The water’s out right now. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the Upala region, but its frequency doesn’t make it any less annoying when it happens. Last night there was an accident on a bridge over the Chimurria river and a car hit the water pipe that runs beside the bridge. The bridge hasn’t had guard rails for the past year and a half, and has always been a major safety concern for the community. One of the guard rails was taken off during a flood and the other was taken off during a car accident. About a year ago the elementary school organized a petition to the municipality to fix the bridge, but the petition was basically ignored, and the bridge has remained guardrail-less. People are talking about using this accident as motivation to write another petition. I hope this time the municipality listens.
There was another accident earlier this week on the same stretch of road. A student from the elementary school was riding his bike home from school and he got hit by a motorcycle. He experienced some serious head trauma and they had to airlift him to the big hospital in San Jose. At first we weren’t sure if he was going to make it, but it looks like he is going to pull through. The stretch of road that he was riding on was the 1km of highway between the elementary school and the entrance for the pineapple plantations. Along this stretch is the guardrail-less bridge. About half of the students in the elementary school have to walk or ride their bikes down this stretch of highway in order to go to school. There are no school busses for elementary school, just high school. The highway is the biggest safety concern that my community faces, and I worry about my students that have to walk on the highway to get to school. I would love to see a sidewalk here, but I just don’t know where to begin to start up a project of that scale.
My secondary projects that I’m working on right now are much less grand, but are still taking up a lot of my energy. Some of the women in the community and I have started up a workout group for women and children. We do it twice a week for one hour sessions. For me, the class is important because there is no other organized effort to encourage fitness in women or children. The men have a soccer team, but the women’s soccer team disbanded a few years ago. At first there was a lot of interest in the workout group, but participation has started to drop off. We’ve been going for about two months now and I need to find a new way to get the momentum going again.
Another project I’m working on is organizing a summer camp. There is a two week break from school in July, and the pcv in Upala and I are working together to create a free summer camp for 40 kids. We’ve been working hard at figuring out crafts and activities that we can do that are entertaining and super low budget. We’ve also been writing letters asking for donations, and we walked around the town of Upala going to certain businesses asking if they could donate materials to our camp. I’ve also been writing letters trying to get snacks donated. We have been pretty successful so far. Some businesses were not interested in helping, but there were quite a few who were willing to help us out. We are still working on collecting materials- paint, thread to make friendship bracelets, and a few other small things. We are getting local youth to volunteer to be camp counselors, and some of our pcv friends want to help out, too. It really looks like we are going to pull this off. The camp will take place the second week of July, so we still have time to tie together all the loose ends. I am really looking forward to camp and seeing how it all turns out!
I have a lot of work to keep me busy, which is good because it is helping distract me from a big wave of homesickness that just struck. Three of my very good friends from college came up to visit me a few weeks ago. I had a blast hanging out with them, and they brought out parts of my personality that I mostly have to abandon while in my site. In my site I am always in bed by 9, no one thinks I’m funny, I’m always taken very seriously and I always take myself very seriously, all the other twenty-something’s are married with children and I don’t have a peer group. Loneliness is my biggest struggle as a PCV. It was nice to hang out with my friends from home and remember who I used to be. It was nice to have people laugh at my jokes and to have a social life again.
While my friends were visiting, I had an excuse to go traveling around Costa Rica! For most of my time as a volunteer I have stayed in my site and gone to San Jose a few times, but I haven’t really seen much of Costa Rica. It was great to go travel around this country like a tourist. We went dancing in San Jose, we went to Manuel Antonio- a national park along a beach, we toured the pineapple plantation of Upala, and we went to see the Arenal Volcano. The Peace Corps stipend I get doesn’t allow for me to do a lot of touristy things, but I got to see the sites and spend time with my friends. It was a really fun week, and it has been a little hard re-adjusting to life in my site. I miss my friends.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
More mangos
The week before Easter, holy week, is a week of prayer, reflection, mass, and if you work in the public school system: vacation. A PC friend came to visit me during holy week. She lives in the mountains, where they have coffee and apples. She is deprived of mangos, and since in Upala we have mangos coming out of our ears, we went to town and bought ourselves a bag of 10 perfectly ripe and extremely delicious mangos. Here is what we did with them:
3 mangos went into mango/orange juice popsicles.
2 mangos went to regular mango eating.
5 mangos went into a mango pie.
Our mango pie- while a great idea- ended up a little overcooked. So it turned into mango slop, but it was still delicious. We made a homemade cookie crumb crust (there are no graham crackers here) but we still ended out with a delicious crust. That was the only part that came out normal.
The filling: 4 mangos, sliced, and cooked down. A little bit of cream cheese, cinnamon, orange juice, cornstarch for thickener, and some nutmeg. We cooked the mangos down, and ended up cooking them into mush. Oops. But we added chunks of another ripe mango and 2 cut up bananas to add some texture back to it. In the end it was a sloppy mess of delicious flavors, and I could have eaten the entire thing by myself.
