Teaching English at Escuela de Artes y Musica

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I was a little disenchanted with the school when I heard the name “School of Art and Music.” If you know me at all, I am not of the artistic/musical persuasion. Sports and outdoor activities, yes, arts and crafts, no. My co-teacher, Carmen, met me at the bus station on the first day, and she seemed like a good person, so I was more excited about the school. That day she gave me a tour of the school. It is ugly, old, and poor. My classroom is tiny, made of wood, and painted pink on the outside, blue on the inside, and when it rains it rains inside too!! It’s pretty awesome! After our regional orientation during the first week of school, I learned that 5 of my 25 teaching hours/week would be with Carmen. The other 20 would be with Erica, the other English teacher. Erica has been out sick for the entire month of august, so for the first week, very few students even came to class. For other classes, the students nor the dean did not know which students were supposed to be in my class, so again I was missing students. By the second week, students got the hang of coming to my classroom. The only group that has come to class on a regular basis is 2 medio (sophomores). They are my favorite group. Teaching is somewhat difficult in the sense that I only see groups 1-2 times a week, and I have no curriculum and do not know what I must teach them. I left the Bronx to circumvent these issues, but clearly they have followed me here. The behavior of the students is easy compared to that of the students in the Bronx. It also helps that the students treat me like a celebrity, so that helps some potential problems. I have books for the course, but like most textbooks, the level of the book is more advanced than the students. I have developed lessons for the different levels which seem somewhat appropriate, so I don’t feel like I’m doing them a total disservice. They are good kids in general, they just don’t know much English, and have no problem talking at the same time. I try to explain that rule #1 is one voice, and they shouldn’t talk when others are talking, but since they do that in life and in all other classes, it is strange for them. I have been doing some fun activities with the students, and they seem to enjoy my class. Some things that I overhear other teachers yelling cayate! (Shut up), or telling they are lazy and don’t know anything would be considered corporal punishment in the USA. I met Erica for the first time this week (September) and I asked her to plan with me. She told me we could do it next week but we really won’t be teaching because we will be planning for the bicentennial celebration on the 18 of the month. (?????) What?!?! Anyway I think I will continue planning what I want to plan, and hope for the best - students showing up and understanding the lesson.

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Photos

My classroom - outside
my little wooden classroom....

My classroom - inside
just chairs, no desks (and I had to fight for the chairs!)

common saying
my white board- which i fought to get as well!