Today was the first day at the Alison Bixby Stone School in Honduras! Today was the day where I got to choose the classroom that I will be teaching for for the next 2 weeks. Coming into today, I honestly had no idea which classroom I would choose to teach. Right now I am majored in secondary education so I had no clue or direction to go. Throughout the day, I took a little notes on each classroom from preschool to 7th grade that I would like to share with you.
- Preschool: All the kids were very sweet. They seemed to be really shy at the beginning because in this culture we stick out like sore thumbs, so they were very cautious at the beginning. After about 20 minutes, the kids opened up and one of the first things one kid said was, "You speak English!" Within the first minute, these students can see that we aren't fluent in Spanish and begin to become interested in this culture that was so different from them. Another thing I noticed was the way they were learning to count to ten. They weren't just learning it in English and Spanish, but in Japanese and German as well.
- Kindergarten: This is where the kids are really getting into learning how to speak in English. They began to learn basic words and how to talk about the weather as well as the days of the week. The kids were very respectful and minded that when others talk, they are supposed to listen. Kindergarten also started to begin to set schedules for the kids to follow.
- 1st Grade: For english, the kids are beginning to combine there words in sentences. They are very curious about you when you come into the classroom. They want to know who you are, how "old you have lived," and even what your favorite color is. They also gave me so many compliments and were just super sweet. I walked into the classroom and a girl came up to me and said, "I love your moño!" This word means bun in Spanish. Most kids begin to start working in groups of threes instead of big class groups. They speak a lot in Spanish as well as english and seem to know most words in english. One girl asked me "how old I have lived" and I told her that I was 19. She went to her friend to tell her and her friend came back and asked if I was " 9 and a 0" (90) and I laughingly told her "no I am a 1 and a 9."
- 2nd Grade: This class was probably the most friendly out of all the classes I observed today. The moment I came into the room all the kids swarmed me and each one, individually, gave me a hug and excitedly asked my name. The kids were reading picture books and were basically fluent in there English. Something that I observed in the classroom was show and tell. One person was designated for show and tell each week. A little girl got up in front of the class and showed her classmates a plastic water bottle that you would get at Walmart in America. The only difference for this girl was the amount of happiness she had for this object that so many people take advantage of in the states. She explained to us that her mom bought her this over the weekend and that she was happy to be able to keep water with her. This was SO eye opening for me to see how proud she was of this thing that we so often look over. It really shows the amount of love these kids have.
- 3rd Grade: This class was very talkative. They talked almost every second that the teacher wasn't talking. They seemed to be constantly sharing knowledge with one another. Coming into the classroom, the kids were very skeptical about us. They really didn't know what to think and always looked back at me, but didn't really say anything. During the time I was observing, the kids were reading chapter book and writing on journals. This seemed like the start of where the students begin to reflect on what they are learning. It was really nice to see them begin to do that. I think it's something really important to take time to do.
- 4th Grade: Starting to write stories. They learn between the non-fiction and fiction as well as the different styles of writing (like poetry). The kids also begin using the dictionary to look up words. I think this is when real independent studies begin for the students. They become more independent and didn't rely on too many people to help them. They weren't afraid of getting the answer wrong. I loved the confidence that the children displayed and the drive/passion to learn. Something I also thought was cool was this class had a thing called a "Compliment Circle." Each week, someone would get the chance to be in the middle of a circle while the persons peers said one compliment for the person in the middle. I LOVE this concept. It teaches them so many things like the love from there peers as well as the confidence to keep pushing. It's nice for kids to be able to hear something positive about themselves every once in awhile.
- 5th Grade: This class caught me a little off guard compared to the other classes. It may have just been the stage that 5th graders are at mentally, but it seemed like the students were either completely engaged in the learning or completely out of it. They also didn't care who was in the room, the just went on with business.
- 6th Grade: This grade starts to assign different subjects (or periods, like in the states). They don't go to different classrooms, but instead they have different teachers that come in. There are 3 teachers for the classroom (so each teacher obviously teaches more than one subject) and each subject in 45 minutes long. The students are completely fluent, very polite, and extremely involved in everything. You can really tell they have a passion to learn.
- 7th Grade: This is the last grade at Alison Bixby. The class seemed like a pretty regular middle school class. They behaved the same way (pretty rowdy at times) and seem to not be too interested in some subjects. However, nonetheless the teachers create a lot of activities to get them to be engaged and learn the material.
After observing all these classes from 7:30-12, it was lunch time. The lunch was AMAZING!!!! We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes (that were somehow WAY better than America's mashed potatoes), cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, shredded lettuce, homemade guacamole, and homemade tortillas. At this point, it was time to decide the classrooms that we will be teaching in for the next 2 weeks. My final pick ended up being between 2nd grade and 6th grade. At the end, I picked 6th grade because of the passion that they have to learn as well as the knowledge that I will be able to gain from them. I believe in giving and receiving. As a teacher I want to give as much information I can to my students but also retrieve as much information as I can from my students as well. So I am officially going to be teaching the 6th graders and I couldn't be more excited to get to know them and learn/teach things!
I bet some of you are wondering what was different in there schools then from Americas. So here are the things that I noticed today:
- As much as the kids want to learn english from you, they wanted to teach you Spanish as well. They were constantly helping me with my Spanish and were so proud to be bilingual.
- I learned a new game called Coco Trio. Basically this game is a mix of tag and "lava" that we play in America. You have to stay on the playground (you die if you go off it) and people on the ground have to try to tag you. The kids had 3 recesses for 20 minutes (each day) so me and the kids played that a lot.
- The schools have no grades, just points.
- They have never given a test (besides one state standard test that is required). They tend to focus more on the learning processes, projects, and the relationships with the students. In turn, this shows up on there testing to where they end up doing really well.
- Out of the whole day observing many different grades and classrooms, I saw 1 person cry. These kids are not at all cry baby or bratty. They cry when they are hurt and that's about it.
- Something a little odd that I experienced today was the bathrooms. I went into the bathroom stall and did my business and then I realized there was no toilet paper... so I had to drip dry of course and I walk out of the stall and see the toilet paper over on the wall. I thought this was an odd concept that you had to get toilet paper first and then use the bathroom. Needless to say, I will always remember to get toilet paper before using the bathroom now...
- Almost all the girls I saw (even in preschool) had there ears pierced.
- The teachers are respected SO much by there students. What the teachers says, the students try there best to follow. The kids love their teachers and are really more there friends than teachers.
- There is no difference between the poor and the wealthier. You wouldn't no any difference, which is extremely nice to see. Everyone is treated equally.
At 2:45 school lets out and we are free to walk back to Zomorano. There wasn't much I did the rest of the day. I got my first lesson to teach for the students tomorrow which I'm super excited about. I am teaching run on sentences and created an activity for them to do. I also helped the english teacher create activities and objectives for the rest of this week. Later, a group of girls and I went to Expresso Americano which is equivalent to a Starbucks here. However, I definitely think the coffee is way better here then at Starbucks. After we ate dinner and had our first class from 6-8 where we discussed mainly articles that we read as well as our first experience at the school. Again, I am extremely exhausted tonight and am about to hit the hay after a cool shower. All this craziness is super fun and I'm excited to begin teaching and getting to know my kids tomorrow!(photos: The first photo is a photo of the school and the second photo is the walk way to our hotel).
"So old man teach me a thing or two, I can learn a lot from
An old man telling me what to do, can we reverse the clock and
Go back to when you were my age, the good old days,
So come on, old man teach me a thing or two,
I can learn a lot from you."
"Old Man" by Billy Lockett
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