ruins, that I actually haven't been to yet), to the next dirt road, drove down it and were greeted by a host of children from the nearby villiage, I began to get a better idea of what was going on.
We parked the truck and let the kids help us carry all of the supplies we brought. We crossed a wooden hanging bridge, with several repaired spots, that swayed as we walked. We continued to walk through a large grass field with old drying barns for tobacco, that are now used as chicken houses. I was dressed as though I'd be walking a firm trail, not through puddles and in ankle deep mud.
We called all the kids down from the villiage. We set up the pinatas, played games, and read them books. We gave out cookies and coca-cola. At first we gave out 3 cookies to each child, but there was plenty left over, so I then gave them to the mothers who were around and to children who looked at me with any amount of longing. Some of them were just hungry.
Before we left, we gave each child a bag of candies and an article of clothing that would fit. There were left overs of the clothes, so we kept handing them out, but some of the girls, especially the older ones, and some of the mothers were very pushy. It was hard to blame them, there were two early girls, budding into puberty who wanted all the cute clothes. It was interesting, and probably good for me to see, that it's not just in our culture of excess that teenage girls want more and want to be as pretty as possible. They got fairly grabby by the end, and it was hard to make sure that the more timid kids also got their share of the clothes.
After we'd given it all away, we picked up all the trash, left it in a bag, packed up the rest of our things, walked back through the field and mud, across the bridge, and to the car, where we sat in the back and ate empanadas with cabbage. We then drove back to town.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Finally Settling In
With the first two weeks down, I am amazed at how much easier this is the second time around. I still tired very easily, but I think I am doing a much better job of establishing myself this year and preparing them for what is to come. I also feel like I have control of the class, unlike last year. We practice procedures over and over so that all of my expectations of the class are very clear, last year, I had expectations, but too often they would learn them by not meeting them and that's not okay.
As we've stepped into review, I find myself presenting the information in a much more logical and understandable manner. More of my kids are getting it faster. Between their grown minds and my growth as a teacher, we're moving leaps and bounds faster than last year!
Though, nothing is ever certain, and my class list that was finally complete after the first week, has been changed again for the third week. Silly me, in a blind moment, had written out my kids in my grade book...in ink. Now, I will not be getting the twins when they arrive, I will be getting Sophia because she is new and having problems in the other class. Me getting Sophia had been the original plan, but the mother didn't want to switch her (so by original, I mean original after it was decided switches had to me made) to my class and let Emily get the twins. Now that there are problems, the mom has requested the switch, and the twins still aren't back from the States, so they won't get jerked around.
Speaking of Emily, last night, I went to the bus station at 10 to 6 to meet her. As I walked up, the guards were closing and locking the door. I asked if the station was closed. The man said, “No.” I said, “Then why are you closing the door?” The man said, “We're closing the door.” I stood there a moment, until the man said, “What do you need?” I said, “I'm meeting a friend on the bus.” He said, “The bus will not come until 7 today.” I said, “So, should I wait on the other side?” He said, “No, the bus won't come until 7.”
Around this time Cathy came up and she got the same info I did, but another man told us the bus comes between 6 and 6:30, so just to make sure, we waited around. At about 6:40, a taxi driver came up and said that he had a friend on the bus and the bus was just no leaving San Pedro. It would get in around 9:30. Fantastic. Poor Emily.
I was exhausted, and knew Cathy would pick her up. I told Cathy if she needed anything to call me or stop by the house (because we both knew my phone as been out of sorts for the last two days) and I went home to bed. I simply hoped that Emily made it and I would see her at the park at 7:45 when I met all the teachers to take them to the breakfast at Casa de Cafe, a hotel that always offers the new teachers a free breakfast at the start of the year as a “welcome to town” and a “when you're family and friends visit, they should stay with us!”
She was there and after the breakfast we took off on a quick tour and then went up to the school to hash out some school things. She's taking on Math, I'm taking out Science, and we're taking the other's class first right after recess. So I'll call her kids in and bring them to my room for class, then we'll switch back. We talked a lot about standard problems, parents, and theories of teaching. It's still shaping up to be a good year.
