Lucky you! You get two posts today (scroll down or click this to read about the first day-and-a-half in Bucaramanga). The first day visiting Diego's school began with a 5 AM alarm to meet him in the hotel lobby by 5:40. Ouch. Colombian schools are unique in that they have two waves of teachers and students each day: one section starts at 6 AM and finishes by 1:30, then at 2, another wave of students and teachers arrives. Diego is an English as a foreign language instructor, therefore Dave, Michael, and I could actually be useful as native English speakers. In the first class, we introduced ourselves and students were able to ask questions. Then, you guessed it, students shared food with us. It all started with empanadas and Coke. These were eleventh grade students, thus they were into their second year of English courses. There was a wide range of fluency levels, making it a fun challenge to communicate. Continuing the theme running through all of the previous posts, the students were incredibly welcoming and curious. After this, you guessed right again, we ate more food, but with the principal this time. I do not envy that man given he has to be at school for both waves of students of which there is 5000 total. Thankfully, there are coordinators assigned to blocks of 500 students, a position we would think of as vice principal/dean of students. After he walked us around the school, we were back in Diego's classroom for a group of tenth graders just barely starting to learn English. This class was unique in that we played games with them that resulted in me singing and dancing in front of kids. We all got a good laugh. I would like to think they were laughing with me, but the odds aren't in my favor. But I got to meet some students and they were lovely people. Here are some pictures to break up the text: Next, we were treated to some students practicing Michael Jackson's "Heal the World." This was part of an English project, which was an interesting way for them to continue working on their pronunciations, which we helped with. The last normal class of the day was fun because Diego called students up to the front of the room and we were the one's asking the questions. It was nice not being on stage after four straight hours of taking student questions. Before I move on to the amazing end to the day, here is some beautiful prose painted on the back wall of Diego's classroom: I am not yet ready to elaborate on this, but I have seen countless examples of how the peace process between the Colombian government and revolutionary forces such as the FARC is showing up in the classroom. Although Peace Studies is a new subject for schools, it is clear that peace is something that is desired by the people of Colombia and the schools are embracing the learning opportunities decades of conflict present. Anyway, here are some photos of how we ended the day:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |