Alright...as most of you know, I am dealing with a different type of breed when it comes to kids down here in Costa Rica. They have challenged me beyond belief these past two weeks and really made me think when it comes to discipline and my attitude towards teaching. After talking with a few people, including past volunteers and my sister, I have developed a new discipline plan. The only thing is, I need help from the states. Here it is:
It is called English Shop. Basically, everyday I write the words English Shop on the board. Then, throughout the lesson, if the class gets out of control, I see objects or students go flying across the room, or I happen to be yelled at or hit in the stomach, I erase a letter. At the end of the lesson, myself and two of my students count and record how many letters they have left. This is the amount of points they have earned for that day. We will continue this until the class reaches 150 points. Then we will have English Shop. This is where I need your help!
Ticos (people from Costa Rica) LOVE fun school supplies. I have to make my kids take out one pencil and one pencil only during class otherwise we would get nothing done due to the fact that they would write every word in a different color. They also use rulers to make straight lines on EVERYTHING! I don't really understand the fascination but it is there. So what I am asking for is cool, fun and exciting school supplies. This includes things like gel pens, fun erasers, colored pencils, or anything else that it fun.
Now, my mom just tried to send me a package to see if I receive things at my house. I should be receiving them in the next 10 days or so. If and when I receive them, I will post an address you can send things to. I just wanted to put out the word so that you can start keeping your eyes out and picking stuff up. I know Target usually has some good stuff at the dollar spot or even the dollar store. I just need some good stuff because the better the first English Shop is, the easier it will be to do the second English Shop because they will know what there is to win and this will act as incentive for better behavior! Thank you all so much for you help and I will be posting an address as soon as I can!
Now, as for my week, it was better...kind of. I still definitely had challenges and i different schedule almost every single day. The kids were pretty much the same if not a little bit better. The Ministry of Education was also at our school all day on Friday looking at files and documents of kids who have been held back. Kids being held back is very common in Costa Rica. This means I have fourth graders who are supposed to be in 6th grade and 2nd graders who are supposed to be in 4th. These are usually the kids who are difficult discipline-wise. Hopefully the Ministry was able to work something out to help those kids. It will make my life easier as their teacher!
Once again, thank you for all your help! Remember, as of right now, English Shop is what is keeping me sane!
Feliz Cumpleanos mas tarde Maw Maw!
Love you all!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
First week - DONE!!!
Well, I have officially finished my first week teaching here in Manuel Antonio and it was very interesting for lack of a better word. On Monday, I arrived at the school at 6:30 (school starts at 7) and was the first one there. We actually did not even have any students the first day because the schedules had not been made yet. My director said that on Tuesday we would be going to different classrooms to observe teachers and get to know the kids before we actually started teaching. So on Tuesday I arrive (later this time...) and my director comes into my classroom at 6:58 and hands me my TEACHING schedule for the day. I started at 7 in a different classroom. So I hurried and grabbed my things and ran down to the 4th grade classroom to teach. From there, I taught 6th and then 2nd. By the end of Tueday, I was a little stressed from feeling rushed all day and extremely relieved that I had made it through!
On Wednesday, Rocio (my host mom) and Rebecca (host sister) left the house before I did. When I went to leave, I noticed they had taken the key (which you need to get out of the house). So, I was locked in...and I had to be at school to teach. At first I stressed, and then I just sat on the couch and laughed. I called Michelle to let her know the situation and she said she would convey the message. Rocio came home at about 7:30 and off to school I went. The director ended up not even being there that day and no one really said a word to me about it. Still was not the way I had intended to make a first impression.
The rest of the week was a mixture of good and challenging. The students, teachers and school are done differently here in Costa Rica. Everything is much more laid back and school holds a different amount of importance here. I have had 6th grade boys pinch my sides, tell me they love me and think I am beautiful and ask for my phone number. I have had second graders walking on desks and throwing things across the classroom at other kids continuously despite my efforts to stop the behavior. I have also had a classroom of fourth graders completely engaged in an English word game. I am learning to become more flexible in my expectations, laugh off the little things and think of new ways to engage and discipline students. It is definitely taking up a lot of my energy and creativity! Fellow teachers and friends - if you have any ideas, please post them!
On a different note, I have joined the local women's soccer team. I was running by the plaza one afternoon and noticed they were playing. I went down, told the coach I liked soccer and that was that. We have practice twice a week. I play with some of my sixth grade girls, some of my student's moms and even another gringa! It is a nice way to break up the week and my daily workout routine.
