The projects started today. There are several different ones that people can choose to go to, like helping prepare and serve food at a homeless shelter, teaching English at a school for blind children, working on construction at the same school, and others. I am going to Hogar San Mauricio, which is an orphanage, school and daycare. A lot of these kids don't have parents, whether those parents are dead or have abandoned them, and many have experienced violence. I came here to teach English.
It being the first day and all, I figured I would be sitting in on a class and observing. Angelica came into my room in the morning and said, "Okay. Here is de...curricooh-lum. Eet say what you teach every day, listo? Today eeez months of de year and seasons."
Me: Oh, cool. So I'm just watching?
Angelica: No! You teaching today!
Me: WHAT?
Slight panic attack. Or maybe not so slight. The talking really fast-highpitched voice-on the brink of tears- "I can't do this" kind.
Angelica, being Angelica, said "Tranquilooo, mi amor. All is to be fine! You just use de creativity!"
And then: "Alsoo, the keeds, the aaree..a leetle bit difficult? A lot don't want to learn. They don't to be listening, or they make a lot of noise, but is because they have experienced bad tings."
Oh! Oh, okay!
Keep in mind, also, that while my Spanish-speaking skills are good, my Spanish listening skills are not. So just throw me onstage in a talent show without an act, why don't you.
An hour later, I am standing in front of a class of kids.
They are of various ages but most of them seem to be around ten and eleven years old. They all have dark hair. This is the scene:
Kids keep coming in and out of the class at random, making a lot of noise in the process. One little girl sitting in the front row doesn't have a nose. An older girl on the side is sleeping on her desk. An adorable little boy in the front right corner is sitting quietly with his notebook. Three boys on the left side by the window who are clearly partners in crime are laughing nonstop and drawing in each other's notebooks and occasionally hitting each other. One boy crumples up a piece of paper and throws it across the floor to another boy. A girl in the center of the room is slamming her desk on the ground and laughing. One boy looks much older than the rest of them-- he has slightly darker skin and bright white teeth and he's sitting in the front left corner. He's cutting the tip of his finger with scissors and watching the blood spill on the desk. I tell him he should probably go to the bathroom and clean his finger and he just stares at me.
The regular teacher is there still and he says "Clase! Ahora empezamos la clase de ingles!" (Class! We're going to start English class!)
And then they're all staring at me. "Hola muchachos! Me llamo Rachel." I write it on the board. "Como estan hoy?"
"Bieeeeeeen"
I have no plan whatsoever.
And then it is effortless.
I love this, I am grooving and I could do it for forever. I write the months of the year on the board and point to the first one. "January. Repitan." "Jan-roo-ery." Some of the kids excitedly scream it as loud as they can and others don't say anything. I do this with each month and then say things like, "Christmas is in December. It sounds a lot like Diciembre, it's easy. In Colombia Valentine's Day is in this month, September. In the US it's in February." I ask them to come write answers on the board. I tell them my birthday is in June. "You better remember that, you can't leave class today unless you remember it. What is it?"
It being the first day and all, I figured I would be sitting in on a class and observing. Angelica came into my room in the morning and said, "Okay. Here is de...curricooh-lum. Eet say what you teach every day, listo? Today eeez months of de year and seasons."
Me: Oh, cool. So I'm just watching?
Angelica: No! You teaching today!
Me: WHAT?
Slight panic attack. Or maybe not so slight. The talking really fast-highpitched voice-on the brink of tears- "I can't do this" kind.
Angelica, being Angelica, said "Tranquilooo, mi amor. All is to be fine! You just use de creativity!"
And then: "Alsoo, the keeds, the aaree..a leetle bit difficult? A lot don't want to learn. They don't to be listening, or they make a lot of noise, but is because they have experienced bad tings."
Oh! Oh, okay!
Keep in mind, also, that while my Spanish-speaking skills are good, my Spanish listening skills are not. So just throw me onstage in a talent show without an act, why don't you.
An hour later, I am standing in front of a class of kids.
They are of various ages but most of them seem to be around ten and eleven years old. They all have dark hair. This is the scene:
Kids keep coming in and out of the class at random, making a lot of noise in the process. One little girl sitting in the front row doesn't have a nose. An older girl on the side is sleeping on her desk. An adorable little boy in the front right corner is sitting quietly with his notebook. Three boys on the left side by the window who are clearly partners in crime are laughing nonstop and drawing in each other's notebooks and occasionally hitting each other. One boy crumples up a piece of paper and throws it across the floor to another boy. A girl in the center of the room is slamming her desk on the ground and laughing. One boy looks much older than the rest of them-- he has slightly darker skin and bright white teeth and he's sitting in the front left corner. He's cutting the tip of his finger with scissors and watching the blood spill on the desk. I tell him he should probably go to the bathroom and clean his finger and he just stares at me.
The regular teacher is there still and he says "Clase! Ahora empezamos la clase de ingles!" (Class! We're going to start English class!)
And then they're all staring at me. "Hola muchachos! Me llamo Rachel." I write it on the board. "Como estan hoy?"
"Bieeeeeeen"
I have no plan whatsoever.
And then it is effortless.
I love this, I am grooving and I could do it for forever. I write the months of the year on the board and point to the first one. "January. Repitan." "Jan-roo-ery." Some of the kids excitedly scream it as loud as they can and others don't say anything. I do this with each month and then say things like, "Christmas is in December. It sounds a lot like Diciembre, it's easy. In Colombia Valentine's Day is in this month, September. In the US it's in February." I ask them to come write answers on the board. I tell them my birthday is in June. "You better remember that, you can't leave class today unless you remember it. What is it?"
"Hoon-eh!" (In Spanish J is pronounced like H and an 'e' at the end of a word isn't silent.)
When they are not paying attention or making a lot of noise, the teacher moves to settle them down, but I don't need him. "Chicos! Prestan attencion, por favor!" Or I just stand there quietly and look at them and say "Voy a esperar." (I'll wait.) Or walk right up to the kid who's causing problems and single them out.
When they are not paying attention or making a lot of noise, the teacher moves to settle them down, but I don't need him. "Chicos! Prestan attencion, por favor!" Or I just stand there quietly and look at them and say "Voy a esperar." (I'll wait.) Or walk right up to the kid who's causing problems and single them out.
The atmosphere of classes is so different than what I am used to. Maybe it's like this at all schools or maybe just this one because it's not your typical school. But when I ask them to copy the months down in their notebooks, some of them finish and then walk right up to the front to show me. When I ask a question, they all yell it out at once. When I ask for a volunteer to write an answer on the board, a bunch of them just run right up to the front.
Some of them are so eager to learn, happy and enthusiastic and smart. Others not so much. I know that a lot of them have been through hell.
At the end of class I say, "Okay! En cual mes es mi cumple?" (In which month is my birthday?) And when some of them yell out "Hoon'eh!" my smile almost bursts out of my face.
Some of them are so eager to learn, happy and enthusiastic and smart. Others not so much. I know that a lot of them have been through hell.
At the end of class I say, "Okay! En cual mes es mi cumple?" (In which month is my birthday?) And when some of them yell out "Hoon'eh!" my smile almost bursts out of my face.
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