First week of teaching

Oh wow. I've survived my first week of teaching. It has certainly been a struggle but I think the worst is over. Now that the kids are used to seeing my around, I think they'll learn to respect my authority and will quiet down. That was really the main problem this first week--the kids just didn't know me, didn't know my limits, wanted to test me, didn't respect me. It was frustrating since, after watching the other teachers at the school, I was actually doing the exact same things as they were but my kids would always misbehave to the max. It'll get a bit more calm after that respect is gained, I'm thinking.

And actually, I've been put in charge of my own classes much more than I had expected. As it turned out, on Tuesday, instead of me just helping the other teachers, I was put in charge of my host mom's class, Primero de Basica, because she had to go to a meeting. The beginning was rough--I just sorta sat there since another teacher would come in to tell the kids what to do. But by the end of the day, I actually managed to do a lesson by myself with them. I was told they needed to learn the vowel "u" and was given some sheets of paper with the letter "u" drawn on them that the kids were supposed to paint. The last project they'd done was to paint so we just colored the block letter "u" instead. And then, because that took like 5 minutes, I played teacher for a bit and started asking them words that started with "u." (I had to fetch my dictionary, though. I've discovered there aren't many Spanish words starting with "u" besides unicornio, uñas, uvas, and uno.) So I drew pictures of these things on the board and they copied them onto their papers. I was so proud. They managed to fill their entire paper with "u" things and even practiced writing the letter "u" several times.

The next day we had English classes, which went a bit better than on Monday. We managed to stay on schedule and had a lesson for every class. Pre Kinder was better but still not great, Primero de Basica was overall really good, and then Basica was fine until the end when four boys ended up playing a game in the bathroom rather than participate in our beautiful rendition of the song "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

Then today everyone had music class, which normally wouldn't mean anything different but the usual music teacher was home sick and her husband was there to take her place. The other teachers had me help him out the whole day, following him from class to class. So we sang lots and lots of songs and even went on a little walk up the hill from the school ("to listen to the sounds in nature." We ended up coming back with arms full of wildflowers because the kids just couldn't resist picking them.) It felt like what my job SHOULD be like--helping out the main teacher with his lesson plan. I'm finding with Adriana that I'm actually the main teacher. Claro, she knows more Spanish than I do, but she's too quiet and calm for the kids and is totally not used to working with this age group. (She's been teaching teens and adults for 15 years.) She told me on Wednesday that she wasn't going to come back--she couldn't stand the kids and couldn't teach them. I really do hope she comes back or, at least, that my host mom finds another English teacher.

I absolutely love these kids, though. I've been spending lots of time with Primero de Basica (ages 5-6) so I'm getting to know them pretty well. There's Fernando who is a very fast learner and the best student in the class (but not in behaviorÉ.) Anabel and Camila are best buds and a wild pair, especially Anabel who today colored her paper entirely black because she was in a bad mood. She also likes to call me "Lellie" which is super cute. Chubby Alex always brings a little white stuffed dog to school and is just such a sweet kid. I saw him and Camila getting their flirt on during recess the other dayÉgotta watch out for those two =) Then there's Jonathon who's also a good student, very loud, and has a mouth full of rotting teeth. Very cute. Lastly, we have Talia and Josue. Josue takes about 5 years to eat his lunch because he eats so freaking much for such a tiny kid. Most of the kids have leftovers from their lunches, give them to Josue, who then totally devours all of it, but very slowly. And Talia is actually 8 years old, I think, but she's one of our special kids. You have to help her out with her schoolwork every step of the way, but she's got a super grin and the cutest way of running up to you to give you a big hug.

This weekend was also pretty interesting. On Friday, we had a going away party for Sigrun. She only has about 2 weeks left in Ecuador before it's back to chilly Iceland for her. Now, I had thought that this going away party was going to be a calm shindig with invitees like our host family's family (grandparents, cousins, etc.) and some of Sigrun's friends. It turned out being a grand party--lots of Sigrun's volunteer friends came, I invited a few of mine as well, and my host bro and sis invited some cousins. It was quite eventful--loud music, lots of dancing, even a power outage (which of course meant continuing by candlelight). Definitely not what I had expected but great fun all the same!

Then, because a few friends from the night before had spent the night (they live 3.5 hours away), we all went into Quito the next day just to hang out, do some laundry, eat food, etc. Which would've been a grand plan if it hadn't poured all day long. So we ended up walking around in the rain for hours and now I've got the inevitable walk-around-all-day-in-the-rain sickness and have lost my voice. I'm a little worried how I'm going to control my wild kids tomorrow at school with just a whisper for a voiceÉ. It's always an adventure here in Ecuador!

After this coming week of more intense volunteer work, it's Carnival! It's a national holiday, I believe, in all Latin American countries, so everyone gets off work and school. So we volunteers are going to the coast for the weekend! Parties, dancing, tanning, swimming--we all can't wait!