I awoke around 5:30 a.m. this morning right before my alarm went off. The constant sound of the rain pattering outside my window had ceased from hours before. I thanked my lucky stars I wouldn’t have to battle the rain on the back of Marvin’s (a teacher at El Yalu) motorcycle on the way to school. My mind started visualizing how I wanted my English lessons to go today. While envisioning students responding with perfect English pronunciation in perfect harmony, my alarm went off interrupting my unrealistic fantasy (if you are a teacher you know what I mean). I quickly ate eggs, fresh pineapple, and bread made by my house mom, Teresa, and only got a gulp of coffee down before I heard Marvin’s knock at the door.
The motorcycle crept up the mountainside while buses and cars zipped past us. I was secretively glad that this motorcycle didn’t have the guts to speed like the crazy bus drivers I’ve sat behind. After leaving the main highway, we drove on a paved road for awhile and then a dirt one encircled by mountainous fields of green farmland. We always drive through a few small villages that are absolutely captivating because everything is so authentically Guatemalan. Along this dirt road machetes, knee high rubber boots, women caring anything (baskets, sticks, rice bags) on their heads, colorful water jugs, tortillas, and men on horseback are a dime a dozen. Stray dogs lounging in the streets (the more stray dogs, the more poverty I’ve learned), cows wondering about, and young children running barefoot added some challenge to maneuvering the motorcycle.
After conversing with Marvin for a few minutes, I headed to the first of six classrooms. I taught more vocab today by sticking labels to things in the classroom. I had a student and the teacher wear labels for “student” and “teacher” which the class thought was hilarious. The students learned pronouns with a physical action corresponding to each word (for me I point to myself, etc) and they also learned a few verbs like run, see, and write, which all had an action too. Next time we will put it together to make basic sentences (I run., They see.) and add to it from there. Gary, Director at Avivara, gave me some great tips on how to build on the students’ knowledge base of English in a way more similar to how a young child learns their first language. I think it’s a smart approach that would have served me well back in high school Spanish class.
At recess the teachers learned an interesting line dance, while laughing hysterically. Students stood in the doorway or on buckets to watch through the windows. During that time the students ran wild while I took video tape. I noticed a lot of students were washing their hands after using the bathroom and drinking out of the same metal barrels containing muddy water. The school had a functioning water faucet for awhile, but it hasn’t worked since I’ve been there. I wish schools outside of big cities had more support for resources. There seems to be virtually none from the government.
I finished teaching my last class feeling like it went almost text-book perfect. When I walked out the door, the teacher from the class I was just teaching (he doesn’t stay while I teach) had a panicked look on his face and said, “Where are the kids (translated to English)?”. I had let the students leave after my lesson because I thought school was over and the teacher hadn’t returned. Luckily, it was only 20 minutes early and he laughed about it. Guatemalan’s just role with things. The students didn’t seem to mind either.
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