First Student Profile

Student Profile- Alondra "Shakira"

There are two blonde girls in the school and I have them both.  Its absolutely unheard of to be blonde here and I have no idea how it happened that 1) they are both blonde 2) they are both in the same class 3) they are best friends.  Alondra is one of my favorite students.  She is always quiet and has a really sweet personality.  I change classes often between 4th and 6th grade and most of the time she comes to wherever I am and carries my backpack for me to my next class.  Alondra is always around me.  She doesn't talk a lot like the other kids, she just kinda chills and hangs out around me.  She is attentive in class and always takes the notes I ask of her, but I wouldn't say she is one of the most intelligent students in the class--she just has an awesome personality, which I think will do just as much for her in life as raw intelligence.  We hang out a lot at school and she usually sits near me on the bus to and from school.  I wish I could have 10 Alondras in each class, my blood pressure would be much much lower during the day.

C.S. Hundred dollar challenge-  With 100 U.S. dollars, you could buy 209 bars of soap--And you need them in this dusty town!

Short update...

El Matador (the killer) update--  I had a good run on the matador today.  Made it in 41:08, which is like 20-30 minutes faster than the first time I did it.  I am almost 100 percent sure that it is around 4 miles because I am guessing that my pace was 10 minutes per mile.

CS 100 dollar challenge-- With 100 U.S. dollars, you could buy 161 liters of Sprite.

Tomorrow--First installment of CLASSROOM PROFILES...

Exams and Frustration

I gave my first exam today in English to 4^th and sixth grade.   The fourth grade exam was a disaster.  They didn’t study at all and they were complaining the entire time.  After the period was up, they were still on the first section.  They didn’t understand that they should complete as many questions as they can and then return.  I have gone over parts of the body with them many times and they seem to be able to come up with the answers when I am verbally asking them, but when the information is on paper, it is a different story.  Fourth grade is a collection of the cutest kids you have ever seen, which makes discipline very difficult.  It is tough for me to be mad at them for not studying.  The reason is that most of their parents aren’t around.  Either their parents are in the United States working, or they just plain aren’t around.  It is hard to develop a support system to encourage work ethic when you are the sole foundation of their support.  Ultimately, it spreads you thin to develop 26 relationships like that.  

6th grade was much better.  They were quiet during the exam, although, when I took my eyes off of them I knew they were exchanging answers.  I just want them to learn something.  Maybe if they cheat and have the correct answer written down they will remember it that way.  I don't know.  I just want them to learn something.  

New Horizons School

First Exam

6^th Grade English

Nombre:_____________

Fecha:_______________

I. Vocabulary—Fill in the Blank.

1)      Amable--____________                                  3) Enojado--

2)   Triste--_____________                                    4) Viejo--

5)   Nuevo--______________                                  6) Despues--

7)   Antes--______________                                   8) Feliz--

9)   Delgado--______________                              10) Gordo--

II. Questions—Answer in complete Sentences (Frases Completa).

1)      What is your favorite color?

2)      What is the name of your mother?

3)      How many brothers and sisters do you have?

4)      How are you?

5)      What year were you born?

6)      What is your favorite sport?

III. Numbers—Answer the math problems in English.

1)      One + Five = _____________

2)      Ten + Eight = ____________

3)      Three x Four = ___________

4)      Four x Four = ____________

IV. Parts of the body.  Answer each question in English.

Image of Body

1)      ____________

2)      ____________

3)      ____________

4)      ____________

5)      ____________

6)      ____________

7)      ____________

8)      ____________

     This is the exam I gave to the 6th grade.  It really isn't that hard for them, considering that I did a review the last couple days explaining everything on the exam.  \

CS 100 DOLLAR CHALLENGE--With 100 dollars you can buy 80 packs of cigarettes, although I would NEVER EVER smoke.

Later this week, I will begin highlighting a student to give you a little information about who I have in my classes.  It will be called STUDENT OF THE WEEK.

