1 month in!

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On Friday I finished my fourth week as a Standard III teacher at one of Punta Gorda's Catholic schools. Despite the crazy amount of days off (we went to school for the equivalent of 16 full days in September haha) it was a pretty jam-packed month!

Here is a typical day for me:
5:45am: Go for a run. It gets too hot to run during the day, and I prefer the quiet of the morning to the hum the town has at night, so I go as the sun has just risen. Unless of course it's pouring, which it is doing more and more frequently as the rainy season slips into the hurricane season. Either way, I try to exercise even it's just some stuff in my apartment. It's important to be fully awake and energized for the day and for me, morning exercise is my thing!
7:45am: Go to school. Usually I have a few students waiting at the door, and if it's raining, I try to go early so they can go inside. There is an overhang on the building but it's not as dry as being in the class. The kids are getting good at our morning routine. One usually runs up to me when I get onto the compound and I give them the key to unlock the padlock that keeps our classroom safe from vandals over the weekends. They open the door on the other side of the class, and open all the windows. Usually they play and I do some work - put grades into my book, prepare my resources for the day, straighten up the desk, or I just read. At the literacy fair at the U last year the guest speaker mentioned something very true: We need kids to read. And you would never let a student get away with the excuse that she or he does not have the time to read. So you don't get to make that excuse either. I like to show the kids that I do read just for fun, so maybe they will try it too. Lately, to my very happy heart, some of the students have been asking to play my multiplication game where I pull out a card from a deck and they have to multiply that number by whatever set we're working on (3s, 4s, etc). I very happily oblige.
8:30am: School starts more or less at 8:30. The buzzer isn't on a timer, it is just pressed by the admin so it goes off at some point and the students line up outside their doors, in two lines - girls and boys. They have to fix their uniforms and throw out their garbage/put away their food before they can come in. Oh the candy. At 8:30. that does NOT make my heart happy but it's a battle with kids around the world now I think, so much sugar and junk. Anyway, the kids come in, and stand next to their desks where we say daily prayers. Morning offering, Our Father, Hail Mary, all to a little beat. If its Monday we got to the church instead and have an assembly with the same prayers, plus the national anthem (the longest one I have EVER heard, but have almost memorized all the words to), the pledge to Belize and the pledge to the flag. And that's where we find out information about the week like, for example, no school some day.
9:00am-10:00am: If there is no assembly, Miss Gwen teaches Religion, until 9am, and then I take over with Math. I usually start with some multiplication review, and twice a week we do mad minutes (I'm sorry students!!). Some students have really surprised me with their great multiplication skills, and some disappoint me by not studying when I know they can do better. After some past lesson review and homework correcting and questions, we move on to our lesson.
10:15-11:30 After first break, I take some students out for reading help. It's the Language Arts period, but there are two kids in my class who didn't know the alphabet, and quite a few who have really serious reading problems. So I am working with those two boys, using phonics books from the kindergarten equivalent class, and we're actually making lots of progress! Two weeks ago one of them finally learned enough letters to spell his first word (other than his name) "Ram" and can now spell, all by himself, words like "dress" "red" "mass" and most recently "tree"!
11:30-1 Lunch time, yummy 😊 I go home because I live 4 blocks from school, unless it's pouring or crazy hot in which case I don't want to walk so I bring food and hang out with the kids who live in villages too far away to go home for lunch (there are a lot).
Afternoons Afternoons are a mix of social studies (which Miss Gwen teaches since I would be swamped trying to quickly learn all the Belizean history and traditions so I could teach them. This way I get to learn too!); Science (which I teach, yay paper mache solar systems!); "Learning for living" which includes library, journalling, math games, problem solving and spelling depending on the day; and the last block is either spanish (Miss Gwen), Art (me), Remedial (up to us), HFLE (basically a be-a-good-person class) and P.E. and music (definitely Miss Gwen).

That's school! Then I correct things, plan for the next week, straighten my head out, evaluate the day, stuff like that.

It has been a great, if challenging, experience so far. I love the students, despite their habit of incessantly calling "Miss! Miss! Miss!" and poking me for attention. We're working on learning to wait patiently with your hand up until I am done working with whomever. My biggest challenge is keeping my patience with that. I have to find quiet time in my head because it is never quiet at our school. The walls don't go all the way to the ceiling, so you can hear the classes on either side of you. So really it's like having 90 students and 3 teachers competing air time, and that means no true quiet time for working. My favourite thing about the students is their questions and watching them learn new things.. They are so funny sometimes. For example, we did posters about planets, and each group presented. Mercury presented:

"Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and very small. It looks red and has lots of creatures."

Wait. What?

They showed me the book. Mercury has lots of CRATERS. hahaha new word for the day.

One of the major challenges for me too is the language! Yes, we teach in English, and I speak to the students in English, but most of them speak to me in Kriol half the time. I heard a reference to Kriol once, about how to a native English speaker it was a tease - coming temptingly close to comprehension but staying ever elusive. You can make out some of it you think, but then when it's your turn to respond, you have no idea what just happened. Miss Gwen reminds them to speak to me in English, which I appreciate because sometimes I wonder if they are speaking English and I just don't understand them, and I don't want to ask "Was that English?!" It seems rude to say to a 9 year old. haha

I feel much more confident as a teacher than I expected to. I feel good in the class, like I fit there. And I am loving being able to start at the beginning of the year! I feel like it lends you so much more authority than was the case with our other professional semesters. We started in the middle of a semester but that meant the students already became a class and you were an outsider. This time, you all become a class together. It really makes a difference, and I love it.

Well this was probably way more detail than anyone wanted, so I will end it here. But teaching (or participating in your chosen field) in a different culture is something I highly recommend for those considering it. I am learning so much about my own education and professional expectations, I am learning about our education system by being able to compare it with another, comparing my teaching from a Canadian classroom to that which I do here... Just a lot of learning in general. Lots of work and lots of reflection going on all the time but so valuable.

Back to school tomorrow morning, for a full month of school with only one holiday! How will I do it!

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Photos

Miss Kristina
This is my lovely uniform on Monday, Wednesday Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it's the green bottoms with a tan shirt, making me look even MORE like a safari guide. I also have capris in this lovely shade of green.

Off the children's rally
One of our many half days this month

Lined up
Everything is always two lines - girls and boys.

Paper Mache!
L to R: Wilbert, Zeleen and Vanyah.

More Paper Mache
L to R: Emma, Sonia, Shanoy and Chris

Messy hands and uniforms (Sorry parents!)
Front L to R: Ivan and Christian, Back: Kerwin.

Comments

[Marie]

So lovely :) I\'m so glad you\'re enjoying everything! Your days sound awesome, despite the constant noise. Good advice on finding quiet time in your head (I\'ve heard that Spanish children are 10 times louder than Canadian ones so I might have to work on that too). lovelove

[David Malcolm]

Discovered your travel blog
Turns out there are quite a few Kristina Larkins in this world! but finally found you! I look forward to our continued dialogue on microfinance of community projects and such stuff.