Last Friday, I saw my student, Juan, who didn't make it back to Mayatan this year. It was a tad awkward, but I got a hug out of him, asked him when school started and told him if he needed anything to please let me know. Today, I saw his father and told him the same things.
As we've stepped into review, I find myself presenting the information in a much more logical and understandable manner. More of my kids are getting it faster. Between their grown minds and my growth as a teacher, we're moving leaps and bounds faster than last year!
Though, nothing is ever certain, and my class list that was finally complete after the first week, has been changed again for the third week. Silly me, in a blind moment, had written out my kids in my grade book...in ink. Now, I will not be getting the twins when they arrive, I will be getting Sophia because she is new and having problems in the other class. Me getting Sophia had been the original plan, but the mother didn't want to switch her (so by original, I mean original after it was decided switches had to me made) to my class and let Emily get the twins. Now that there are problems, the mom has requested the switch, and the twins still aren't back from the States, so they won't get jerked around.
Speaking of Emily, last night, I went to the bus station at 10 to 6 to meet her. As I walked up, the guards were closing and locking the door. I asked if the station was closed. The man said, “No.” I said, “Then why are you closing the door?” The man said, “We're closing the door.” I stood there a moment, until the man said, “What do you need?” I said, “I'm meeting a friend on the bus.” He said, “The bus will not come until 7 today.” I said, “So, should I wait on the other side?” He said, “No, the bus won't come until 7.”
Around this time Cathy came up and she got the same info I did, but another man told us the bus comes between 6 and 6:30, so just to make sure, we waited around. At about 6:40, a taxi driver came up and said that he had a friend on the bus and the bus was just no leaving San Pedro. It would get in around 9:30. Fantastic. Poor Emily.
I was exhausted, and knew Cathy would pick her up. I told Cathy if she needed anything to call me or stop by the house (because we both knew my phone as been out of sorts for the last two days) and I went home to bed. I simply hoped that Emily made it and I would see her at the park at 7:45 when I met all the teachers to take them to the breakfast at Casa de Cafe, a hotel that always offers the new teachers a free breakfast at the start of the year as a “welcome to town” and a “when you're family and friends visit, they should stay with us!”
She was there and after the breakfast we took off on a quick tour and then went up to the school to hash out some school things. She's taking on Math, I'm taking out Science, and we're taking the other's class first right after recess. So I'll call her kids in and bring them to my room for class, then we'll switch back. We talked a lot about standard problems, parents, and theories of teaching. It's still shaping up to be a good year.
Last Friday, I saw my student, Juan, who didn't make it back to Mayatan this year. It was a tad awkward, but I got a hug out of him, asked him when school started and told him if he needed anything to please let me know. Today, I saw his father and told him the same things.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Ants in the Night
Ants. I get obsessed with the ants here. I even did a presentation at Nature Camp over the summer about ants I've seen here. I had been thinking of writing up an entry on my latest observations: the nocturnal ants of my apartment, when I came across this blog entry:
http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2010/09/organic-fire-ant-control.html
La Gringa is a blog I've been following for a while. She's an ex-pat in La Ceiba, Honduras who married an Honduran and knows a lot more about the cultural differences and political situations that go on than I do. She's pretty well informed and thought out. Sometimes she writes about obscure things I have no interest in, but generally, I find her blog useful. I love that she wrote about ants.
However, she didn't mention the night ants. They're still in the house when I wake up, and I have to be careful, they stray from their lines frequently and I'm not sure how aggressive or painful they would be. They are large and red, some have huge heads, others have large abdomens, they stop to communicate a lot, but never for long enough for me to get a decent closeup photo. They always leave around 5:30. I don't see them again until a few hours after dark. I have spent the last few mornings trying to get a decent picture of them, but so far it has failed.