THE MATADOR CHALLENGE--The matador is a path between two mountains that boasts some of the toughest running terrains I have experienced.  Three river crossings, steep hills, unsure footing, heat, rabid dogs (seriously), and cow crap.  I am guessing the distance to be 3.5-4 miles (it is an out and back).  I will be posting my times from now on every time I run it.  My time this week was over an hour.  Couldn't be specific because I stopped the watch when I walked.  Next time I will have a specific time.

Mountains and Rivers

Martes 08 de Febrero

Today was the first day of real classes.  The work is not strenuous whatsoever, but when you are dealing with intelligent students at an active age, they need to be entertained at all parts of the day.  My two classes are polar opposites—fourth grade has ten extroverts and 6^th grade has ten introverts.  The students in fourth grade are not by any means off the wall, but they are just curious and eager to learn.  Sixth grade is calm and they listen very well.  They never talk out of turn and are always respectful.  Now, you would think this would be much better, but it gets kind of awkward because I have to speak and provide all the entertainment for the entire class period. 

I tried to push a couple things in my English classes today: What the students like to do and what they would like to do in the future.  I like to run.  I like to eat.  I like to sleep.  I like to laugh.  I would like to visit the United States.  I would like to play soccer in the afternoon.  I would like to listen to music.  The only way I can think to increase their retention is to say it first in Spanish and then in English or vice versa. 

Me gusta correr.  I like to run.

Me gusta comer.  I like to eat.

Me gustaria jugar futbol en la tarde.  I would like to play futbol in the afternoon.

My students already know colors, numbers, animals.  I plan on teaching basic questions and answers in the coming weeks.  I have scheduled an on Tuesday over vocabulary words that I compiled and printed.  I don’t think the exam is too difficult and I told them today about it so they should have plenty of time to prepare. 

It has been very difficult for me to teach music, because I don’t have the appropriate materials—song books for basic English music, or even a guitar or other instruments.  It is tough to keep their attention when I try to teach them ‘country roads’ by John Denver.  It was the first song that popped into my head…

Art was pretty easy because you can tell them to draw basically anything and put them to work.  It was interesting for me to see which students were good at what.  One kid who is clearly hyperactive and is all over me the entire period calmed down completely when he had art supplies in his hand.  You can tell how creative he is and how meticulous his details are.  I tried to encourage him as much as possible because art is what he likes and it is what seems to calm him down.  His name is Kevin which is obviously the same in English, so he said he wanted another English name.  I asked him which one he would like and he said “Max”.  So, now he goes by Max.  I have the only two blonde girls in the school—one asked to be called Barbie and the other Shakira, I said ok.  I have the sneaking suspicion that I got hooked up in terms of grade assignments.  I walked into Marie’s preschool and kindergarten class and they were riding each other like donkeys.   

                                                           

Yesterday, we “summitted” one of the mountains near the town.  My friend Mario asked if I wanted to go to the mountains on a hike, but I had no idea it would be as involved as it was.  It was a steep gradient the entire way and must have been at least 2000 vertical feet.  We were all completely exhausted and scratched up when we fought ourselves through the brush to the top of the mountain, but the view made it completely worth it.  On one side there was a view of the city and the other was a view of the countryside and mountains.  I get out of work every day at 1230, so we teachers normally take a little siesta. 

C.S. 100 dollar challenge—With 100 U.S. dollars, you can buy 188 of the best tacos you have ever tasted.  Each taco is smothered in enchilada sauce, fresh goat cheese, and delicious cabbage.  They are deep fried before smothered in sauce.  You can’t beat authentic, gourmet tacos for 50 cents.

Tacos, burritos, are coming out of my Speedo

A lull in action combined with a lack of sleep, sprinkle that lightly with diarrhea and you have a recipe for apathy.  I don’t know if it is travel sickness or sun sickness or both, but I tried to let an SBD slide the other day and I can’t be certain, but I think I soiled myself.  The first one of many I guess. 