I am thinking of all of you and love to hear stories about what is going on at home so please post them! Even if it is something trivial, I am craving stories about people I know and know well! I love you all!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY!!!!
On Wednesday, Rocio (my host mom) and Rebecca (host sister) left the house before I did. When I went to leave, I noticed they had taken the key (which you need to get out of the house). So, I was locked in...and I had to be at school to teach. At first I stressed, and then I just sat on the couch and laughed. I called Michelle to let her know the situation and she said she would convey the message. Rocio came home at about 7:30 and off to school I went. The director ended up not even being there that day and no one really said a word to me about it. Still was not the way I had intended to make a first impression.
The rest of the week was a mixture of good and challenging. The students, teachers and school are done differently here in Costa Rica. Everything is much more laid back and school holds a different amount of importance here. I have had 6th grade boys pinch my sides, tell me they love me and think I am beautiful and ask for my phone number. I have had second graders walking on desks and throwing things across the classroom at other kids continuously despite my efforts to stop the behavior. I have also had a classroom of fourth graders completely engaged in an English word game. I am learning to become more flexible in my expectations, laugh off the little things and think of new ways to engage and discipline students. It is definitely taking up a lot of my energy and creativity! Fellow teachers and friends - if you have any ideas, please post them!
On a different note, I have joined the local women's soccer team. I was running by the plaza one afternoon and noticed they were playing. I went down, told the coach I liked soccer and that was that. We have practice twice a week. I play with some of my sixth grade girls, some of my student's moms and even another gringa! It is a nice way to break up the week and my daily workout routine.
I am thinking of all of you and love to hear stories about what is going on at home so please post them! Even if it is something trivial, I am craving stories about people I know and know well! I love you all!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY!!!!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday is coming...
Hello everyone!
I am officially back in Manuel Antonio enjoying the warm weather and the beach! My days here this past week have basically consisted of running and planning in the mornings and studying Spanish on the beach in the afternoons. I was finally able to meet my director today at the school and get into the classroom I will be teaching at least some of my classes in. My director seems nice and hopefully we will be able to establish a good working relationship. The classroom is really nice as well. We have a white board and a cabinet with books, stickers and school supplies past volunteers have left. It is definitely not enough to sustain my for the entire year, but it will at least help with the first couple of weeks.
School officially starts on Monday. This is also when I will be receiving my class schedule. It is difficult to plan prior to school starting when I don't know exactly what I will be teaching, but I am making do and will learn to improvise I'm sure.
I am thinking of all of you and hoping that you are doing well. Please keep me in your thoughts come Monday!
I am officially back in Manuel Antonio enjoying the warm weather and the beach! My days here this past week have basically consisted of running and planning in the mornings and studying Spanish on the beach in the afternoons. I was finally able to meet my director today at the school and get into the classroom I will be teaching at least some of my classes in. My director seems nice and hopefully we will be able to establish a good working relationship. The classroom is really nice as well. We have a white board and a cabinet with books, stickers and school supplies past volunteers have left. It is definitely not enough to sustain my for the entire year, but it will at least help with the first couple of weeks.
School officially starts on Monday. This is also when I will be receiving my class schedule. It is difficult to plan prior to school starting when I don't know exactly what I will be teaching, but I am making do and will learn to improvise I'm sure.
I am thinking of all of you and hoping that you are doing well. Please keep me in your thoughts come Monday!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Back from Bataan
Hello all! I have been on an adventure to say the least! I am back from Bataan (I have actually been back since yesterday) and yes, it is a little earlier then I expected. I will start with the beginning of my adventure. So, as I said before, the other volunteers and I decided to do Techos Para Mi Pais, which is an organization that builds temporary relief houses and then later goes back and builds permanent housing after helping the family members get jobs and become more financially stable. The organization is run in 13 different countries and, as a precursor to my story, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for what this organization does. That being said, it just was not our week!
The week started with us having to meet all the others going on the trip at Parque Nacional in San Jose on Monday. We all stayed in a hostel on Sunday night because we had to be at the park by 12. After meeting up with our director, we sat in a big ampitheater like thing and listened to Bob Marley and talked. We ended up leaving the park close to four. Talk about living on Tico time! We boarded the buses only to find out that there were not enough seats for everyone. I ended up being one of the lucky few who got to stand for the three hour bus ride to Bataan. It actually was not as bad as it sounds and I did have a few very kind young people (all the other volunteers, besides those from WorldTeach, were in the late teens or very early 20s) offer to trade with me.