They come in and swarm my trashcans for small particles I can't even see and they go under the toilet through a hole. I don't know what's under there, but they like it. I really can't be worried about them, yet, because they are rarely around when I am awake. I may have felt one on my arm one night while sleeping, but I brushed it off and that hasn't happened again. I've never actually seen them in the bedroom. I have noticed an increase in the morning numbers, but hopefully that's because last night's trashcan was just particularly exciting. I've emptied it, so we'll see where we are tomorrow.
http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2010/09/organic-fire-ant-control.html
La Gringa is a blog I've been following for a while. She's an ex-pat in La Ceiba, Honduras who married an Honduran and knows a lot more about the cultural differences and political situations that go on than I do. She's pretty well informed and thought out. Sometimes she writes about obscure things I have no interest in, but generally, I find her blog useful. I love that she wrote about ants.
However, she didn't mention the night ants. They're still in the house when I wake up, and I have to be careful, they stray from their lines frequently and I'm not sure how aggressive or painful they would be. They are large and red, some have huge heads, others have large abdomens, they stop to communicate a lot, but never for long enough for me to get a decent closeup photo. They always leave around 5:30. I don't see them again until a few hours after dark. I have spent the last few mornings trying to get a decent picture of them, but so far it has failed.
They come in and swarm my trashcans for small particles I can't even see and they go under the toilet through a hole. I don't know what's under there, but they like it. I really can't be worried about them, yet, because they are rarely around when I am awake. I may have felt one on my arm one night while sleeping, but I brushed it off and that hasn't happened again. I've never actually seen them in the bedroom. I have noticed an increase in the morning numbers, but hopefully that's because last night's trashcan was just particularly exciting. I've emptied it, so we'll see where we are tomorrow.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Student Series: Students sick in the middle of class
With my new schedule, I teach the first 40 minute period, then the next two are Spanish classes, and then I teach the 4th period, right before recess.
During this 4th period, on the second day of school, we were practicing procedures and I had three students who didn't show me the procedure properly. Two of them corrected their errors, but the third lay with his head down, refusing to move. I gave him a warning for disrespect.
A few minutes later, one of the girls told me he was crying. I tried to help him subtly leave the room so I could talk to him once the class got rolling, but he wouldn't budge, or speak. With recess just 20 minutes away, I continued on and figured I would talk to him during the break, not in front of the whole class.
So, we kept going. About 5 minutes later, he started vomiting all over his desk. At this point I was able to whisk him outside, but not as quickly as may have been desired. I tried to urge him to go see Gilda, the school-everything, but he sat on the side of the futbol field and continued to throw up. I brought him some water and went back to the class, getting them occupied with anything while I tried to take care of him.
He couldn't talk, let alone walk well. When I took the kids to recess, a bit early, I took him to Gilda. She was convinced he had a cough, because he was choking on it, until he continued it the way that he had been (we even argued about it, “Miss, it's a cough” “No, it's a stomach thing, he's been vomiting. Oh, wait...there you go. You see?”). She called home and we went back to the room to get his things. I sent him on his way, which seemed to be fine, to go deal with some of my kids who were misbehaving in an area they aren't even supposed to be during recess, when he fell to his knees and continued to throw up.
He had nothing in his stomach from the get go, so it was getting ugly. I sat with him until 5 minutes to the end of recess, when I had to go get food myself. Ronnie, the school vigelante, asked if he could call the kid a taxi, but I knew his mom was coming, I wasn't comfortable putting him in a taxi with a driver I don't know, and I couldn't imagine how horrible that bumpy tuk-tuk ride would be for a kid this sick. I asked someone else to look after him until his mother came and ran to get myself some food before I went into my next segment of teaching, which is substantially more than 40 minutes.
As I sat down to eat, I saw my kids back in the not-okay-to-be zone and had to go talk to them again before finally finishing my breakfast. At the end of the day, after I had class, I went by his house to check on him. His mom was out, but the new girl working at the restaurant his family owns said that he had made it the doctor, gotten medicine, and was doing better. He was asleep when I went by and he didn't come to school the for the rest of the week, which I imagine is for the best.
During this 4th period, on the second day of school, we were practicing procedures and I had three students who didn't show me the procedure properly. Two of them corrected their errors, but the third lay with his head down, refusing to move. I gave him a warning for disrespect.
