5 June 2006

I began teaching today after a week of just being in the house. I thought maybe I'd observe the first day, but no. They decided to throw me right in. The first thing I did was teach the 3rd graders English. I was told 40 minutes but after that time was up, Armando, still wasn't back. He's the director of the school and also the maestro of 3rd grade. So after colors I went straight into the numbers 11-20 since they already knew 1-10. Then the kids had recess where the boys mostly played soccer and the girls played tag or sat with the only other female teacher. And of course they harassed and stared at me a bit. Many of them would hide behind someone else as soon as they realized I was looking at them but that's okay. I understand that I'm kind of the alien in that group. After recess, I taught 2nd graders colors in English and then I did colors and numbers in 1st grade. 1st grade was by far the most difficult because they can neither read nor write well. So what I had to do was point to an object and say the color in Spanish and then in English. The 1st maestro also helped me out. He often had to translate some things because the 1st graders still speak mainly just Tzutuhil. 2nd grade was a little better but not a whole lot. 3rd grade I liked because they could understand and write down what I wrote. One thing I realized though: little kids can't multitask like we have to in college. I'd have to write down and explain, and then give the kids at least 20 minutes to copy it. And of course, they had to write just so, with no mistakes so it took forever and I had a lot of time standing around trying to help but there's not much I can do when they're just copying the board. Another thing that's different is that the teacher looks at the notes the kids took and grades each one, though mainly just a quick look over.