When we arrived in Bataan, it was pouring rain and freezing! We pulled up to a school and were told that this would be our home for the next 5 days. They opened the classrooms up and we moved the desks and chairs to the back to make room for our sleeping bags. It was raining so hard at this point, it was difficult to hear the scraping of the metal desks against the concrete floors that would become our beds. After unpacking and getting situated, we had dinner. Dinner was served around 11. By this time, we were all exhausted and headed to our "beds". It rained throughout the entire night. Sometimes it was so loud, it would wake you up. Then again, I may have been woken up by the feeling of my hip bones digging into the cement. It´s a toss-up.
The next morning we were woken up at 5. We had breakfast, dressed in our shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes and headed out to our work sites. Myself and another man in my group were assigned to carry a huge, wooden pole that probably weighed close to 75 pounds, on our shoulders. About three minutes into the walk, it started to rain like I have never seen rain before. It was raining so hard, it was hard to carry on a conversation with the person next to you. So here I am, walking in the pouring rain carrying a huge pole on my shoulders and slipping evrey once in a while in mud. During our walk, we continue to drop off groups of people at their work sites. My site is the last one. After walking for 25 minutes, we finally arrived to the place where we would be building. The last 300 meters or so was through a swamp. Once we got to our site, we met our family. My famliy consisted of a mom, dad and their four children. The mother was pregnant as well. After meeting the family, we got to work. I was put in charge of sawing the poles in half. This was definitely a job seeing that each pole was about 20 inches in diameter, it was pouring rain (which makes for very wet wood) and the others working with me had no experience with using a good ol fashioned hand saw. I sawed until right before lunch time. At this point, I had started to get hives. Luckily, one of the men working with me was an English professor here in Costa Rica and so he was bilingual. I had him explain to my group leader what was going on. She ended up calling for a truck to pick me up. About a half hour later, the truck arrives to pick up a very hivey Lizzie. The truck then had to make a couple of stops before he took me back to the school. Once back at the school, the person in charge there could not find the keys for me to get into my room. In all, from the time my group leader called the truck to the time I was let into the room to change, close to 2 hours had passed. I was itchy and red!
It continued to rain the rest of the day and the entire night. The next morning I spoke to the girl (she was only 18) in charge and told her that I would not be going out to work that day. I had to explain to her that it took way too long for me to be able to get warm and that it was extremely dangerous for me to get cold. I am not sure she really believed or understood what I was saying, but I did end up staying at the school the second day. Here, I cleaned the kitchen while the others sat, smoked, and watched me clean. After that, I had to clean the bathrooms (think cleaning portapotties...very similar). I then helped brainstorm things for the activity that night. It was an extremely uncomfortable, gross and boring day. By the end of the day when my fellow volunteers returned, I was very unhappy. The nice thing was, they were unhappy as well. Apparently they had spent the majority of the day just standing out in the rain waiting for the truck to come with the supplies they needed. The truck never came and some people literally stood in the rain for 4 hours waiting.
I decided that if it was still raining the next morning, I was going to head back to San Jose. There was no point in me staying in Bataan. I was not building houses and I did not feel like I had a real purpose there. A few of the other volunteers felt the same way and so we decided to get the 9 oclock bus out of Bataan the next morning. Funny thing is, when we went to get the bus, we were told they were not running due to the rain and flooding. We had to go back at noon. Luckily, we were able to get on and return to San Jose.
So in conclusion, this week is not what I had hoped for at all. There were times I was in tears and there were times my friends were in tears. If nothing else, it made me appreciate warm, dry Arizona, Amor (the organization I build with in Mexico) and how organized they are, and my fellow volunteers. It was an experience I will laugh about in a few months I am sure and it is something that has made me closer with those I will be spending the next year with.
The week started with us having to meet all the others going on the trip at Parque Nacional in San Jose on Monday. We all stayed in a hostel on Sunday night because we had to be at the park by 12. After meeting up with our director, we sat in a big ampitheater like thing and listened to Bob Marley and talked. We ended up leaving the park close to four. Talk about living on Tico time! We boarded the buses only to find out that there were not enough seats for everyone. I ended up being one of the lucky few who got to stand for the three hour bus ride to Bataan. It actually was not as bad as it sounds and I did have a few very kind young people (all the other volunteers, besides those from WorldTeach, were in the late teens or very early 20s) offer to trade with me.