A few minutes later, one of the girls told me he was crying. I tried to help him subtly leave the room so I could talk to him once the class got rolling, but he wouldn't budge, or speak. With recess just 20 minutes away, I continued on and figured I would talk to him during the break, not in front of the whole class.
So, we kept going. About 5 minutes later, he started vomiting all over his desk. At this point I was able to whisk him outside, but not as quickly as may have been desired. I tried to urge him to go see Gilda, the school-everything, but he sat on the side of the futbol field and continued to throw up. I brought him some water and went back to the class, getting them occupied with anything while I tried to take care of him.
He couldn't talk, let alone walk well. When I took the kids to recess, a bit early, I took him to Gilda. She was convinced he had a cough, because he was choking on it, until he continued it the way that he had been (we even argued about it, “Miss, it's a cough” “No, it's a stomach thing, he's been vomiting. Oh, wait...there you go. You see?”). She called home and we went back to the room to get his things. I sent him on his way, which seemed to be fine, to go deal with some of my kids who were misbehaving in an area they aren't even supposed to be during recess, when he fell to his knees and continued to throw up.
He had nothing in his stomach from the get go, so it was getting ugly. I sat with him until 5 minutes to the end of recess, when I had to go get food myself. Ronnie, the school vigelante, asked if he could call the kid a taxi, but I knew his mom was coming, I wasn't comfortable putting him in a taxi with a driver I don't know, and I couldn't imagine how horrible that bumpy tuk-tuk ride would be for a kid this sick. I asked someone else to look after him until his mother came and ran to get myself some food before I went into my next segment of teaching, which is substantially more than 40 minutes.
As I sat down to eat, I saw my kids back in the not-okay-to-be zone and had to go talk to them again before finally finishing my breakfast. At the end of the day, after I had class, I went by his house to check on him. His mom was out, but the new girl working at the restaurant his family owns said that he had made it the doctor, gotten medicine, and was doing better. He was asleep when I went by and he didn't come to school the for the rest of the week, which I imagine is for the best.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Student Series: Back log
So here are my favorite student stories from my first year of teaching:
During small groups for Reading, a couple of my students were having a side discussion while I was helping one of their classmates. One of my girls approaches me and says, “Miss, Como se dice prostituta in English?” I look at her, dumbfounded for a moment, trying to compose myself so I don't show her that I'm shocked at her question (as well as trying to figure out what sparked the question). Before I get a chance to say anything, she says, “You know, a bad woman who sleeps with many men?” I have to catch myself from letting my jaw drop for 1)the original question, 2) her ability to explain to me what a is prostitute, and 3) her knowledge of the subtleties in the English phrase “sleeps with.” I keep my face straight and say, “It's a prostitute, Ileany.” “Oh, la misma, Miss.” “Yes, Ileany, they are almost the same.”
I have a student who's mother runs my favorite place to get baleadas. Baleadas, if you don't know, are the Honduran staple-food. It is a large, thin tortilla with a spread of beans, crema, and salty cheese. I usually get them with egg and avocado also. The Urban Promise folks in town know her as the “Chicken Lady” because she also serves good chicken, but I stick to the baleadas. Her comedor does not have a name, you just have to know it's there and when to go, which I do. However, every time I do go, Katia, my student, will sit or stand just out of sight and try to listen in on my conversations, whether they be in English or Spanish. I call her out on it regularly and it's just become a game we play, and I know that I can't talk about anything private there.
During recess, while I was watching my kids go through the line, Judy, an ex-pat friend of mine from Pittsburgh came up to talk to me. We were chatting about a variety of things and my student, Issella, was sitting with us, just listening. After some time, Judy turned to her and said, “Why are you listening to our boring conversation? Why don't you go play?” Issella responded with, “Oh, I do that in class.” Fantastic, recess is English time, class is play time. At least she still wants time for English.
