Day 15- Letters to Amigos

Today we were given the opportunity to observe a first and second grade english classroom. In the first grade, the english teacher was teaching about nuclear families and the names of each family members. She focused primarily on the mom, dad, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, me, and dog. It was really interesting for me to view a different country's teaching style and notice the similarities and differences between the United States and Costa Rica. The first thing that I noticed right away was that there is absolutely no behavior management at all throughout the whole school. Even at recess, all the kids are outside without any adult supervision. The teacher spent a lot of time drawing the face of each family member on the board, and while she was doing that, the kids were completely off task and not paying attention at all. Once the teacher had drawn every family member, the students were to draw and write the exact same thing in their own notebook as notes for later. It was interesting to see that the teacher did not expand upon any family member or say anything about the words. She just had the students repeat after her about ten times and then they spend the rest of their class time drawing the same pictures in their notebooks. The classes that we observed at this particular school were only about 30 minutes long and by the time the teacher had changed classrooms (the teachers change classrooms and the students stay in the same classroom all day), students calmed down, and the teacher started teaching, they only had about 25 minutes left. Then there was another 5 minutes wasted for students to pack up their materials. This left about 20 minutes of instruction, which is very difficult to learn something in only 20 minutes. I am not criticizing this type of instruction by any means, but these were just some of the differences that I noticed while at the school. We then went into a second grade classroom where the English teacher taught family trees again, but with a few more members added in. She added cousins, son, and daughter to the tree and it seemed like the students didn't really have much of a clue what they were writing down, they were just copying what the teacher wrote on the board.

After observing, we went into a fourth grade classroom and taught them how to write a letter to a friend. Our professor, Dr. Powell, had brought letters that students had written in the United States and the hope is for the students to become pen pals eventually! We had them write their sentences in English, so we had to teach them how to spell, read, and write in English. It was pretty difficult for them, so it required a lot of one on one attention to help them complete the letter. Our primary goal for the lesson was to allow the students to make connections and be more engaged rather than just sitting in their desk copying what was written on the board. The letters were meaningful to them because they know that they will get a response from a student in the United States. I think this type of learning is very powerful for students because they need to be able to make connections and have learning be authentic. I learned a lot through this lesson that I can take back with me in my future classroom.

Day 14- Sick again

Today when I woke up, I was feeling worse than I was the day before, but I decided to tough it out and go on our hike through the rainforest. On our hike, we learned about a lot of birds, saw a sloth, a kuati, and many insects. We saw a huge tarantula which was cool and scary at the same time! By the end of our hike, I could hardly open my eyes because my head was pounding so hard but I thought maybe a little lunch with some food in my stomach would help me feel a little better. I was wrong. After lunch, I had to cut my day short and go home to bed. I couldn't go to Spanish class, or our Salsa dancing lesson that we were supposed to have this evening. I was so upset being sick in a different country, not being able to call my real mom to tell her I was sick, hardly being able to speak the language to my tico family to tell them that I was sick, and I just wanted some American food to make me feel better. I walked home from lunch and went straight to sleep when I got there. When I woke up, I needed to go out and get some fresh air and plus, I was out of kleenex's, so I walked to the supermarket to by some crackers, kleenex's and I also had to get some chocolate chip cookies because chocolate cures everything! I also stopped by the ice cream store and got some ice cream to make my throat feel better and also my soul too!

I was able to skype my real parents and sister for awhile this afternoon and it was so great to be able to see them and talk to them in English! There is no greater love than the love of family! I think my mama tica knew that I was struggling a bit, so she made some soup for dinner and after dinner, I played with Mathias a little bit (I didn't want him to get sick too, but she told me that I didn't have to stay in my room for the rest of the night!), and then she began talking about her family and love of birds to me. She got out 3 big photo albums and told me story after story (in Spanish) about her different family members and I pulled out the pictures I brought of my family too! We talked for a few hours and then she got on her computer and showed me all her favorite bird pictures that she has taken over the years. She was so passionate about them and after seeing some awesome pictures, we were both really tired and now it is time for bed. I'm hoping the antibiotics will kick in soon so I will feel better tomorrow!

Day 13- Tours and Clinic

Today for breakfast, I had a cheese quesadilla for breakfast along with some pineapple and watermelon. It is interesting to see the different styles of meals here because I've had some pretty different things, especially for breakfast, that I would never have thought of eating for breakfast in the United States. We then were on our way to the Trapache Farm. Here, we were given a tour by one of the family members through the sugar cane plants, coffee plants, and banana trees. We were able to see the whole coffee process all the way from planting the seeds, picking the seeds, drying the seeds, peeling the seeds, drying them again, peeling them again, sorting the different grades of seeds, and finally roasting the seeds. It was really neat and engaging to learn how coffee is made and the hard labor that is needed in order to get a cup of coffee for breakfast! We also learned the process of getting sugar from the sugar canes growing in the field. We ended our tour by having lunch made for us by the ladies who live on the farm, which was delicious!