When we arrived in Bataan, it was pouring rain and freezing! We pulled up to a school and were told that this would be our home for the next 5 days. They opened the classrooms up and we moved the desks and chairs to the back to make room for our sleeping bags. It was raining so hard at this point, it was difficult to hear the scraping of the metal desks against the concrete floors that would become our beds. After unpacking and getting situated, we had dinner. Dinner was served around 11. By this time, we were all exhausted and headed to our "beds". It rained throughout the entire night. Sometimes it was so loud, it would wake you up. Then again, I may have been woken up by the feeling of my hip bones digging into the cement. It´s a toss-up.
The next morning we were woken up at 5. We had breakfast, dressed in our shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes and headed out to our work sites. Myself and another man in my group were assigned to carry a huge, wooden pole that probably weighed close to 75 pounds, on our shoulders. About three minutes into the walk, it started to rain like I have never seen rain before. It was raining so hard, it was hard to carry on a conversation with the person next to you. So here I am, walking in the pouring rain carrying a huge pole on my shoulders and slipping evrey once in a while in mud. During our walk, we continue to drop off groups of people at their work sites. My site is the last one. After walking for 25 minutes, we finally arrived to the place where we would be building. The last 300 meters or so was through a swamp. Once we got to our site, we met our family. My famliy consisted of a mom, dad and their four children. The mother was pregnant as well. After meeting the family, we got to work. I was put in charge of sawing the poles in half. This was definitely a job seeing that each pole was about 20 inches in diameter, it was pouring rain (which makes for very wet wood) and the others working with me had no experience with using a good ol fashioned hand saw. I sawed until right before lunch time. At this point, I had started to get hives. Luckily, one of the men working with me was an English professor here in Costa Rica and so he was bilingual. I had him explain to my group leader what was going on. She ended up calling for a truck to pick me up. About a half hour later, the truck arrives to pick up a very hivey Lizzie. The truck then had to make a couple of stops before he took me back to the school. Once back at the school, the person in charge there could not find the keys for me to get into my room. In all, from the time my group leader called the truck to the time I was let into the room to change, close to 2 hours had passed. I was itchy and red!
It continued to rain the rest of the day and the entire night. The next morning I spoke to the girl (she was only 18) in charge and told her that I would not be going out to work that day. I had to explain to her that it took way too long for me to be able to get warm and that it was extremely dangerous for me to get cold. I am not sure she really believed or understood what I was saying, but I did end up staying at the school the second day. Here, I cleaned the kitchen while the others sat, smoked, and watched me clean. After that, I had to clean the bathrooms (think cleaning portapotties...very similar). I then helped brainstorm things for the activity that night. It was an extremely uncomfortable, gross and boring day. By the end of the day when my fellow volunteers returned, I was very unhappy. The nice thing was, they were unhappy as well. Apparently they had spent the majority of the day just standing out in the rain waiting for the truck to come with the supplies they needed. The truck never came and some people literally stood in the rain for 4 hours waiting.
I decided that if it was still raining the next morning, I was going to head back to San Jose. There was no point in me staying in Bataan. I was not building houses and I did not feel like I had a real purpose there. A few of the other volunteers felt the same way and so we decided to get the 9 oclock bus out of Bataan the next morning. Funny thing is, when we went to get the bus, we were told they were not running due to the rain and flooding. We had to go back at noon. Luckily, we were able to get on and return to San Jose.
So in conclusion, this week is not what I had hoped for at all. There were times I was in tears and there were times my friends were in tears. If nothing else, it made me appreciate warm, dry Arizona, Amor (the organization I build with in Mexico) and how organized they are, and my fellow volunteers. It was an experience I will laugh about in a few months I am sure and it is something that has made me closer with those I will be spending the next year with.
Monday, February 2, 2009
in san jose
Well, I wasn't going to update my blog until after returning from Limon, which will be on the 8th, but I am at a hostel in San Jose and figured I might as well give everyone a quick update.
A couple of weekends ago, the other volunteers and I visited the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We went to a beach called Cahuita and it was beautiful! It was like a mini Jamaica in Costa Rica. We heard a lot of people saying phrases such as yah maan and such. Cahuita was a small town that had two main beaches. One of the beaches had black sand and the other white sand. We spent most of our time on the beach with the black sand mainly because none of us had ever been to a beach with black sand. During our first day on the beach, it started to rain. Since we have become increasingly aware of Costa Rican weather and knew that it might be pouring one minute and sunny the next, we decided to go in the ocean...it was way warmer in the ocean then on the beach...and wait out the rain. It was definitely a cool sensation to be in a warm ocean in the rain. Eventually, it stopped raining and we were able to enjoy the beach once more. We ate a lot of good food, a few drinks and danced A LOT! The weekend was a lot of fun and a good chance for the other volunteers and I to relax a bit after our week of practicum and Spanish classes.
