Futbol

I cannot believe that already nearly three weeks have passed here in Calobre. It certainly hasn’t been the easiest three weeks of my life, I have had to adapt in many ways which I did not previously anticipate, however through everything I have also learned more than I could have imagined.

Firstly, I knew that teaching a second language to young children would be hard work. I completely failed though to realize just how hard. At the end of every day I usually leave content, but there are definitely some very frustrating moments. In my planning I thought that the focus of my efforts would be on English education, whereas now I know that classroom management is half the job. Being in a new cultural environment has added to the difficulty of this realiztion. The same rules which are applied in a US classroom are largely absent here. Since Monday, after two weeks of observation, I began instituting three basic rules for the English class: 1) Raise your hand 2) Stay in your seat unless you have permission 3) Respect the teacher and your classmates. As an incentive, I have a system where students who demonstrate consistently good behaviour receive candy. This has worked remarkably. In just the first weeek of implemenation, the kids are following the rules, and hopefully ultimately learning more. At the same time though I have to try and keep the class fun so that the students are engaged. For example, we always play games which make use of the vocabulary/phrases they learn. As I continue to teach in the school, I hope that I can find the appropriate balance between enforcing good behaviour and promoting a fun and interactive learning environment. We shall see… So far though I think it has gone over fairly well. The students, despite now being subject to rules, still seem to enjoy the classes and have taken a liking to me. As I walk about town, I frequently hear shouts of ”teecher” from the students who see me passing by. It is nice to feel that I have become an integrated part of the community.

Today two other important things happened. First, I sat in on a meeting of a group of students chosen to be part of a special reading group called Circulo de las Lecturas (Roughly: Reading Circle). They choose books to read from the collection I donated and do special activites based on the readings, such as drawing pictures, etc. The hope is to not only engage these students, but encourage their classmates to read as well. Its great to see how the school has begun to use the books I’ve donated, and tomorrow they are unveiling the how collection to me, catalouged and shelved in their make-shift library, which I am really excited about (Future project: build a library building?).

Also today I played soccer with one of the sixth grade classes against the other. Unfortunately my team lost, although I was lucky just to make it through the whole game. I though I was going to collapse in the heat! And its not like back home where you’re hot for a while, but then retreat to the air conditioning. There is never an escape from the heat! Its all part of the experience.