As I mentioned earlier, the baleada is THE Honduran food. Any one who knows much about latin culture knows that soccer, or futbol, is THE sport. All my kids ever want to do is play and talk about futbol. At recess, we have a rule where the kids must keep their food in the caseta (cafeteria) because otherwise they litter all over campus. However, I had a student who, when he could get away with it, would take his baleada with him to play futbol. This child could have been the Honduran flag, going for goals with baleada in hand.
Some of the students at my school have a lot of money, some are on scholarship, and some have parents who make great sacrifices to pay for their kids to come to this school. Because of the uniforms, you can't always tell who is who, but sometimes a child will break your heart. One of my girls doesn't have a mother in the house. I'm not sure what the story is, but I know she has a lot of aunts, uncles, and grandparents around who take care of her. For mother's day, I had the kids make picture frames with photos I took of them reading (everyone looks beautiful when they are reading!) and give them to their mothers. I told the kids who didn't have a mother around to give it to an aunt or grandmother. However, at the end of the year when the kids gave me a book for my birthday with a picture and write out by each child, I found that this girl had taken the photo out of its frame, cut around the edges with patterned scissors to make it new, and put it in my book because it was the only picture she had of herself.
My weight fluxuates, but never to a degree I've ever been too worried about it. However, working with children has taught me two things I've always known but never experienced: 1)kids will say anything and 2)they will get up close and personal. My students touch me all the time. They want hugs, they touch me to get my attention, they use me as a stop, they try to direct me, and so on. They are about at belly height, so the hands always fall on my stomach. When I've gained weight, my kids would always notice and, without fail, comment on it. But, I live in a culture where I'm relatively old not to have kids, or at the most, I'm at an age where I should be, so their comments are often along the lines of, “You're belly has grown. You are pregnant, Miss!” However, the first time this happened it took me a moment to translate, because it was in spanglish, with the important word in Spanish, “You are embarazada, Miss!”
I have no shame admitting that I have an addiction to caffeine. In fact, I use it to my advantage as a means of humor, and to help force my kids into good behavior on certain days. Sometimes, the power goes out and when this happens, there is no coffee. On these days, I will walk into class and say, “There is no power, what does this mean for Miss Sarah?....that's right, no coffee. No coffee means?...that's right, no patience. So, if we want to have a good day, you're going to have to work really hard at being good, right? And if Miss Sarah has no patience, it might not be your fault, right? Good.” On one such day, when I was ill, I actually drew up a patience meter on the board and adjusted it according to their behavior. There was no real consequence attached, but it did cause them to help each other behave better. That's one to save for special occasions, though, or it will lose it's potency.
I had a student who goes my three different names, and it just depends on the day. I got to where I have a rotation for what I call her each time I call on her. On the last day of class, after all was done and we were free, several of us teachers went out for drinks. The next day we still had to be up to give recuperation exams (as required by Honduran law) to any student who had failed the quarter/year. We weren't going to make a long night of it, but I was still in my going-out clothes, and my tolerance was down from living in Latin America. After two drinks I had a steady buzz and it was about this time that my roommate Abby came up to inform me that my student, with three names, was desperately looking for me. Turns out, she had lost her study guide for her recup exam and was terrified. The fact is, she's a smart girl and had no business failing. I wanted to give her the chance to study up, catch up, and do better next year. I went down, and sat on a street corner with her and her cousin to recite the study guide so they could go study, buzzed, and in my party clothes.
I lost one student during those recuperation exams, and it simply broke my heart. This child would have been low in the first grade class, but was sweet as can be. He was always willing to help and to try, but English just wasn't sticking. Without English, the other subjects are really rather difficult. The best subject he had was math during multiplication and I tried to build his esteem on that, but it wasn't enough for him to have faith in himself. We tutored 3 days a week, but he always seemed to fall short and I couldn't foresee things going any better in fourth grade. The only hope was if all his subjects were in Spanish, maybe he could catch back up. But, when he came in for his recuperation, he was so excited because he had studied really hard. It was true, he obviously knew and understood more than he had before, but it still only gave him a 50%. He was crushed and I tried not to show that I was too.