Another day that my friend was here we went on this ridiculous adventure. Her parents were Peace Corps Volunteers in Costa Rica in the 70s. Her Dad worked in a community called Los Chiles, which is in my neck of the woods. To get to it from Upala you have to go about 2.5 hours down a gravel road. From my site there are two busses that go to Los Chiles, one at 4:30 am, and another at 11am. The thing is, the last return bus leaves Los Chiles at 12 noon. In order to get there and come back on the same day we had to catch the 4:30 bus. We got to the bus stop a little early, in case the bus cam early. Nope. It came at 5:20, almost an hour late. So we got to see the sun creep up over Chimurria and listen to the howler monkeys wake up. The early morning, as painful as it is to get myself out of bed, is always worth it. It is easily the most peaceful time of day, and more importantly, the coolest. After about 8am the sweating starts.
So, we waited and waited and waited, got on the bus, rode down the dirt road, and arrived in Los Chiles just in time to get a typical Costa Rican breakfast from a little soda. Soda’s are small food serving establishments that offer typical Costa Rican food and have the low prices. The atmosphere is always plastic chairs, plastic table, plastic table cloth. The menu is just as predictable as the plastic decor. Breakfast: rice and beans, a coffee, and an egg. Lunch/Dinner: rice and beans and a plantain and a piece of meat.
Breakfast rice and beans are called “gallo pinto” roughly translated as “painted rooster.” They are different from lunch rice and beans because they are cooked together with onion and garlic, usually cilantro, and some salsa Lizano. Salsa Lizano is to Costa Rica as Ketchup is to the United States.
Lunch and Dinner rice and beans are served on a mixed plate called a “casado” or “married man.” A “casado” is a plate consisting primarily of rice and beans accompanied by a plantain and a serving of a third item (a piece of meat, some chopped veggies, etc).
That is your basic “soda” menu. It might vary a little from establishment to establishment. But you can’t find a soda that doesn’t offer “gallo pinto” for breakfast and a “casado” for lunch or dinner.
So, we got a gallo pinto at a soda in Los Chiles, and began our adventure. Our goal was to find the house that her dad had lived in, and maybe find some old friends. We got to the street where he had lived on, and knocked on doors asking people if they remembered a US citizen living there about 30 years ago. Addresses in Costa Rica are vague and never involve numbers or street names. So, we supposed that we found the street her dad lived on, but we weren’t entirely sure. We knew he lived in the middle of the street, but we didn’t know which house. The town of Los Chiles has exploded since the 70s, meaning now it has paved roads instead of dirt roads, and the population has grown substantially. All the people now living on that block had only lived in Los Chiles for about 20 years, and didn’t know her dad.
Then we went to the Red Cross, where her dad had worked, but the lady there had also not been there long enough to remember her dad.
Our last stop was the Catholic church. The priest had changed, but he talked to a secretary who did remember her dad. She referred us to another secretary, who went out and randomly asked a woman who was getting ready to attend a service if she knew of the ex PCV. And we had success. The woman we ended up tracking down was the sister of her dad’s best Costa Rican friend. They were the best of friends, and he ended up naming his youngest daughter after my friend’s mom. They had lost contact about eight years ago and we helped reunite them. It was such a good scavenger hunt.
In other news, teaching in three schools remains a daunting task. I feel like I’m spread too thin and I still have a hard time with all the kids names. But I am working on it. However, I have had some successful moments over the past three months since school has started.
1) This is the one I am most excited about. I have managed to get my teachers one day a month where we can sit down together and plan. English teachers aren’t given any planning time. They teach 8 straight hours a day (minus lunch and recess) and have to plan and grade at home. They all have families, and two of the three teachers I work with go to night class at universities in other towns. As such, it has been a struggle for me to find time to get together with them to plan. Additionally, amongst themselves, the English teachers never have time to share ideas, activities, or materials. They work different schedules and are never in the school at the same time. So, I went down to the regional office and proposed to the Ministry of Public Education wanted a PCV to work with the English teachers in their schools, that we needed time to plan together. So, now, once a month, we can get together for the entire day to lesson plan, bounce ideas around, and practice English. It is great. Our first “teacher work day” was a few weeks ago, and it was a total success. My teachers got to share successful activities and lesson plans with each other for the first time. And we were able to create some really great lesson plans together. It was the beginning of building a teacher network. I left school that day exhausted but so happy that we finally had some time to sit down and work together.
2) Songs. I have yet to bring a song into the classroom that the kids do not go crazy about. We did the hokey pokey for the 5th graders who were going over body parts. They loved it, told everyone at recess about it, and then the 4th and 6th graders wanted us to do the hokey pokey with them, too. They all LOVED they hokey pokey, especially the part when you “turn yourself around.” Every time they were in fits of giggles. In another school we sang a song about the days of the week. It is a simple song with simple lyrics. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders all learned it when they learned days of the week. Now, when I walk around town, the little kids stop me to sing the song to me.
