La Llorona
My morning class today were complete devils. They were running around, punching each other, wrestling each other, and wouldn´t do anything. That was the GOOD part of the morning. Then one of the girls, the main ringleader, decided to tell the rest of the class that she heard La Llorona. La Llorona is a legend in Guatemala about a woman who drowned her baby in a river, then felt so bad about it she cried so loud the whole country could hear. Now, whenever anything bad is about to happen, people say that they can hear La Llorona. When Hurricane Stan hit however many years ago, the whole Itzapa community swears they hear La Llorona and moved to higher ground and that´s why nobody drowned. Anyway, this caused absolute CHAOS. One kids was crying, others were screaming, lots of yelling, you´d think the apocalypse was coming. Priti had to come calm them down. At least for today, you´d swear all but 3 kids were the spawn of Satan. I introduced the new star charts today to reward good behavior and that thing was SPARSE.
My afternoon class is made of complete angels. They´re amazingly well-behaved. They´re quiet, they work quickly, they do what they´re told, and their star chart was full for today.
Mom asked me a few days ago if I like teaching, and I do, but I think it´s because I´m teaching here with kids who really need it and appreciate it. I mean, honestly, if these kids weren´t in school, they´d be working in the fields or weaving. Literally. I mentioned to Priti that they all want to do math all the time and she told me it´s especially those kids whose families own stores, so they can go home and help add and subtract in the store. It´s a different life here. I also like that I´m teaching in Spanish. I don´t know why, but everything´s just more fun in a different language. I´m probably one of the few that thinks that, but it´s fun. And I´ve got some pretty decent Spanish skills - being able to say that I taught math, natural science, social science and Spanish all in Spanish will look sorta impressive on a resume.
One of the challenging things about teaching here is that these kids don´t really know how to think for themselves. In school they´re told to copy down stuff on the board and they never have any idea what tehy´re supposed to be learning. So today I had them copy something on how we protect the environment (Reducir, Reusar, y Reciclar ... the same in English) and then I told them to answer a question after - How do we protect the environment? No idea. None. I was like, "It´s on the board! We just talked about it!" Nope, no idea. I need to get them to do things that use their imaginations. I´ll figure it out. Suggestions are welcome - I could use them.
We went to Chichicastenango yesterday and it was fun. Crazy, but fun. It´s the big market sorta by the lake. I got most of my gift-shopping done there. I´ve been getting stuff here and there that I´m not sure if I´m keeping them or giving them away, but I´ve got a lot of stuff to give. And it´s SO CHEAP. Guatemala rocks.
My afternoon class is made of complete angels. They´re amazingly well-behaved. They´re quiet, they work quickly, they do what they´re told, and their star chart was full for today.
Mom asked me a few days ago if I like teaching, and I do, but I think it´s because I´m teaching here with kids who really need it and appreciate it. I mean, honestly, if these kids weren´t in school, they´d be working in the fields or weaving. Literally. I mentioned to Priti that they all want to do math all the time and she told me it´s especially those kids whose families own stores, so they can go home and help add and subtract in the store. It´s a different life here. I also like that I´m teaching in Spanish. I don´t know why, but everything´s just more fun in a different language. I´m probably one of the few that thinks that, but it´s fun. And I´ve got some pretty decent Spanish skills - being able to say that I taught math, natural science, social science and Spanish all in Spanish will look sorta impressive on a resume.
One of the challenging things about teaching here is that these kids don´t really know how to think for themselves. In school they´re told to copy down stuff on the board and they never have any idea what tehy´re supposed to be learning. So today I had them copy something on how we protect the environment (Reducir, Reusar, y Reciclar ... the same in English) and then I told them to answer a question after - How do we protect the environment? No idea. None. I was like, "It´s on the board! We just talked about it!" Nope, no idea. I need to get them to do things that use their imaginations. I´ll figure it out. Suggestions are welcome - I could use them.
We went to Chichicastenango yesterday and it was fun. Crazy, but fun. It´s the big market sorta by the lake. I got most of my gift-shopping done there. I´ve been getting stuff here and there that I´m not sure if I´m keeping them or giving them away, but I´ve got a lot of stuff to give. And it´s SO CHEAP. Guatemala rocks.