I was a little nervous about teaching today. Marvin, one of the teachers at El Yalu, picked me up at 6:30 a.m. on the dot in his motorcycle (graciously volunteering to do so for the school). On the way to the school, the steep hills of checkered green farmland (all tended by hand) created a calming effect. Muy tranquilo! one would say here. Even at this early hour, the sides of the roads were busy with people on a mission to get to one place or another, usually with some indication of where they were going… women carrying corn to the mill or water jugs on their heads for home, men with machetes and garden tools setting off for the fields. Even the cows and horses were busy clearing out the plants along the sides of the roads.
We drove through some impoverished small villages before arriving at the school El Yalu. Ninety-two percent of people live in poverty here and 24 percent in extreme poverty. It always amazes me to see this schools tucked away on hilltops, which seem to be located so far away from anything. It makes me think, “Where do all of these kids come from?” El Yalu has over 350 students. Once we arrived at El Yalu, Marvin filled me in on what I was doing for the day after he helped a student through a small classroom window to unlock the door to his classroom. Apparently, it was somehow locked from the inside the day before. We laughed about it and I teased him that it was part of his daily routine. Marvin likes to smile and laughs a lot and seems to have a lot of energy (I’m glad he’s a teacher). Marvin told me that I’d be teaching English to 6 classes today from grades 2 through 6 for about 45 minutes each with 30 plus students in each. Every time I talked to someone about what I’d be doing at El Yalu, the number of classes, length in each class, etc. always changed. At first I thought in my head, “Whoa, that’s a lot for my first day,” but I also knew it meant meeting more kids, which I was excited about.
I met the directors and many of the teachers before class. Most of the women at El Yalu have beautiful Mayan skirts and blouses, including the director. I am very fascinated by them. I felt a little bit at a loss because there were so many things I wanted to ask the teachers and chat with them about, but my Spanish can be a little limiting. They were very welcoming and friendly, which put me at ease.
The first class of the day was a bit of a test run. I started by introducing myself and asking the students about their languages (Kaqchikel and Spanish). I told them that I was a Spanish student and they were now English students so we were going to learn together. We practiced common phrases and everyone learned how to introduce themselves in English. I used my hands quite a bit and made a lot of gestures using body language. For all I know, I left with the students thinking I was teaching American sign language (I hope not!). We did a lot of things chorally and wrapped it all up with classroom vocab. The students did an excellent job pronouncing English words and I played a fun game to check for understanding of their new vocabulary at the end.
At lunch a teacher taught me how to say hello and goodbye in Kaqchikel. It’s a Mayan dialect and very difficult for any outsider, to say the least. The language has a lot of clicks and throat sounds. Hi is utz a wach. Goodbye is Keri’k’a. The ‘ represents a click with the back of the throat.
My last class of the day seemed the most interesting. A pig was squealing on one side of the building. I was teaching sixth grade so the students already had the giggles. For many of the classes, the teachers left so I was alone with the students. I kind of like that because it gives me a little more freedom to be goofy and animated when teaching in order to raise the energy and enthusiasm in the classroom. About 10 younger kids came to the door and watched the 2nd half of the lesson (kids here are always peaking their heads into places to see what’s going on). At the end of class quite a few students said thank you and goodbye in English. Students tend to be a little reserved and shy here so I know that took courage. Next time I will have to say goodbye to them in Kaqchikel.
No comments:
Post a Comment