As the world turns . . . in Ucsha

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Again, Friday ended up being the most interesting day of the week.

I return to Otavalo every Thursday for Spanish classes, and return to Ucsha in the morning for class. On the walk to the bus stop and on the bus ride, I found myself enjoying gorgeous panoramas of the lush, green mountains that surround Otavalo and Ucsha.

However, as the children began to arrive for class, my curiousity was piqued. Along with school children, a crowd of adults and teenagers gathered on the playground. Furthermore, every person had dour look on his or her face, and held any one of a variety of farm implements, such as: axes, hammers, shovels and a plethora of machetes.

Even though it was completely unreasonable, I couldn´t help but picture mob scenes from old movies, the ones in which the farmers form a mob and hunt down Frankenstein - as these folks could easily have been extras. I had a vague sense one would call out ¨get the gringo!¨ and chase me out of the community. Of course, nothing of the sort happened, and upon asking I found out that they were merely at the school to attend to the school´s field and repair a fence.

Situations such as the above, along with many others, have forced me to become very comfortable is situations where I have no idea what is actually going on, and after asking, still not understanding much more. Unsuprisingly, this skill (?) has actually made living in the community much easier.

However, in the classroom, I am continually becoming better at teaching, and thus more confident in the front of the room. So far I have developed a routine that seems to be working - Monday I review information from the previous week and then during Tuesday through Thursday I spend the bulk of time reviewing information already covered, and spend the last part of the classes introducing new vocabulary and grammar. The week culminates on Friday, with a small test, which allows me to figure out what the students know, and what teaching methods have worked.

The administration of my first test in Ecuador proved to be a bit of culture shock, and one more learning experience. To begin with, one of my students showed up with her baby sister strapped on her back, as such the first order of business was for the other volunteer to babysit during the test. Then I quickly realized that individual test-taking does not seem to be much of a priority here, so I found myself spending quite a bit of time telling kids to be quiet and to not look at other people´s exams. After a bit, the other volunteer and teacher began playing with the baby - with a couple of students who were supposed to be taking the exam. On top of this, throughout the test, the kids asked for the answers, which I wouldn´t provide, but the other volunteer helped some of the kids with answers.

All that being said, the test has been a great assistance to me. Some of the kids knew almost everything (phew, doesn´t mean I´m a terrible teacher) and some knew nothing, however, more importantly I am beginning to learn what works and what doesn´t as far as how to teach. This was highlighted when the other volunteer quietly asked if I had reviewed the writing of certain vocabulary words- oops, guess it´s tough for the kids to answer things they don´t know how to.

Other than teaching and wondering if I am going to be chased out of Ucsha, life on the farm is nice. I´ve found myself having plenty of time to review lesson plans and read, on top of sifting, mixing and pouring concrete for a pig pen, and felling and stripping the trees of bark - you know, my usual hobbies.

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