Teaching Stories (Part 2)

I'm going to be cliché right now and say that I can't believe how fast time flies, and that I've been here for almost three months. We've had about two and a half months of school and I feel like I've finally found my rhythm. I have a better grasp of my students and my class, which makes most of the days pretty smooth sailing. Up next, round two of some teaching stories, the little things we've been up to. :)

Like the Philippines, Guatemala is a predominantly Catholic country and they have their fair share of Lenten and Holy Week traditions. On Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday), the carnaval tradition is to decorate cascarones (eggshells), crack a small hole, fill them with pica pica (confetti), and finally cover the hole. Then the goal is to smash the egg on an unsuspecting victim's head. (Yes, I was one of those unsuspecting victims).

Students making cascarones in class

On the left below some of my students' decorated cascarones, and on the right my student holding a bag of pica pica.

A few weeks ago we were learning adjectives and the comparative form in fourth grade. I wrote a bunch of sentences on the board and the students had to fill in the blanks with an adjective of their choice.

One exercise was: Teacher Sofia is __________ the students.
the most common answers: taller than, older than, bigger than
the most unique one: cleaner than
and my favorite: more beautiful than ;)

checking my students' work

Here at UPAVIM, we have an English office with materials collected over the years. While we do have a good deal of resources, they're still lacking. I've had to come up with my own flashcards or materials, depending on the topic, and because of this I'm slowly improving my drawing skills. Haha. Here are the fourth graders working on the vocabulary of musical instruments.

Another simple but favorite resource of my fourth graders are mini whiteboards! We have a bunch of them, and the kids split into pairs or groups, and we do review games with the whiteboards. Their favorite activity is practicing numbers, where I shout out a number, and they have to spell it out correctly.

My first graders on the other hand went from practicing their family members with family trees...

...to reviewing previously learned body parts vocabulary, and learning new words too. We spent two week practicing body parts with a variety of worksheets, activities, songs, games, and videos.

In the last week of March we ended our first bimestre (the school year is divided into four bimestres, each about ten weeks long). It was a long, tough, and challenging one, but looking forward to the next three!

We survived the first bimestre!

We started our second bimestre two weeks ago, and I had my students decorate one page of their notebook as a cover page to mark the start of their second quarter notes. This boys' was my favorite (shhh), because of the Barça drawing ;)

The start of the second bimestre was a little arduous because two weeks later the students would be on their Semana Santa (Holy Week) break, and most of them were already on vacation mode and couldn't concentrate. So we took it easy with just a couple of new lessons, and then practicing and reviewing. I also spent compiling the students' work to turn over and inputting grades to be given to the parents.

the Primeros' work

Then yesterday, our last day, in lieu of classes, we had a fun morning of activities for día de verano (summer day, as it's finally approaching summer season here). The kids came in with swimsuits, and we set up two inflatable pools in the small patio outside one of the classrooms. The different grades took turns using the pool, and while waiting for their turns, they would hang out in their classrooms playing games. My primeros were one of the last ones to go out, but we spent the time playing games, dancing, and having some fruits for snacks picnic style.

Ready to go out to the pools!

Out in the patio the kids chilled in the pool, threw around plastic bags of water (some had water balloons), and just enjoyed playing around in the water. We cleaned up after and they went home at lunch time, and with that, we were officially on Holy Week break!

One last story to end this post: last Monday I told my fourth graders that I wouldn't be in class on Tuesday as I had to go pick up my passport (which I had dropped off the week before to renew my tourist visa). Most of them quickly started telling me "No te vayas!" (Don't leave!) and sadly asking "Cuándo te vas?" (When are you leaving?), and I explained to them that I wasn't leaving, simply going to pick up my passport because I had renewed my visa. Talking about it with the other volunteers, we were reminded of how the students are so used to having their English teachers leave since they're all volunteers (most after one year, and in some cases mid-school year or after a few months), and it must be really tough for the students having so many people come and go in their lives. At the very least, I'm glad that I'm here until October and can be with my kids for one whole school year.

While the whole program here is not perfect, it is nice to be able to help and contribute to the development of the school. The Crafts Program of UPAVIM is able to sustain most of the facilities and production of the organization, but much of the English program is supported by donations and funds raised by previous volunteers. These funds raised and donations help keep the school open, provide a full day school program (as opposed to the normal half day schedule in public schools), and pay for the stipends of volunteer teachers like me. A little can go a long way, not just for the school, but consequently for the students, their lives and their future. If you would like to donate you can find more information over here, or if you'd like to read stories and find out more about what UPAVIM does, you can check out their blog here. :)

Leaving with one last picture from one of my first graders: last Monday, she gave each of her classmates plus the teachers little notes with words of affirmation written on it. Not only was it a beautiful way to start the week, but it was a lovely reminder of why I do what I do, and for whom I do it. :)

♥