As you may have noticed, I've been suffering lately from pretty severe writer's block. I think it's because things have completely normalized here and I'm finding it difficult to just write about the day to day routine. Here are some pretty unremarkable updates for now:
Now that the school year's well on it's way, I've become immediately busy again. I'm still “co-teaching” with seven teachers, three of whom I worked with last year. The other four I was working with were all moved to lower grades, so I got to select new ones to pair up with. I've started off on a pretty good foot with the majority of them as far as getting to know all of our students and teaching some great science lessons...now we just need to master the art of co-planning, an ominous task that seems to drain all of us.
I've also been giving some pretty good teacher training workshops. I've covered topics such as behavior modification through rules/routines/consequences/positive reinforcement, games and bonus activities, keeping students busy etc. I also gave a workshop on all of the environmental projects (school gardens, tree nurseries, organic composting, trash management) to my four schools combined during the monthly “Pedagogical Circle” meeting that all of the teachers must attend here. This way, since I can't work with every single teacher individually, they all still received training on how to execute each project with their own classes. Having success/failure stories (maybe more of the latter) to work with from last year helped a lot.
Overall, the teachers have been extremely receptive to all of the workshops, even requesting new topics and offering to stay extra hours at school to receive them. This has motivated me to continue analyzing different strategies I've learned both through formal college classes, and just from my own personal experiences as a student in the US Public School System. Last year I was too insecure in my Spanish and in my teaching ability to give many teacher training sessions. Who was I to tell a bunch of experienced teachers how to improve their classes? Now though, after learning from them and working among them, I've realized that I too have a lot to offer. Just shining a new light on certain topics and presenting different strategy ideas has become my goal for right now.
Outside of my official work in the schools, I've also reconstructed my community English classes. I now have four different levels, with students ranging from ages 11-36, plus an elementary level with the 5th and 6th graders from one of my outer communities, Chacalapa. With weekly quizzes, I've been able to monitor their progress, and it seems that their class presentations, games, and conversation practice have motivated them all to actually study!
Project wise, we've started up tree nurseries in all three of my schools. They're coming along pretty well, because the teachers are really on board this year. We've made chore charts, and the kids are really motivated to take care of them. They've all used recycled materials to label their plants, and to make signs explaining the importance of protecting their trees.
In one of my schools, we've also begun to make a border for the school garden with all of the recycled 3 liter bottles we collected the year before. It's the only school where we don't have to worry about chickens, cows, horses, or worst of all pigs, so instead of enclosing the garden with wire or fencing, the kids decided to do it with just bottles.
Last but not least, this past weekend, a fellow volunteer and I headed up a pool tournament in my town to raise HIV awareness. Since I generally only work with the youth in the schools, I wanted to reach out to a different sub-culture with the AIDS education that Peace Corps encourages in all sectors and in all countries. So, I decided the pool hall was a great place to start. After getting permission and support from the billiard owner, I was off to find the prizes. I was able to get a grand prize of 500 cordobas for first place (half from the Mayor, half from Fundacion Uno), a dinner at the restaurant in my town for second place, and an appetizer at the bar for the person that answered the most questions correctly after the charlas we gave! We even got soda donated for the players by one of the store owners in my town.
After all that running around, and after planning the 3 charlas (lessons), I realized that the project would actually require me, a woman, to enter the billiard hall in my town!! (Cue ominous “dum dum dummm!”) What would the people in my town say? As soon as I got there, I put up a sign outside that explained that the tournament was to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and I decided that was enough of an explanation. I reminded myself that those who wanted to talk about me would do so regardless, and therefore decided I didn't care. The guys inside were completely respectful and actually really into the charlas and everything! They played four rounds in total, and between each round we taught mini lessons about HIV transmission, prevention, treatment, etc. After the semi-final, we had a round of questions with some extremely enthusiastic participants, which means they really did learn! The guys that usually hang out on the street outside even came in for the charlas, and I'd say in total we reached about 40 guys! (Even some of my girl friends showed up to support the cause!) Overall I'd say it was a great success!
I apologize for not updating sooner. Like I said, I've been really busy and hadn't found anything interesting enough to write about on here. I hope these updates will suffice for now!
