Collegio Bilingue de Santa Marta

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Hello everybody!

My last entry was quite sad, as I was leaving Turkey, my friends there and an independent life-style I got very used to. I returned home and it didn't take long before I decided to leave again. I was missing a multi-cultural environment, travelling and meeting new, interesting people from all over the world. So the decision to take a second Aiesec traineeship came easy. The opportunities with @ are endless, so I didn't hesitate for one second. I had a few phone interviews with schools from Hong Kong, Venezuela, Canada and Colombia. Eventually I decided on Colombia, as it suited my purpose to brush up on my Spanish and to experience South America.

So here I am, teaching English as a Second Language ( ESL) to a group of 28 kids aged 5 in Kinder Section of Collegio Bilingue de Santa Marta. I am in charge with teaching Maths, Spelling, Science. It's a bit hard, as they need to get used to my accent and I'm not allowed to use any Spanish in class, but I'm sure I'll be ok, they're absolutely adorable.

Collegio Bilingue de Santa Marta is the most expensive school in the area- the pupils are children of wealthy senators, politicians and important businessmen. It's damn expensive to send your kid here and pay for their tuition, at least that's what I've heard from Aiesec people. Apart from being expensive and exclusive, the school has an excellent academic reputation and the best teachers in Santa Marta work here, so I must be really lucky!

The school is small, but hospitable, the principal is miss Leslie, a'gringa', an extremely nice American lady. I think I'll get on well with the other teachers and hopefully with the kids, too! Most of the academic stuff are Colombian, and there are also a few American and English, about 40 teachers in total.

Have I mentioned the boiling hot weather, 40 degrees C all the time? Thank God for the air conditioning!!

I've managed to take some pictures of my Kinder group. Enjoy the pictures!!

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Photos

My kids and I
The kids at C.B. many times have their personal driver, nanny , maid and some even bodyguard. They are simply adorable!

Colegio Bilingue de Santa Marta
the entrance

my kids
Maria Paulina, Pau, Juan Pablo,Diana Aguas.I write their names, so I can look back and remember after some good years.

my kids
Lucas,Andrea Estrada,Isabella, Diana Aguas, Maria Paulina..

my kids
Diana Marcela, Juan Pablo,Ana Milena, Julio Curiel

:)
Julio, Mariana, Ivanna,Andreea E.

Lucia
my favourite kid

in recess
in cofeteria, buying deditos y gaseosa..

in the park
the play ground, in recess

2 little monkeys
Lina Maria and Lucia

Comments

[Mauricio A Ramirez]

Hey there!
Hey! I ran into your blog entry by chance. I'm in fact a student that graduated from Colegio Bilingue in '02. I hope you enjoyed your stance at Colombia, it's certainly another universe as time seems to pass by way more slowly. But it's certainly a great place: the Forgotten Land, as Carlos Vives would put it. I've been out of Colombia for a while now, and miss it every day. And regarding your previous entries, you're completely right about responsibility! People do have a tendency to not being in time... but hey, don't worry too much about it. We actually do survive when we get out. :) [e-mail]

[Candice]

my former job...
It's so random that I saw this post, because I was looking for the school's website as I taught there in 2004-2005. I was the Kinder teacher with Tati, and my group is now in...Primero I think and the group you were with is the year younger than mine, so I got to know a lot of them really well. Anyway, it was nice to see your site and this post because I really miss the school, the peopke, and especially the kids.

[Curious]

Brian Griffin
Did you teach with American Brian Griffin?

[jorge alberto molina infante]

i would like to move to santa marta, and to be engaged like teacher , into tour prestigeous school
greetings, my name is jorge alberto molina infante, i was graduated from the javeriana university, in sciences education and after i had the oprtunity to quit colombia , and i went to canada, i was living there , i settled down in montreal , during almost 4 years , i was admited to the montreal university , for following a kind of education seminars, into one master program called, enseignement secondaire et collegial, i am a bilingual teacher, french , english, and i would like to move to santa marta, i love to teach, i love the kids , i have a kid called samuel , he is 10 years old, we were passing vacations during past december, i have relatives there , living in los cocos , near to mañe cayon , building san fernando , okey the thing is that , i have to comeback to santa marta, and i would like to kown , if it could be posible , to have an interview with you, in order to check my curriculum , and know me, i am going to send you a few photos with my son , my motivations are not economics primarily, it is not a salary primarily , is quality of life , i am exhauted from bogota , i would like to move to santa marta, could you please , help me? thanks for your atention, and it could be posible, that you could give me , answer to this e-mail? , God bless you, jorge alberto molina infante

[Pablo Escobar II]

DOPER SCHOOL!
SERIOUS TEACHERS BEWARE! THIS IS A DOPER OWNED AND PARAMILITARY CONTROLLED SCHOOL! THE STUDENTS ARE MOSTLY SPOILED CORRUPT BRATS. THEY DO NOT HAVE TO STUDY BECAUSE THEY GET THE FINAL EXAM ANSWERS FROM THE ADMINISTRATION ANYWAY. TWO OF THE DAVILA CLAN OWNERS(FORMER BLACK TUNA GANG) ARE NOW IN PRISON AS WELL AS THE EX-MAYOR AND A SENATOR.THEIR KIDS ALL GO TO THIS SCHOOL. THE KIDS ARE ALL RELATED BY BLOOD AND MARRIAGE, SO NO FORCE ON EARTH MAKES A DENT IN THEIR WAYS. THE STAFF LIES TO YOUR FACE ON CONTRACTUAL MATTERS IF YOU TEACH THERE. IT HAS MANY OUTSTANDING JUDGMENTS AND PENDING LAW SUITS AGAINST IT IN COLOMBIA FROM FORMER LOCAL WORKERS AND TEACHERS. HAVE FUN, BUT BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joanna]

Currently applying there...
Hi, I am currently applying to work as a teacher at Colegio Bilingue, hopefully will make it for the next semester...! Any practical info will be appreciated.

[raphaele mis]

informaciones sobre el colegio
Disculpa me por la molestia pero no he encontrado nada sobre el colegio de Santa Marta en internet, unicamente su blog! Soy francesa y vivo desde 4 años en Peru. Vamos a regresar a Francia por 2 años pero despues, nos gustaria ir a Santa Marta. Tenemos 2 niños entonces, me gustaria tener informaciones sobre el colegio donde usted trabaja ( como la edad de los niños, los horarios, los precios, en que barrio esta, si todos los cursos son en ingles...). Muchas gracias por todas las repuestas que me pueda dar. Raphaele.

[pink mona]

Hola
Se trata de un collegio bilingue Ingelz-Espanol donde la majorie des clases son en Ingles. Es por ninos de 3-4 anos hasta edad de collegio (15-16) probablemente. Creo que eso es el website: http://www.crmnet.info/bilinguesantamarta/ Mucha suerte! x

[sandrine]

information
I m french , i m in Venezuela with my family , 2 kids, 8 and 11 years old. We make a round trip around the world with our sailing boat. we plan to go to Santa Marta in 2011, we would like our kids to learn both english and spanish. Is it possible to enter in your school, what would be the price. thank you for your answer Sandrine Peyramond At that moment they do the CNED, it's school by correspondance