3) Community class. I started a community English class that has been going on for about two months now. I intended the class to be for adults. A lot of the adults in my community had asked me to start up a class, so I wanted to start one for them. The adult attendees pretty immediately dropped out, but most of the younger attendees have stayed. Right now the youngest student is in 4th grade and the oldest is in 12th . I love teaching that class. There is complete freedom in curriculum, I don’t have to co-teach, and all my students want to be there.
3 mangos went into mango/orange juice popsicles.
2 mangos went to regular mango eating.
5 mangos went into a mango pie.
Our mango pie- while a great idea- ended up a little overcooked. So it turned into mango slop, but it was still delicious. We made a homemade cookie crumb crust (there are no graham crackers here) but we still ended out with a delicious crust. That was the only part that came out normal.
The filling: 4 mangos, sliced, and cooked down. A little bit of cream cheese, cinnamon, orange juice, cornstarch for thickener, and some nutmeg. We cooked the mangos down, and ended up cooking them into mush. Oops. But we added chunks of another ripe mango and 2 cut up bananas to add some texture back to it. In the end it was a sloppy mess of delicious flavors, and I could have eaten the entire thing by myself.
Another day that my friend was here we went on this ridiculous adventure. Her parents were Peace Corps Volunteers in Costa Rica in the 70s. Her Dad worked in a community called Los Chiles, which is in my neck of the woods. To get to it from Upala you have to go about 2.5 hours down a gravel road. From my site there are two busses that go to Los Chiles, one at 4:30 am, and another at 11am. The thing is, the last return bus leaves Los Chiles at 12 noon. In order to get there and come back on the same day we had to catch the 4:30 bus. We got to the bus stop a little early, in case the bus cam early. Nope. It came at 5:20, almost an hour late. So we got to see the sun creep up over Chimurria and listen to the howler monkeys wake up. The early morning, as painful as it is to get myself out of bed, is always worth it. It is easily the most peaceful time of day, and more importantly, the coolest. After about 8am the sweating starts.
So, we waited and waited and waited, got on the bus, rode down the dirt road, and arrived in Los Chiles just in time to get a typical Costa Rican breakfast from a little soda. Soda’s are small food serving establishments that offer typical Costa Rican food and have the low prices. The atmosphere is always plastic chairs, plastic table, plastic table cloth. The menu is just as predictable as the plastic decor. Breakfast: rice and beans, a coffee, and an egg. Lunch/Dinner: rice and beans and a plantain and a piece of meat.
Breakfast rice and beans are called “gallo pinto” roughly translated as “painted rooster.” They are different from lunch rice and beans because they are cooked together with onion and garlic, usually cilantro, and some salsa Lizano. Salsa Lizano is to Costa Rica as Ketchup is to the United States.
Lunch and Dinner rice and beans are served on a mixed plate called a “casado” or “married man.” A “casado” is a plate consisting primarily of rice and beans accompanied by a plantain and a serving of a third item (a piece of meat, some chopped veggies, etc).
That is your basic “soda” menu. It might vary a little from establishment to establishment. But you can’t find a soda that doesn’t offer “gallo pinto” for breakfast and a “casado” for lunch or dinner.
So, we got a gallo pinto at a soda in Los Chiles, and began our adventure. Our goal was to find the house that her dad had lived in, and maybe find some old friends. We got to the street where he had lived on, and knocked on doors asking people if they remembered a US citizen living there about 30 years ago. Addresses in Costa Rica are vague and never involve numbers or street names. So, we supposed that we found the street her dad lived on, but we weren’t entirely sure. We knew he lived in the middle of the street, but we didn’t know which house. The town of Los Chiles has exploded since the 70s, meaning now it has paved roads instead of dirt roads, and the population has grown substantially. All the people now living on that block had only lived in Los Chiles for about 20 years, and didn’t know her dad.
Then we went to the Red Cross, where her dad had worked, but the lady there had also not been there long enough to remember her dad.
Our last stop was the Catholic church. The priest had changed, but he talked to a secretary who did remember her dad. She referred us to another secretary, who went out and randomly asked a woman who was getting ready to attend a service if she knew of the ex PCV. And we had success. The woman we ended up tracking down was the sister of her dad’s best Costa Rican friend. They were the best of friends, and he ended up naming his youngest daughter after my friend’s mom. They had lost contact about eight years ago and we helped reunite them. It was such a good scavenger hunt.
In other news, teaching in three schools remains a daunting task. I feel like I’m spread too thin and I still have a hard time with all the kids names. But I am working on it. However, I have had some successful moments over the past three months since school has started.
1) This is the one I am most excited about. I have managed to get my teachers one day a month where we can sit down together and plan. English teachers aren’t given any planning time. They teach 8 straight hours a day (minus lunch and recess) and have to plan and grade at home. They all have families, and two of the three teachers I work with go to night class at universities in other towns. As such, it has been a struggle for me to find time to get together with them to plan. Additionally, amongst themselves, the English teachers never have time to share ideas, activities, or materials. They work different schedules and are never in the school at the same time. So, I went down to the regional office and proposed to the Ministry of Public Education wanted a PCV to work with the English teachers in their schools, that we needed time to plan together. So, now, once a month, we can get together for the entire day to lesson plan, bounce ideas around, and practice English. It is great. Our first “teacher work day” was a few weeks ago, and it was a total success. My teachers got to share successful activities and lesson plans with each other for the first time. And we were able to create some really great lesson plans together. It was the beginning of building a teacher network. I left school that day exhausted but so happy that we finally had some time to sit down and work together.