Orientation is officially over. It ended on the 31st and I headed back to Manuel Antonio. The bus ride is getting much easier. I didn't get sick at all and on the way back into San Jose, I was actually able to watch what was going on outside without my stomach turning. Progress. It was nice to be able to unpack in Manuel Antonio. While in Orosi, I didn't want to unpack everything because I was only going to be there for a month. I was able to get myself situated in Manuel Antonio and although my underwear is in a tubberware, I feel like I have established myself in a room. I have a home. I absolutely love my family so far in Manuel Antonio. They are super patient with my Spanish and remind each other to speak slowly when speaking with me...my host brother tends to forget I am not quite on his level of Spanish yet.
We are currently staying in San Jose for the night because tomorrow we are off to help build emergency shelters in Bataan, Limon. Each year, WorldTeach volunteers are required to do one extra group project. This year, we decided to help with hurricane relief through an organization called Techos de mi Pais...translation - The roof of my country. I was able to borrow a hammer from my host family and bought a tape measure and work gloves at the hardware store. We meet the rest of the group we will be traveling to Limon with tomorrow at noon. I promise to give you all a full update on the trip when I return.
To all my cardinals fans - it was a good game. Myself and a few of my fellow volunteers watched the game at a bar in Manuel Antonio. I was able to get almost everyone to cheer for the Cardinals! It was a close game and a fun one to watch.
I love you all. To those at SSJ, good luck in Mexico! Good luck to you too Nick. I hope you are all well and please write me! I love hearing what is going on at home!
Paz y Amor.
A couple of weekends ago, the other volunteers and I visited the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We went to a beach called Cahuita and it was beautiful! It was like a mini Jamaica in Costa Rica. We heard a lot of people saying phrases such as yah maan and such. Cahuita was a small town that had two main beaches. One of the beaches had black sand and the other white sand. We spent most of our time on the beach with the black sand mainly because none of us had ever been to a beach with black sand. During our first day on the beach, it started to rain. Since we have become increasingly aware of Costa Rican weather and knew that it might be pouring one minute and sunny the next, we decided to go in the ocean...it was way warmer in the ocean then on the beach...and wait out the rain. It was definitely a cool sensation to be in a warm ocean in the rain. Eventually, it stopped raining and we were able to enjoy the beach once more. We ate a lot of good food, a few drinks and danced A LOT! The weekend was a lot of fun and a good chance for the other volunteers and I to relax a bit after our week of practicum and Spanish classes.
Orientation is officially over. It ended on the 31st and I headed back to Manuel Antonio. The bus ride is getting much easier. I didn't get sick at all and on the way back into San Jose, I was actually able to watch what was going on outside without my stomach turning. Progress. It was nice to be able to unpack in Manuel Antonio. While in Orosi, I didn't want to unpack everything because I was only going to be there for a month. I was able to get myself situated in Manuel Antonio and although my underwear is in a tubberware, I feel like I have established myself in a room. I have a home. I absolutely love my family so far in Manuel Antonio. They are super patient with my Spanish and remind each other to speak slowly when speaking with me...my host brother tends to forget I am not quite on his level of Spanish yet.
We are currently staying in San Jose for the night because tomorrow we are off to help build emergency shelters in Bataan, Limon. Each year, WorldTeach volunteers are required to do one extra group project. This year, we decided to help with hurricane relief through an organization called Techos de mi Pais...translation - The roof of my country. I was able to borrow a hammer from my host family and bought a tape measure and work gloves at the hardware store. We meet the rest of the group we will be traveling to Limon with tomorrow at noon. I promise to give you all a full update on the trip when I return.
To all my cardinals fans - it was a good game. Myself and a few of my fellow volunteers watched the game at a bar in Manuel Antonio. I was able to get almost everyone to cheer for the Cardinals! It was a close game and a fun one to watch.
I love you all. To those at SSJ, good luck in Mexico! Good luck to you too Nick. I hope you are all well and please write me! I love hearing what is going on at home!
Paz y Amor.
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