The reality of living so far removed from American society sinks in when you need to buy food.  There are open air markets here and small stores to buy the bare essentials, but to go to an American style market it is a 45 minute drive on bumpy roads.  Luckily, Jose Ricardo’s 20 year old son goes frequently to Juticalpa for school so we can hitch a ride with him—at 6 am.  So, we arrived at the grocery store at 7 to do some shopping, knowing that we wouldn’t be picked up until Luis got done with class two hours later.  We took our sweet time picking out tortillas, salsa, and pollo.  We paid for the groceries and waited in the subtropical sun for 20 minutes for Luis to arrive jeopardizing our freshly bought perishables. 

I did laundry for the first time since I have been here the other day.  We do laundry the old fashion way here, by hand.  We don’t have a drier either, just a clothes line.  Laundry is something that is accomplished in an afternoon of scrubbing, not the simple setting of a dial and forget about it.  It was a fun first experience but I imagine it will get pretty old.    

The days run together when there isn’t much work to be done.  Most of us assume that we will need to improvise with the students and go with what works.  In this environment, lesson plans only seem to measure a lack of progress.  There are so many unanswered questions that maybe it is better to take inventory after we start to capture what worked and what didn’t so that we can learn from our mistakes.  So, in other words, we are going to wing it.

I have gotten to know Mario who is a neighbor of ours.  Mario is about my age and an extremely nice guy.  He works as a handyman in the town.  He is recently married, and apparently his wife is like 15 years old.  I suppose that is normal here, I don’t know.  What isn’t normal is why he is basically an orphan.  There was a dispute between his father and his uncle over money.  I think his uncle owed his father money.  Mario’s father killed his own brother in cold blood with a pistol.  His grandfather was angered by this, so he grabbed his gun, shot Mario’s father in the chest and then stuck the pistol in his mouth and fired for good measure to make sure he was dead.  The Evangelical Christian couple that we share our duplex with adopted Mario.  Mario’s last name is Zelaya, which is the same last name of the recently exiled Mel Zelaya in a staged coup in 2009.  Mel Zelaya is from this general area, so I asked Mario whether he was related and he says that he is Mel Zelaya’s nephew of some sort.  I imagine the Zelaya family is very large, but I thought it was interesting.

We had a barbeque on Friday as a welcome to the foreign teachers.  This meant that the kids did not have classes.  I was under the impression that we would be starting to teach Monday, but low and behold, we have another party on Monday and classes will be suspended.  Apparently, this happens quite a bit.  There are not nearly as many days in the school year as in the United States.  If the curriculum in the United States needs updated (especially the curriculum at Pleasant High School in Marion, OH), then the curriculum here is absolutely nonexistent.  In fact, part of my job here will be to document everything I do with the kids so that I can pass my material along to the next volunteer.  This should fit well with all my curriculum writing experience…

We had a party for Oscar’s 31^st birthday Saturday.  We got a cake from Juticalpa and two candles, one candle was a 3 and the other a 1 for his 31^st.  Oscar went around town and asked some younger people if they wanted to come to his birthday party.  Everyone dances in Latin America whether you like it or not.  I am not a huge dancing in public type of guy so this is pretty embarrassing for me.  It is just another way to take me out of my comfort zone.  Before the party Oscar saw the cake and the candles and made us switch the three and the one to make thirteen instead of 31, as if that wasn’t transparent.  Initially when we asked Oscar how old he was he said, “I’m going to be 30, bro.”  Two days later he said, “I need to tell you something, bro. I lie to you.  I’m not going to be 30.  I am going to be 31, I’m sorry bro.”  Oscar has an interesting personality—everything Oscar says in English has ‘bro’ attached, and if Oscar ever lies, he usually tells you the truth within the next couple days because he feels bad.  Delayed honesty, what an interesting personality trait...

Goals for the next week

• Figure out how to jog in the town without drawing too much attention to myself and putting a target on my back.
• Weekly hundred dollar challenge… My friend Cass gave me 100 U.S. dollars to see what it was worth here in Honduras.  I am going to post a different weekly product.
• Post activities and stories about my students

C.S. WEEKLY HUNDRED DOLLAR CHALLENGE

With one hundred dollars you can buy 630 gallons of purified water in Honduras.

Pictures Finally