2) Songs. I have yet to bring a song into the classroom that the kids do not go crazy about. We did the hokey pokey for the 5th graders who were going over body parts. They loved it, told everyone at recess about it, and then the 4th and 6th graders wanted us to do the hokey pokey with them, too. They all LOVED they hokey pokey, especially the part when you “turn yourself around.” Every time they were in fits of giggles. In another school we sang a song about the days of the week. It is a simple song with simple lyrics. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders all learned it when they learned days of the week. Now, when I walk around town, the little kids stop me to sing the song to me.
3) Community class. I started a community English class that has been going on for about two months now. I intended the class to be for adults. A lot of the adults in my community had asked me to start up a class, so I wanted to start one for them. The adult attendees pretty immediately dropped out, but most of the younger attendees have stayed. Right now the youngest student is in 4th grade and the oldest is in 12th . I love teaching that class. There is complete freedom in curriculum, I don’t have to co-teach, and all my students want to be there.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
IST
I haven’t updated in almost a month. Honestly it is because I haven’t been inspired to write anything. Not that things are going poorly. I think what is happening is that I am starting to feel more like what I am experiencing is actually my life, there is less novelty about it. I am not sure what report back on. I think over the past day, week, month, and can’t come up with anything particular. But, in the spirit of blogging, and on sharing my peace corps experience with everyone back home, I write.
What has been happening?
1) I made it over the three month mark.
This is great news. It means that I made it through what is typically the most emotionally challenging time in my service. It also means that I got to go to San Jose for a two week training. In PC lingo the training is called IST (in service training).
2) IST
The PC put us up in a hotel with hot water, a gym, and a pool. I was shocked at how nice the hotel was considering how much PC Costa Rica’s budget has been cut this year. Apparently we get some crazy discount with the hotel, but still. So I got to have two weeks of AC, hot water, working out, cable TV, a pillow. It was luxurious. I also got to spend two weeks talking with my friends listening to their stories and sharing mine. It was such a relief to discover that all the things that had been frustrating for me (teachers not having time to co-plan, me not having time for non-English projects, school constantly being cancelled, lack of resources) were also issues with other volunteers. It’s not so much that misery loves company – but a realization that my biggest problems weren’t really a reflection of me or my site but were a systematic problem that could be more explained by holes in our project framework coupled with cultural differences.
I also got to learn from my peer’s success stories, and solicit their help/ideas in how I could improve my projects. There is no better/more creative/inspired group of people than my PCV friends. I love bouncing ideas around with them, and seeing what happens. To give a silly example: What to do with 15 mangos.
In Upala it is mango season. It is a glorious time of cheap mangos and howler monkeys on the prowl. The monkeys are always in our mango tree in our backyard, and I like to listen to them bark at each other. But, the other day in Upala, a PCV friend and I were joking about a sign advertising 15 mangos for less than $2.00 (imagine the price after bartering). What would you possibly need 15 mangos for? Then we starting coming up with ideas on how to use 15 mangos:
1) obviously – eat them with your large extended family
2) mango jelly
3) mango chutney
4) mango ice cream
5) mango yogurt (homemade yogurt is apparently easy)
6) mango/coconut curry
7) fruit salad
8) mango milkshake
9) mango juice
10) mango popsicle from leftover mango juice
11) mango pie
12) the list goes on indefinitely
At the end of mango discussion I was left thinking: “what can’t you do with 15 mangos?” Let me know what you would do with 15 ripe delicious local mangos. It is fun to think about. Especially given that most people in the US don’t usually think about how to use excess mangos. The topic of discussion is usually how to best utilize one mango. Mangos are never in season in North Carolina.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Art for Peace
This past weekend I went to la Fortuna to participate in a workshop called Art for Peace. It’s an event that the PCV’s in my region of Costa Rica put on each year. Volunteers bring elementary/middle school aged kids from their sites and everyone meets up in la Fortuna to have this big day of art. The PCVs set up tables, and the kids rotate from station to station. This year a lunch was also catered from a restaurant in la Fortuna that is run by an ex-pat. The whole event is free for the kids, and they get to meet kids from other parts of Costa Rica. For a lot of them it is the first time they have ever been able to travel outside of their communities. I had a theater table, and we did some improve games. I was nervous about my table at first, because as a rule, Costa Ricans are really shy. I have kids in some of my English classes who are still too shy to talk to me, and school has been in session for almost two months now. But, the kids at the workshop really got into the improve games, and I am thinking it might be fun to start a little theater club for the kids in my town.
