¿cachai?

i´ve been at Escuela República de México for 3 days now, and i feel like i´ve just been so lucky to have been placed here. i feel so lucky to be placed with my AMAZING host family as well!! everyone here has been SO WARM, tan cariñosos, tan amables...especially the students! with every step i take in the school hallway, i hear a "hi miss," "hola miss," and many times i´ve been surrounded by students who all want to greet me with a kiss on the cheek (which is my favorite part of chilean culture, or latin american--and filipino!--culture for that matter). i´m soo going to bring this back to america. i´ve realized how cold and distant the american culture is, in comparison!

i haven´t started teaching my own classes yet; this week is reserved for observing my coteacher´s (who is also my host sister btw) english classes. and good lord does she have a lot of classes that she teaches! she works about 45 hours a week!! she teaches multiple grades, primarily 5th-8th grades, but she also teaches 2 3rd grade classes, 2 1st grade classes, 1 2nd grade class and a kindergarten class. she is seriously mi heroina. in fact today, she didn´t even have a lunch hour! during the normal lunch hour, she had to teach the 2nd grade class. she literally only had 10 minutes to eat her lunch before she was off to teach another class of 40 rowdy students. teachers are overlooked EVERYWHERE in the world! moreover, in the chilean public school system, teachers rotate from class to class, not students. there aren´t enough funds or resources to provide a classroom for each teacher. i, however, will have my own english sala because it was mandated by the ministry of education. one requirement the participating schools had to fulfill was provide the english-speaking volunteers a classroom of their own. i feel pretty bad about this, but what can i do? undoubtedly, this is going to make my job a lot easier...in addition to the fact that i will be teaching 20 students at a time, instead of all 40.

in the classes i´ve visited this week (along with many more to come at the end of this week), ruth, my coteacher, has had the students individually stand up and introduce themselves to me. each would repeat the script, "hello, my name is __________. nice to meet you," and i would respond with the obvious "nice to meet you too." as redundant as this might sound to us angloparlantes, this is nonetheless such good practice for my students because i´ve realized how poor their english speaking skills are and that they have little confidence in speaking english. and their comprehension skills? even worse as you can imagine. i am adopting an ENGLISH ONLY attitude with all my students, in which i only speak to them in english, even if they speak to me in spanish and don´t understand the majority of what i am saying. during the question/answer session each class has had with me, i rely heavily on gestures and drawing pictures on the board to make myself understood, which i gladly can say has been really successful! it´s very challenging i have to say, and i´m sure even more so next week once i start teaching on my own, but i am confident that they will get the hang of things. starting day 1 next week, i will fervently demand, ENGLISH IN (the classroom), and SPANISH OUT. i am determined to improve my students´english oral and comprehension skills...and i am damn excited to start.

Hoy día, agradezco a (today, i am grateful for)...
mis alumnos (my students) for all the lovely cards and posters and pictures and constructions they´ve made for me, welcoming me to the school. all my student´s besitos. their enthusiasm for learning english! making myself understood, speaking in only english to them! my kind and warm colleagues. my amazing host sister/coteacher, who i absolutely love! she always has a smile on her face, even when she´s exhausted. my host sister's support of my relationship with edgar, and understanding my need to talk to him every day. for edgar, and his love for me. i am sooo glad he is so positive and is doing so well! and seeing how productive he´s been! all our phone conversations and feeling more confident in strength of our relationship. the lovely presentation ceremony the school held to welcome me to the school and introduce me to the students. the welcome snack the teachers planned for me today in the teacher´s lounge. FEELING SO WELCOMED! talking to adrianne on gchat the other day. receiving an email from june. hanging out with the other 4 gringuitos of chillán 2 days ago. seeing jason! la fiesta del chivo! a "that´s so raven" by one of my cute chubby students. being overfed. palta (avocado). too much tea and coffee (i am served friggin 5 times a day!). drinking the tap water here and feeling okay. my oh so kind 70 yr old host dad and the funny way that he repeats things. properly using the word "fome" in conversation. speaking spanish.