My students knew that my brother James was coming to visit, but when the first student met him and asked his name, she just stared at him and nodded her head. James simply didn't make sense as a name. So, before he came to school, we practiced staying his name and almost all of them had it before he came in. But on the day he was to come in, the kids rushed to the room and looked at me like I was a traitor. “Where is he, Miss?” “He's coming during recess.” “But, he's not here.” They were crushed. Until he did come, and then he was the best thing to ever hit Mayatan, of course. He's James Barr.
During small groups for Reading, a couple of my students were having a side discussion while I was helping one of their classmates. One of my girls approaches me and says, “Miss, Como se dice prostituta in English?” I look at her, dumbfounded for a moment, trying to compose myself so I don't show her that I'm shocked at her question (as well as trying to figure out what sparked the question). Before I get a chance to say anything, she says, “You know, a bad woman who sleeps with many men?” I have to catch myself from letting my jaw drop for 1)the original question, 2) her ability to explain to me what a is prostitute, and 3) her knowledge of the subtleties in the English phrase “sleeps with.” I keep my face straight and say, “It's a prostitute, Ileany.” “Oh, la misma, Miss.” “Yes, Ileany, they are almost the same.”
I have a student who's mother runs my favorite place to get baleadas. Baleadas, if you don't know, are the Honduran staple-food. It is a large, thin tortilla with a spread of beans, crema, and salty cheese. I usually get them with egg and avocado also. The Urban Promise folks in town know her as the “Chicken Lady” because she also serves good chicken, but I stick to the baleadas. Her comedor does not have a name, you just have to know it's there and when to go, which I do. However, every time I do go, Katia, my student, will sit or stand just out of sight and try to listen in on my conversations, whether they be in English or Spanish. I call her out on it regularly and it's just become a game we play, and I know that I can't talk about anything private there.
During recess, while I was watching my kids go through the line, Judy, an ex-pat friend of mine from Pittsburgh came up to talk to me. We were chatting about a variety of things and my student, Issella, was sitting with us, just listening. After some time, Judy turned to her and said, “Why are you listening to our boring conversation? Why don't you go play?” Issella responded with, “Oh, I do that in class.” Fantastic, recess is English time, class is play time. At least she still wants time for English.
As I mentioned earlier, the baleada is THE Honduran food. Any one who knows much about latin culture knows that soccer, or futbol, is THE sport. All my kids ever want to do is play and talk about futbol. At recess, we have a rule where the kids must keep their food in the caseta (cafeteria) because otherwise they litter all over campus. However, I had a student who, when he could get away with it, would take his baleada with him to play futbol. This child could have been the Honduran flag, going for goals with baleada in hand.
Some of the students at my school have a lot of money, some are on scholarship, and some have parents who make great sacrifices to pay for their kids to come to this school. Because of the uniforms, you can't always tell who is who, but sometimes a child will break your heart. One of my girls doesn't have a mother in the house. I'm not sure what the story is, but I know she has a lot of aunts, uncles, and grandparents around who take care of her. For mother's day, I had the kids make picture frames with photos I took of them reading (everyone looks beautiful when they are reading!) and give them to their mothers. I told the kids who didn't have a mother around to give it to an aunt or grandmother. However, at the end of the year when the kids gave me a book for my birthday with a picture and write out by each child, I found that this girl had taken the photo out of its frame, cut around the edges with patterned scissors to make it new, and put it in my book because it was the only picture she had of herself.
My weight fluxuates, but never to a degree I've ever been too worried about it. However, working with children has taught me two things I've always known but never experienced: 1)kids will say anything and 2)they will get up close and personal. My students touch me all the time. They want hugs, they touch me to get my attention, they use me as a stop, they try to direct me, and so on. They are about at belly height, so the hands always fall on my stomach. When I've gained weight, my kids would always notice and, without fail, comment on it. But, I live in a culture where I'm relatively old not to have kids, or at the most, I'm at an age where I should be, so their comments are often along the lines of, “You're belly has grown. You are pregnant, Miss!” However, the first time this happened it took me a moment to translate, because it was in spanglish, with the important word in Spanish, “You are embarazada, Miss!”