I know that when I was a kid I was really shy, and theater really helped me feel more comfortable expressing myself. It sounds kind of dorky, but it’s true. I remember in 2nd grade I was invited to participate in OM – an activity where kids write and produce their own plays – and how acting on stage gave me this structured outlet to express emotions. I got on stage and acted all these things that I was too timid to do in real life. Slowly, the skill transferred from something I did on stage to something I did in life. Because of my experience with acting I changed from being painfully shy to generally shy to slightly shy. I continued with OM all through elementary school, and then did theater in middle school and high school. I still feel like I am shy person, but I tell people that and they laugh at me. I am shy on the inside, maybe, but I have figure out to act like I’m not.
Well, I got to thinking about how successful the one day workshop was, and how a theater club might be a good project to start up here. I have talked to some of the kids about it and they seem interested.
I haven’t written yet about how painfully shy the people in my town are. I am still overwhelmed by it. For instance, I was helping the committee that works with the senior citizens to organize a party. The party is something they do once a year for the senior citizens of Chimurria. They have a little band and music, and it’s just a way for the town to show their appreciation to the senior community. As I was wondering around the day of the party, helping organize things, I ran across a local friend. He is about 50 or so, and had been invited to the party because he had helped the committee a lot over the past year. I asked him if he was going to the party. He said he didn’t think so because he wasn’t used to being out in public like that. He has lived in the town his whole life (the town has a population of less than 600), and is too shy to go to a party for senior citizens because he is embarrassed to be seen by so many people –all of whom he knows and has known his entire life. In this instance the shyness just deters one man from enjoying a nice party, but there are a thousand instance that I can think of where that kind of shyness can have more detrimental effects. Especially for women and girls, who spend almost 90 percent of their time inside the walls of their own home, and are too shy to leave their houses alone.
I was also thinking a theater club might be good for another reason. In Chimurria, the girls and the boys do not play together. If they are playing soccer or baseball, it is always girls vs boys, and they can’t seem to work out how to play together. If it is not girls vs. boys, it is the girls playing one thing and then the boys playing another thing. They don’t have very much successful interaction together. Even in school they sit on opposite sides of the room, and eat on opposite sides of table at lunch time. I would love for them to be able to do something positive together, and to learn how to work with each other.
So, that is my new plan: start a theater club. Well see if it picks up. I hope so.
Back to the Art for Peace workshop:
So, I had a theater table. There was also friendship bracelets, origami, homemade play dough, making wallets from milk boxes, cake decorating, and a few other tables. Around 75 kids came, and I think the workshop was a great success.
After the workshop, a few of the PCVs spent the night in la Fortuna and hung out. La Fortuna is this Costa Rican tourist trap, mostly because of its location. It sits right at the bottom of an active volcano and is surrounded by hot springs. It is the kind of place where you see more tourists than locals. In fact, so few Costa Ricans go to la Fortuna, that the bus to Upala doesn’t even bother to go through it, and we had to catch our bus in a sleeper community about 7k outside of la Fortuna.
Hanging out with PCVs is like magic. Every time I spend time with my peers I leave incredibly impressed by the resourcefulness of my peer group. My friend wanted to make me a birthday cake, but there wasn’t an oven in the hostel. I kid you not, that between everyone we thought of at least 4 different ways to bake a cake without an oven. In the end she put a pot of water to boil on the stove, and put the cake batter in a covered pan over the boiling water. And if it wasn’t the tastiest chocolate birthday cake I ever had.
Friday, March 11, 2011
happy birthday to me!
Yesterday was my birthday and my host family surprised by planning me a surprise party. It was the sweetest thing. I kind of got a heads up from my 7-year-old little brother; he kind of has a hard time with the secrets.
We went over to a neighbors house who is raising an abandoned leopard cub...
Yeah, I know.
I hadn´t seen the baby leopard yet, and the pretext of the trip was to go see the cub. But when we got to the house, all my community friends were there! We ate tres leches cake, pizza, fruit, and there was even a piñata. It warmed my heart that they put so much effort into organizing and planning a little party for me. And it made me feel really special, and like I was really starting to be part of the community.
Also, and this is fun. There were no classes on my birthday because all the public school teachers were on strike! So, I didn´t have to go to school and teach! Bonus birthday present :)
We went over to a neighbors house who is raising an abandoned leopard cub...
Yeah, I know.
I hadn´t seen the baby leopard yet, and the pretext of the trip was to go see the cub. But when we got to the house, all my community friends were there! We ate tres leches cake, pizza, fruit, and there was even a piñata. It warmed my heart that they put so much effort into organizing and planning a little party for me. And it made me feel really special, and like I was really starting to be part of the community.
Also, and this is fun. There were no classes on my birthday because all the public school teachers were on strike! So, I didn´t have to go to school and teach! Bonus birthday present :)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Where I Work
I am working in three different schools: Chimurria, La Maravilla, and Colonia. All the schools I work with are varying degrees of small. The biggest school is Colonia, it has about 130 students. The smallest school is La Maravilla and has about 35 students grades K-6. Chimurria falls in between the two and has around 100 students.
