Our first real day in Monteverde and per the custom, its mucho juvio (a lot of rain). With our past adventures though, that didn't stop our group from a 1 hour walk about of the adorable mountain town that no matter where you are going, it is uphill both ways. We made the trek to the very top of the mountain to CPI where we were introduced to the facilities, classrooms and a selection of services at our availability. What a beautiful place!
After a preparation class for another school visit tomorrow, our morning included a debriefing of what we thought of Monteverde thus far and things we wanted to do in town together. As a group of girls always does: shopping is on the list in full force. There are such beautiful local artisans as well as restaurants that I just want to try everything. We also made chicken fajitas with rice, salad and fried plaintains for lunch. So delicious. I'm not sure any picture can do it justice, but needless to say: Delicious!
A new teacher for Spanish class made things a little awkward at first, but despite the awkwardness our whole group limited proficiency level in Spanish made for an entertaining first day. Most of us are still at basic Speech Emergence but some have moved to the beginning steps of Intermediate Fluency of good comprehension but continuing grammar and pronunciation mistakes. Learning more and more each day is part of the fun, so I am excited to see what is in store for the next two weeks but for now, Spanglish has begun to integrate itself into my language.
To top the day off, when I got home to my host family from school, it was family exercise time. Now, usually they go on a one hour walk around the town together just to get some fresh air, but today because of all the rain, exercise was indoors. In fact, family exercise time was Zumba on DVD. Pushing the furniture out of the middle of the living room, sweeping the rug away and putting the plants in the kitchen led to a blank hardwood floor for family Zumba. After two hours of Zumba, not only was everyone exhausted, my calves were throbbing and water became a necessity. Needless to say, my host family decided that we would all do Zumba everyday after school. Maybe I'll be in shape when I get back to the states or just know how to move my feet a little better when dancing.
My host family includes the following: a mom, a dad, a 17 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. Both the children, especially the daughter, speak very good (almost perfect) English which makes me wonder just how much they learn in the schools in terms of English in comparison to Heredia. Not many people knew English, but both these children take English class every day, either at school or at CPI and have developed excellent translation skills at Advanced Fluency level. Interviews to come from them but for now, they have helped me developed better Spanish grammar and translation skills while I help them with their English pronunciation.
Tuesday:
Another visit to another school, we got to not only observe one class, but also teach some of the preschoolers a few of our traditional early childhood songs in America. Classroom management is not as stressed in the schools here than in the States, but that isn't to say the kids aren't learning. Most students understand the lessons, activities and what the goal of each assignment is. They also had many of their own individual supplies as well as notebooks, backpacks and paper. Like many of our students in the states, students preferred certain supplies over another and brought what they preferred. In contrast though, the classrooms themselves had little to no reading material or books. Literacy support is mostly done in the school library which has a maximum of 5 bookshelves with mostly Spanish books. One row of books out of all of that has English books and they consisted of mostly kindergarten and 1st grade books. My questions is though: At what point to they start teaching English truly in the classroom? At what point do students begin to understand what they are learning and can translate that into Spanish? Where does that happen for most?
Needless to say, another day in the schools keeps me determined and excited to be a global educator. I have always been told that children are the future and that teachers are the liaisons of learning for the children. I want to be the teacher that allows my students to explore their interests outside of where they are from. Students need to know that student just like them across the world are just like them, dream like them, play sports like them, draw like them but most of all smile like them.
No comments:
Post a Comment