My Colombian Adventures: I'm an English Teacher!

I've had two weeks of teaching now and I am falling more and more in love with it. The first week was a bit chaotic because I didn't have any kind of schedule (just because its Colombia and that's how they roll)... and about half the school doesn't even show up for the first week or two (just because its Colombia and that's how they roll)..., so that makes it difficult to really start teaching. This week was much better because I had a schedule and knew where to be and when to be there, which made it just a wee bit easier to plan for the week. Now I feel like I am really settling into the whole routine and actually getting used to the whole "go with the flow" attitude here.

The kids are completely crazy and energetic, which makes teaching them extremely difficult and exhausting, but equally just as fun. Luckily I have the homeroom teachers in the classroom with me, who are a big help, especially because I cannot always understand what the kids are asking me or saying in class.... due to the lack of spanish knowledge in my brain.

Here is the whole school in the morning meeting that we have twice a week. Que lindos!

To add to the whole "go with the flow" attitude here, there are some days in which it is decided that we will take a break from class and have a large soccer game... either between the teachers, the students, the other school, teachers and students, etc... the whole school gets really into it and we have a TON of school spirit. It is very exciting and a fabulous excuse to have a descanso in the middle of the day :)

The soccer game....

The audience...

The end of the game... (we won!)

I am teaching Kindergarten through Third grades. One of the most challenging things for me is LEARNING THE NAMES! I have over 160 students and they all have ridiculously difficult names to remember/pronounce.... I have no idea if I will ever be able to learn all of them. I have been taking pictures of them with their names to help me remember, but who knows. Not to mention, I am still learning all of the names of the teachers here as well. It is quite an overwhelming task.

The whole learning environment in Colombia is completely different. It is not uncommon for fights to break out in the middle of class (especially with little ones). My kindergarten kids are extremely moody and break out in fights constantly. I looked over the other day at two of my students and one of them had taken off her shoe and was smacking the child next to her with it... I have also witnessed strangling, punching, chasing, tackling, grabbing, hitting and hair-pulling. Needless to say, teaching the youngins is quite an exhausting task. However, fighting is not taken seriously in this town. It is not uncommon to be walking down the street and see two full-grown women having a physical fight.... so it is no wonder that these children behave the way they do. It is also pretty much an unknown practice to raise your hand in class. Instead, the students come up to you or yell "teacher!" from across the room and don't stop until you respond. I am trying to work on that with them, but we will see........

Despite the fighting and yelling in class, I really do love teaching here and adore the students. I literally walk into the class and the students start cheering and jumping up and down because they are so excited to have English class. I get chased around campus with students yelling "teacher! teacher!" "good morning!" "hello!" "how are you?!" I receive a countless number of hugs a day and I feel as though I am constantly smiling.