Colonia: I work at Colonia on Mondays and Tuesdays. English lessons in my area of Costa Rica only last for 40 minutes, so even though I teach 6 classes a day, it is only a total of 4 actual hours in the classroom a day. However, I spend around 8 hours in Colonia when I go there, waiting for breaks between classes, lunch, recess, etc. I get there a little before 7, and leave a little before 3. I ride my bike to and from, it’s a little hilly but not too bad, and it about 7k. I love riding my bike in the morning. It’s not too hot, and there is this beautiful mist that sits on top of all the farm land-at least when it’s not raining. Occasionally, well, more like half the time, I get poured on. I am told that it is currently the dry season, when the rainy season comes I am sure I will have to give up the bike and take the bus. The problem with the bus is that it doesn’t come very often, and I’d get to school about an hour early if I took it. In the states this would be normal, maybe, for teachers to come early. In Colonia everyone arrives between 6:50 and 7:10. (Class starts at 7ish) And the gate to the school doesn’t open until about 6:55. So, my choice is to either ride my bike in the rain for twenty minutes, or sit outside the school and wait in the rain for an hour. The main issue of concern is that the bus ride would also amount to about 2 dollars a day. This is, unfortunately, out of my budget. The TEFL volunteers are talking to the Peace Corps office in San Jose about giving us a little more money in our stipend for travel costs to and from schools. For me that would be about $25 a month. Hopefully it works out in our favor.
La Maravilla: I work in La Maravilla on Wedensday and for half of Thursday. It is about 3k from my house, I also bike there. I could easily walk there if it wasn’t for the rain. This school is so much fun to work in because of the teeny classes. They have one regular teacher, and another teacher who also serves as the principal. There are two classrooms, a building for kindergarten, two bathrooms, and a little kitchen. That is it. There are six students in the first grade, and they are all super adorable. The second class I teach is a combo class of 2nd and 4th graders. There are only two students in the 2nd grade, a little boy and a little girl. 4th grade is the biggest grade with a whopping 13 students. Those are the morning classes. *side note* In most schools in rural Costa Rica, students only go to school for half the day, in order to accommodate the number students with the number of teachers and classrooms. There is a morning shift from 7-11:30 and an afternoon shift from 12-4:30. All my schools follow this schedule. *end side note*
In the afternoon there is a 3rd and 5th combo class. Then sixth grade is by themselves, there are four of them. When we teach the combo class, English class is 2x as long. However, the teacher I am working with there and I are not 100% on how to simultaneously teach two classes with two different curriculums at the same time. If there wasn’t a set curriculum to follow it would be easier to adjust a lesson to two different levels. But, since we have to follow the curriculum, and the curriculums don’t exactly line up, class is kind of a mess. Teach this topic to one side, give them work to do on their own. Then run to the other side, teach one thing, give them work to do on their own. Continue until class is over. Oh yeah, and they don’t have English books or a copy machine. None of my students in any of my schools have English books, but the school in Colonia does have a copy machine. So, if anyone out there has some advice on how best to teach the combo-classes, I would love to hear it. I need some ideas.
Chimurria:
I teach here, in my community school, for half of Thursday and on Fridays. There are two English teachers that teach at this school, the other schools only have one. The English teachers for the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders is also the teacher for La Maravilla. He just got notified from the Ministry of Education that he has to attend an English teaching class from 8-3 for every Friday until July. So now I only teach in Chimurria for half of Thursday (the other half is in La Maravilla) and half of Friday (now I have the other half free, because the English teacher is hung up in that workshop). Its got me kind of down that I am spending more time out of my community than in it.
Anyway, that is my “teaching” schedule. But I am also co-planning with the teachers, doing community English classes, and organizing English workshops for my teachers. Holy crap it is exhausting.
Colonia: I work at Colonia on Mondays and Tuesdays. English lessons in my area of Costa Rica only last for 40 minutes, so even though I teach 6 classes a day, it is only a total of 4 actual hours in the classroom a day. However, I spend around 8 hours in Colonia when I go there, waiting for breaks between classes, lunch, recess, etc. I get there a little before 7, and leave a little before 3. I ride my bike to and from, it’s a little hilly but not too bad, and it about 7k. I love riding my bike in the morning. It’s not too hot, and there is this beautiful mist that sits on top of all the farm land-at least when it’s not raining. Occasionally, well, more like half the time, I get poured on. I am told that it is currently the dry season, when the rainy season comes I am sure I will have to give up the bike and take the bus. The problem with the bus is that it doesn’t come very often, and I’d get to school about an hour early if I took it. In the states this would be normal, maybe, for teachers to come early. In Colonia everyone arrives between 6:50 and 7:10. (Class starts at 7ish) And the gate to the school doesn’t open until about 6:55. So, my choice is to either ride my bike in the rain for twenty minutes, or sit outside the school and wait in the rain for an hour. The main issue of concern is that the bus ride would also amount to about 2 dollars a day. This is, unfortunately, out of my budget. The TEFL volunteers are talking to the Peace Corps office in San Jose about giving us a little more money in our stipend for travel costs to and from schools. For me that would be about $25 a month. Hopefully it works out in our favor.
La Maravilla: I work in La Maravilla on Wedensday and for half of Thursday. It is about 3k from my house, I also bike there. I could easily walk there if it wasn’t for the rain. This school is so much fun to work in because of the teeny classes. They have one regular teacher, and another teacher who also serves as the principal. There are two classrooms, a building for kindergarten, two bathrooms, and a little kitchen. That is it. There are six students in the first grade, and they are all super adorable. The second class I teach is a combo class of 2nd and 4th graders. There are only two students in the 2nd grade, a little boy and a little girl. 4th grade is the biggest grade with a whopping 13 students. Those are the morning classes. *side note* In most schools in rural Costa Rica, students only go to school for half the day, in order to accommodate the number students with the number of teachers and classrooms. There is a morning shift from 7-11:30 and an afternoon shift from 12-4:30. All my schools follow this schedule. *end side note*
In the afternoon there is a 3rd and 5th combo class. Then sixth grade is by themselves, there are four of them. When we teach the combo class, English class is 2x as long. However, the teacher I am working with there and I are not 100% on how to simultaneously teach two classes with two different curriculums at the same time. If there wasn’t a set curriculum to follow it would be easier to adjust a lesson to two different levels. But, since we have to follow the curriculum, and the curriculums don’t exactly line up, class is kind of a mess. Teach this topic to one side, give them work to do on their own. Then run to the other side, teach one thing, give them work to do on their own. Continue until class is over. Oh yeah, and they don’t have English books or a copy machine. None of my students in any of my schools have English books, but the school in Colonia does have a copy machine. So, if anyone out there has some advice on how best to teach the combo-classes, I would love to hear it. I need some ideas.
Chimurria:
I teach here, in my community school, for half of Thursday and on Fridays. There are two English teachers that teach at this school, the other schools only have one. The English teachers for the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders is also the teacher for La Maravilla. He just got notified from the Ministry of Education that he has to attend an English teaching class from 8-3 for every Friday until July. So now I only teach in Chimurria for half of Thursday (the other half is in La Maravilla) and half of Friday (now I have the other half free, because the English teacher is hung up in that workshop). Its got me kind of down that I am spending more time out of my community than in it.
Anyway, that is my “teaching” schedule. But I am also co-planning with the teachers, doing community English classes, and organizing English workshops for my teachers. Holy crap it is exhausting.
Friday, February 25, 2011
English Overload
My official Peace Corps assignment is to support three English
teachers at three different public schools. I am supposed to help the
teachers with their English and share new ideas about teaching
methodologies. The goal is to work alongside the teachers in the
classroom. To co-plan with them, co-teach classes. Then I am also
supposed to help them with their own English skills.
A second part of my assignment is to help the students at the three
schools with their English. This is accomplished by the (hopefully)
successful co-planning and co-teaching going on. Also, it is assumed
that I am going to start an afterschool English club.
A third part of my assignment is to work on the English proficiency of
the community. I am supposed to create opportunities for
speaking/practicing English in my community. My answer to this has
been to start a beginner’s English class for the adults in Chimurria.
We start this Monday.
A fourth part of my assignment, and this is what I am most interested
in, is to work alongside community members on other, sustainable,
non-English related projects. The trouble is, with all the demands
that goals 1, 2, and 3 have on my time, I am worried that I won’t be
able to be able to commit myself to any substantial, meaningful, and
capacity-building projects. Right now my non-English community
activities are not substantial, sustainable, or capacity building. I
am worried about that.
I wrote about the kid’s art workshop I taught. It was
fun, and I am glad I did it, but I'm not sure how high it it would rank in
a substainial, sustainable, or capacity building competition. Another
non-English related project that I’m working on right now also falls
into the entertaining kids category. Once every year my little town
throws a party. A yearly community party is almost obligatory in my
part of rural Costa Rica. All the communities have one, and it is the
event of the year. People have been talking about this party since I
got here in early December, and the party isn’t until the last week in
March. It lasts for four or five days, and there is music, dancing,
bull riding competitions, food, and general festiveness. I wish I had
a digital map to put on this blog to give perspective to the
importance of the party in my town. In Chimurria there are 3
community places: 1) the community center, which is just a big room,
with a kitchen and storage shed on the outside. 2) a soccer field with
2 sets of bleachers. And 3) the bull fighting ring. The bull fighting
ring they use once a year for the party.
This year’s party, the town council decided to try something new. For one of the five days of the party, they are going to have a kids day. For Kids Day they are going to have a clown, two piñatas, prizes to give away to the kids, and the town council asked me if I could help plan it. They thought to ask me for help with the party mostly because of the
success of the kid’s art workshop. During one of the days of the art
workshop, I painted the kids faces. The kids LOVED having their faces
painted. Many of them had told me that they had never had their faces
painted before, and that they had always wanted to have their face
painted. This one event made me pretty popular amongst the kids, and
the adults in the community were amazed that I knew how to paint
faces. “Where did you learn to face paint?” they asked me,
incrediously. “I think there is a clown in the next town who also
knows how to face paint, but no one knows how to do that here.” Mind
you, I am no face-painting expert. I am, in fact, bad at painting
faces. But in Chimurria there is a myth that first you must know how
to face paint before you actually do it. This myth holds true for
other skills, and learning as you go along is not yet embraced as a
learning philosophy in this little town. However, my ability to face
paint, was memorable to kids and adults alike. And my invitation to
help with the Kids Day had almost everything to do with my
demonstration of my face painting skills, and the town council wasn’t
about to let my incredible talent go wasted. They had to have me for
the Kids Day.
