A Trabajar...

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We are getting to experience education in Argentina! Andy and Sparta Principal Dale Stafslien are here on Fullbright Exchanges. Cecelia, who we are staying with and who is a principal at a secondary school here in Nono, Argentina came to Sparta last year and now we are here to work in her school. The school is about a 30 minute drive from Cecelia's house. All of the students and other teachers at her school have been more than welcoming to us. They are so interested in our lives and what it is like in los EEUU. Of course the first thing we noticed is that students are students wherever you go, as we looked into one of the classrooms and saw a few students texting discretely under their desks. We have given many presentations to different classes and have a video that shows our schools. They are shocked at how big they are and how many computers we have. The teachers here have a very tough job. The government only allows them to teach 30 hours a week. So teachers end up working at 2-4 different schools in order to get more hours. No teachers stay at the same school all day. They come in, teach a class or two and then leave for another school.

One day we visited a more rural school that was so far up in the mountains that the students come on Monday morning and stay there in dorms until Friday afternoon. Each secondary school has a focus and this school was agriculture. The students were so proud to show us all of the animals they were raising and all the plants and food they grow. Each day we are treated to a delicious meal at the school (which is made fresh each day). The students and teachers have so many questions as do we so we are all learning a lot. From teaching us how to cumbia to feeding pigs, we're experiencing so much and are very grateful for this opportunity.

We have been able to visit many different schools so far. We have seen 3 high schools in Villa Dolores which is about 15 minutes away from Villa de Las Rosas. They range in size from 75 kids to 750 kids in the school. General differences are that here the kids stay in the same classroom all day ... even in secondary school. We always get a great welcome from the kids when we come into the rooms. It has not been much observation of teaching ... rather every time we come into the classrooms the kids swarm to us and we end up giving presentations. On Wednesday of this week they all asked us for our aoutographs ... also the elementary students have been asking Steph if she is in any movies or if she knows any famous people. It is interesting what they think of the USA ... mainly ideas that they get from the Simpsons or South Park or Jersey Shores. But being able to be in a school consistently has been an experience of a lifetime!

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