Teacher Tales

Today was a good day. 

Here is the update of my life as a teacher:

The massive courtyard where students gather each morning. MD has 3,000 students!

Boys and Girls. My classes are segregated by boys and girls which makes for an interesting classroom environment. Not good or bad. Just interesting. Something that I do find pretty disturbing is the gender-magnified school supplies here. It is literally impossible to find a simple red or blue notebook. They are Always pink and sparkly for girls and either the Simpsons or playboy models (yes, it’s like literally porn) for boys. No matter what grade. Even the teachers got weird themed notebooks like mine that has emo stars and some sort of love letter written on it. 

Schedule. To sum up my teaching experience thus far in one word it would be unpredictable. We received our schedules last week about twelve hours before the first class. And today we received new revised schedules this morning. Alas, we were told via announcement this afternoon that the new schedule would be void and we should return to the old one… Rollin’ with the punches here.

8 cell phones. Yes, this is how many cell phones I took away from students in one class today. And this is with my smart, well-behaved tenth graders. Aye Dios Mio! 

Speaking of pockets! One of the best parts about teaching at Minuto de Dios (MD) is the uniforms. Not for the students only, but for us teachers! They are these amazing mad scientist lab coats with a gazillion big pockets. Business Casual for the ladies is really lacking in pockets these days. Best solution ever!

Rocking my lab coat in the Teacher's Room

 Another Perk Of being on the teacher’s side of the classroom is our access into the ever-so-mysterious teacher’s lounge. At MD the Sala de Profes is huge and we each have our own lockers and assigned seats. It’s pretty exciting and they play lovely instrumental music that is helpful to relax when you’ve spent the last 90 minutes yelling at teenagers.

The Name Game. This has definitely been one of the more challenging tasks of teaching so far. A) The names are hard. Hoo-lian, not Julian. Rodriguez with a tongue I cannot role.  And Camilo Andres Martinez Romero is ONE name said in about .5 seconds. Then there are the repeats. I have the class of seven Paulas, the class of five Sergios, and the class of six Dianas. To keep them straight I give them nicknames in my head like Julian Gaffas (meaning glasses in Spanish. He’s a hipster.) or Daniel with his head out the window (literally). I’m now That teacher that could never say anyone’s name right and always called you Camillo Santiago instead of Santiago Camillo (my bad!) It didn't help that I only got the class lists today, one week after teaching.

My school supplies for class! Take note of the most important class lists!

 Different levels. I have enjoyed evaluating my students and am pleased to see that many of them are familiar with English and can communicate with me most of the time. But then there are the ones that can’t. It’s very challenging to plan activities to reflect the spectrum of levels within each class and within each topic such as writing vs. speaking. This is a balance I am still working on and is a goal for my teaching year.

Speaking of speaking! Yes, all of the fellow Americans find our English proficiency is becoming oversimplified. Instead of “Would you like to come with me to lunch?” I now speak in some robot form of “You-and-me-eat-lunch-soon? It’s a weird feeling. 

Taylor Swift. One of my students told me today that I remind them of her. She has moved up to the top five on my favorites list. 

Also, I have one boy Sebastian (sebas-T-AHN! Not pronounced like Little Mermaid) That has asked me to help him look for a basketball scholarship in the United States. I really want to help him because he is so smart and kind and SO dedicated to this dream of his. I have been struggling with ideas on how to help him. Any suggestions would be fabulous!

The front entrance to school. I am standing in a giant space with fun art sculptures.

As you can see, I have many stories of the crazy things kids say and do in my class each day. Teaching is a 24 hour job. Especially when you live three blocks from the school and run into your students everywhere. I am enjoying my new job as exhausting as it is and of course have so much respect for the profession, like we all should!