Of course I said I would be delighted to help out. I am
glad to help with non-English town projects, and I am all about giving
the children in Chimurria something to do. The one tragic detail is
that I will not be in Chimurria for the party. I have to go to Peace
Corps training that week, and will miss the entire event. All four to
fives of it. The training is mandatory and there is absolutely no way
out of it.
So instead of face-painting at the Kids Day, I am holding,
wait for it…a face-painting workshop. Brilliant, right? I am going
to build the face-painting capacity of the adults in Chimurria.
Somehow, instead of just being in charge of face painting,
I have been given the responsibility of planning Kids Day. I am
really disappointed that I am going to miss the entire event, but I’m
glad I can at least help out and be a part of the planning of the
fiesta.
teachers at three different public schools. I am supposed to help the
teachers with their English and share new ideas about teaching
methodologies. The goal is to work alongside the teachers in the
classroom. To co-plan with them, co-teach classes. Then I am also
supposed to help them with their own English skills.
A second part of my assignment is to help the students at the three
schools with their English. This is accomplished by the (hopefully)
successful co-planning and co-teaching going on. Also, it is assumed
that I am going to start an afterschool English club.
A third part of my assignment is to work on the English proficiency of
the community. I am supposed to create opportunities for
speaking/practicing English in my community. My answer to this has
been to start a beginner’s English class for the adults in Chimurria.
We start this Monday.
A fourth part of my assignment, and this is what I am most interested
in, is to work alongside community members on other, sustainable,
non-English related projects. The trouble is, with all the demands
that goals 1, 2, and 3 have on my time, I am worried that I won’t be
able to be able to commit myself to any substantial, meaningful, and
capacity-building projects. Right now my non-English community
activities are not substantial, sustainable, or capacity building. I
am worried about that.
I wrote about the kid’s art workshop I taught. It was
fun, and I am glad I did it, but I'm not sure how high it it would rank in
a substainial, sustainable, or capacity building competition. Another
non-English related project that I’m working on right now also falls
into the entertaining kids category. Once every year my little town
throws a party. A yearly community party is almost obligatory in my
part of rural Costa Rica. All the communities have one, and it is the
event of the year. People have been talking about this party since I
got here in early December, and the party isn’t until the last week in
March. It lasts for four or five days, and there is music, dancing,
bull riding competitions, food, and general festiveness. I wish I had
a digital map to put on this blog to give perspective to the
importance of the party in my town. In Chimurria there are 3
community places: 1) the community center, which is just a big room,
with a kitchen and storage shed on the outside. 2) a soccer field with
2 sets of bleachers. And 3) the bull fighting ring. The bull fighting
ring they use once a year for the party.
This year’s party, the town council decided to try something new. For one of the five days of the party, they are going to have a kids day. For Kids Day they are going to have a clown, two piñatas, prizes to give away to the kids, and the town council asked me if I could help plan it. They thought to ask me for help with the party mostly because of the
success of the kid’s art workshop. During one of the days of the art
workshop, I painted the kids faces. The kids LOVED having their faces
painted. Many of them had told me that they had never had their faces
painted before, and that they had always wanted to have their face
painted. This one event made me pretty popular amongst the kids, and
the adults in the community were amazed that I knew how to paint
faces. “Where did you learn to face paint?” they asked me,
incrediously. “I think there is a clown in the next town who also
knows how to face paint, but no one knows how to do that here.” Mind
you, I am no face-painting expert. I am, in fact, bad at painting
faces. But in Chimurria there is a myth that first you must know how
to face paint before you actually do it. This myth holds true for
other skills, and learning as you go along is not yet embraced as a
learning philosophy in this little town. However, my ability to face
paint, was memorable to kids and adults alike. And my invitation to
help with the Kids Day had almost everything to do with my
demonstration of my face painting skills, and the town council wasn’t
about to let my incredible talent go wasted. They had to have me for
the Kids Day.
Of course I said I would be delighted to help out. I am
glad to help with non-English town projects, and I am all about giving
the children in Chimurria something to do. The one tragic detail is
that I will not be in Chimurria for the party. I have to go to Peace
Corps training that week, and will miss the entire event. All four to
fives of it. The training is mandatory and there is absolutely no way
out of it.
So instead of face-painting at the Kids Day, I am holding,
wait for it…a face-painting workshop. Brilliant, right? I am going
to build the face-painting capacity of the adults in Chimurria.
Somehow, instead of just being in charge of face painting,
I have been given the responsibility of planning Kids Day. I am
really disappointed that I am going to miss the entire event, but I’m
glad I can at least help out and be a part of the planning of the
fiesta.
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