I have no shame admitting that I have an addiction to caffeine. In fact, I use it to my advantage as a means of humor, and to help force my kids into good behavior on certain days. Sometimes, the power goes out and when this happens, there is no coffee. On these days, I will walk into class and say, “There is no power, what does this mean for Miss Sarah?....that's right, no coffee. No coffee means?...that's right, no patience. So, if we want to have a good day, you're going to have to work really hard at being good, right? And if Miss Sarah has no patience, it might not be your fault, right? Good.” On one such day, when I was ill, I actually drew up a patience meter on the board and adjusted it according to their behavior. There was no real consequence attached, but it did cause them to help each other behave better. That's one to save for special occasions, though, or it will lose it's potency.
I had a student who goes my three different names, and it just depends on the day. I got to where I have a rotation for what I call her each time I call on her. On the last day of class, after all was done and we were free, several of us teachers went out for drinks. The next day we still had to be up to give recuperation exams (as required by Honduran law) to any student who had failed the quarter/year. We weren't going to make a long night of it, but I was still in my going-out clothes, and my tolerance was down from living in Latin America. After two drinks I had a steady buzz and it was about this time that my roommate Abby came up to inform me that my student, with three names, was desperately looking for me. Turns out, she had lost her study guide for her recup exam and was terrified. The fact is, she's a smart girl and had no business failing. I wanted to give her the chance to study up, catch up, and do better next year. I went down, and sat on a street corner with her and her cousin to recite the study guide so they could go study, buzzed, and in my party clothes.
I lost one student during those recuperation exams, and it simply broke my heart. This child would have been low in the first grade class, but was sweet as can be. He was always willing to help and to try, but English just wasn't sticking. Without English, the other subjects are really rather difficult. The best subject he had was math during multiplication and I tried to build his esteem on that, but it wasn't enough for him to have faith in himself. We tutored 3 days a week, but he always seemed to fall short and I couldn't foresee things going any better in fourth grade. The only hope was if all his subjects were in Spanish, maybe he could catch back up. But, when he came in for his recuperation, he was so excited because he had studied really hard. It was true, he obviously knew and understood more than he had before, but it still only gave him a 50%. He was crushed and I tried not to show that I was too.
My students knew that my brother James was coming to visit, but when the first student met him and asked his name, she just stared at him and nodded her head. James simply didn't make sense as a name. So, before he came to school, we practiced staying his name and almost all of them had it before he came in. But on the day he was to come in, the kids rushed to the room and looked at me like I was a traitor. “Where is he, Miss?” “He's coming during recess.” “But, he's not here.” They were crushed. Until he did come, and then he was the best thing to ever hit Mayatan, of course. He's James Barr.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Gearing Up For School And All That Comes With It
I have spent my first two weeks back in Honduras as the go-to girl and tour guide. After last years show of Shy-Sarah, Social-Sarah is making a come back. I have simply had a blast helping the new teachers adjust and learn about Copan. They seem like a really good group, and take teaching very seriously, but they're also willing and ready to explore this new land.
Some of them have a lot of experience traveling and living abroad, while others are like I was...in way over their heads. However, this year I have one thing I did not have last year and it has made all the difference in the world—I'm in my element.
I've been more forward with my Spanish and more willing to make mistakes, I've been getting out of the house, I've been working hard at the school. It's been incredible to come back here and know what's going on.
As I've explained to them, I obviously loved my experience last year, but the whole year is flavored by last year's group, so I really have no way to prepare for what the coming year will be like because all social dynamics are being rewritten as we go.
Last week was orientation, and so we got all situated for school. It's 2 days before school starts, and my class list isn't even secure. I have two new students, lost one from last year, lost one to the other fourth grade section (she and her twin want to be in the same class, but my class was already full so they had the option of being together in the other section of separate), and am waiting to hear on a couple others.
