Teaching Stories (Part 4)

It's the start of September, and we're down to our last bimestre of the school year. A few pictures of what we've been up to so far, if you'd like to see. :)

Ready for the fourth bimestre

My first graders started off with clothes, and on one day I brought in some accessories so we could practice. The students took turns dressing each other up for a fun classroom activity.

After clothes we moved onto animals, and they just finished presenting a "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" play. It went successfully, but unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.

Friday mornings are park days, and they're our (first grade's) favorite days!

Hanging out at the park

On this one Friday there was a bike station set up at the playground area. The kids could line up and take a turn riding a bike around the circuit. Many of the kids don't have their own bicycles and they really enjoyed the afternoon.

There was also some face painting going on, and a few students raced off to get their face painted.

We also had another random Friday were we joined in a dance session happening. The kids (and teachers) were so into it, that we were late in taking the bus back.

The rest of the time I spend happily hanging out with my kids, oftentimes doubling as a pillow.

Fourth grade on the other hand likes to do "centers" on Friday afternoons. I'll have four or five stations around the classroom, each with a game, toy, or activity. The students will visit each station in groups; they stay for about 10 minutes and they rotate. It's our end of the week relaxing kind of activity and the students love it.

One activity I had them do just recently was a trust and teamwork game. They had to sit on chairs and lie down on each other, then one by one, I would remove the chairs and they had to hold each other up. They were able to do it properly in two tries (a feat for this group!), and spent the rest of the period trying it again on their own, and later on turning it into a competition.

In school, we've had some cultural days, and these are some of my favorite days because I get to learn a little bit about Guatemalan culture. On one day my first graders had a folkloric dance day.

On another day we celebrated Día Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (International Day of the World's Indigenous People). The different grades dressed up in the "four cultures" (cuatro culturas) of Guatemala: Maya, Garifuna, Xinca, and Ladino.

The principal introducing the event

The Mayan culture is the oldest, and their dress usually consists of a güipil (blouse), falda (skirt), and a corte (some sort of belt). To this day it remains a daily wear for many women.

Mayans

The Xincas are another group that live in the southern departments (Guatemala is divided into departments) of Jalapa, Santa Rose and Jutiapa. They have their own language also called Xinca.

Xincas

On the Caribbean coasts of Livingston and Puerto Barrios are where you'll find the Garifunas, mixed-race descendants of West African, Central African and the Island Caribs.

Garifuna

The last cultural group are the Ladinos, which is what they call the people with mixed heritage or cultures. It originated from when the Spanish and indigenous people first mixed. They speak Spanish and their clothing is mostly casual.

Ladino

On September 15th, Guatemala celebrates their independence day and I heard the month is a whirlwind of festivities (and no classes), and I'm excited for that. In the meantime, we continue on with our activities and lessons, with some days being more challenging than others.

Just the other day, I took out my phone to check something quickly, and my fourth graders quickly posed and asked for me to take their photo. Sometimes, these kids can be so difficult, but moments like these remind me that at the end of the day (especially on the most trying days), they’re all just looking for a little love.