The woman originally hired for the other fourth grade section and I exchanged a myriad of e-mails and information. I was thrilled about her coming. She sounded like a fantastic teaching partner and I was eager to soak up her experience and teaching skills during the next year. However, when her husband lost his job, she had to decide to stay back in the States. Not long ago, they hired her replacement—a very sweet seeming woman named Emily from Pittsburgh. Emily is having to shut down her whole life: give notice at work, close out her apartment, and completely shut down her life on very short notice. She will not be coming to Copan until two weeks after the start of school.
This means that I need to make sub plans...for two weeks, for the first days of school. I was just going to give Cid, the sub, my plans, but there are too many stylistic and situational differences for them to really work. I already know my kids, I WILL be their teacher for the next year, and I have a lot of procedures I want to drill into their heads before the year gets going. He doesn't know these kids, he doesn't know what kind of procedures to teach them for Emily, and he has a very different approach to how the first days go. We've set up her room, and at the open house on Friday, I will get to meet with all of the parents and explain that Emily will be coming late, through no fault of her own.
I'm sure everything will smooth out within a month, but until then I feel like I'm running in place. I don't want to take off with my kids and dive into lessons unless her class can too. Cid and I will have to work out how we should go about the intro to the year, because 2 weeks is a long time to stall and just do review. However, the more he does with her class, the more she'll either have to change when she gets here or be stuck with.
I have tried talking to her about her preferences, but she's so overwhelmed at home right now that she can't even start to think about setting up here yet. I also think she's a first year teacher, though I'm not sure.
I look forward to meeting her and finally being able to hammer out some concrete details on how we want to run the year. In the mean time, I'll just focus on setting up a better classroom environment than I had last year and enjoy getting to know the other new teachers better.
Some of them have a lot of experience traveling and living abroad, while others are like I was...in way over their heads. However, this year I have one thing I did not have last year and it has made all the difference in the world—I'm in my element.
I've been more forward with my Spanish and more willing to make mistakes, I've been getting out of the house, I've been working hard at the school. It's been incredible to come back here and know what's going on.
As I've explained to them, I obviously loved my experience last year, but the whole year is flavored by last year's group, so I really have no way to prepare for what the coming year will be like because all social dynamics are being rewritten as we go.
Last week was orientation, and so we got all situated for school. It's 2 days before school starts, and my class list isn't even secure. I have two new students, lost one from last year, lost one to the other fourth grade section (she and her twin want to be in the same class, but my class was already full so they had the option of being together in the other section of separate), and am waiting to hear on a couple others.
The woman originally hired for the other fourth grade section and I exchanged a myriad of e-mails and information. I was thrilled about her coming. She sounded like a fantastic teaching partner and I was eager to soak up her experience and teaching skills during the next year. However, when her husband lost his job, she had to decide to stay back in the States. Not long ago, they hired her replacement—a very sweet seeming woman named Emily from Pittsburgh. Emily is having to shut down her whole life: give notice at work, close out her apartment, and completely shut down her life on very short notice. She will not be coming to Copan until two weeks after the start of school.
This means that I need to make sub plans...for two weeks, for the first days of school. I was just going to give Cid, the sub, my plans, but there are too many stylistic and situational differences for them to really work. I already know my kids, I WILL be their teacher for the next year, and I have a lot of procedures I want to drill into their heads before the year gets going. He doesn't know these kids, he doesn't know what kind of procedures to teach them for Emily, and he has a very different approach to how the first days go. We've set up her room, and at the open house on Friday, I will get to meet with all of the parents and explain that Emily will be coming late, through no fault of her own.
I'm sure everything will smooth out within a month, but until then I feel like I'm running in place. I don't want to take off with my kids and dive into lessons unless her class can too. Cid and I will have to work out how we should go about the intro to the year, because 2 weeks is a long time to stall and just do review. However, the more he does with her class, the more she'll either have to change when she gets here or be stuck with.
I have tried talking to her about her preferences, but she's so overwhelmed at home right now that she can't even start to think about setting up here yet. I also think she's a first year teacher, though I'm not sure.
I look forward to meeting her and finally being able to hammer out some concrete details on how we want to run the year. In the mean time, I'll just focus on setting up a better classroom environment than I had last year and enjoy getting to know the other new teachers better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)