We had a little freetime when we got back to our school before Spanish class in which I started feeling really sick. There were about five people in our group that did not feel well so we had some down time for everyone to rest up before sitting through Spanish class. During class, I could not concentrate at all because my head was pounding so hard, had a fever, and my through was swollen. Our professor, Dr. Powell, decided not to risk anything while we were in a different country, so she told three of us that we needed to go to the nearest clinic ASAP. There are no hospitals in Monteverde, the closest one is 4 hours away so we went to a little clinic, where luckily there was an English speaking doctor. He told me that I had a tonsil infection and prescribed me some medicine to go pick up at the pharmacy. Dr. Powell insisted that we go right home to bed and she would go pick up our medicine and bring it to our house. My mama tica made me some lemon tea (I think that's what it was) and off to bed I go! Today was quite the adventure, and with a little rest, I'm sure I'll be better in no time!

Day 12-Sing and Dance

Today was a big learning day for me! I started off my day eating pancakes and always fruit from my mama tica and off we went to the Elementary School located in Santa Elena. We were greeted at the school by the principal who gave us a tour around his school. We saw their school garden, complete with cucumbers, peppers, and spices. We then saw their classrooms, offices, lunch room where I think the hardest workers are! The cooks for this school not only have to make lunch for every student in the school, but they only have one class set of plates so every time a class is finished eating lunch, they have to quickly wash them before the next class arrives a few minutes later. At this school, there is a building where teachers can live, along with a soccer field and and another garden that the United States helped fund through partnerships. We then arrived in the classroom we were going to be teaching in. We broke up into small groups, with each of us taking 2-3 students to teach to. I worked with Jessica and Steven, who were so engaged and seemed to be really happy to be learning both English and Spanish. Our lesson for the day was about leaves and we had brought leaves from around their town to look at and describe. We put the leaves in order from biggest to smallest, talked about their colors and size, measured them, and felt the different textures. After my lesson, I still had about 20 minutes to spare, so we began learning the colors in English. Jessica ran to her desk and brought back a pack of crayons that were in English so they could see the color and the spelling right on it. After mastering the colors, I taught them how to sing head, shoulders, knees, and toes in both Spanish and English! They didn't know the tune in Spanish so we worked on what was most comfortable for them, Spanish, before moving on to English. I know I always learn best through songs and movement, so I hope this helped them learn in a different way in which they were used to. By the end of the class, I had about 10 students in a circle all learning the song and motions! It was awesome to see such attentive learners and students so willing to learn.

Day 11-New Tico Family

I am already having a very different experience with my new family I am staying with in Monteverde. My Tico family here consists of my mama tica, papa tico, and a little baby hermano tico (baby brother). The little boy is one and a half years old and the cutest little kid you could ever meet. Right when I arrived on Sunday night, it only took him about ten minutes to warm up to me before we played together for a couple of hours. He cannot speak many words so the language barrier between him and I is not a huge problem. It makes me realize the connections you can make with people even if they cannot speak or speak a different language than you. Mathias is his name and he loves birds. This also made me remember the importance of getting to know all your students and their interests so you can make learning relatable to them and more engaging by using examples of things they are interested in. My mama tica is very nice used to be a guide at the butterfly reserve, so she knows a little English from different tour groups that have come to her work. She also speaks slowly and annunciates her words a lot so I am able to understand what she is saying. It also really helps when she uses actions to go along with her story in case I get a little confused, I am able to use clues from her actions to understand what she is telling me. Sometimes I get a little frustrated because I can understand her whole 5 minute story she is telling me in Spanish, but I can't come up with the words to respond to keep the conversation going, so I end up just saying "Si" or "Yes". My papa tico works as a cashier of a restaurant so he knows a lot of food names in English when I ask what is on my plate for dinner.

Today in school, we made chalupas as a group! It was really fun and they tasted delicious at the end! It was quite the "typical" day that we having been having on this trip with Spanish class, where we met our new teacher for the week, Carlos Luis, left to go back home, hang out with my family, eat dinner and go to bed! I am quite exhausted at the end of today from all of our new schedule and routine in Monteverde! Buenos Noches!

Weekend Adventures

This weekend we traveled from our home stay in Heredia towards our next home stay in Monteverde. We left early Saturday morning saying goodbye to our families that we had been living with and off we were headed West towards the coast and the mountains. As we were traveling, we stopped a few times for "surprises" that our tour guide had planned for us. Our first stop was to get out of our bus and walk along the bridge of the Tarcoles River. At this spot, many crocodiles gather together and lay in the sun or the water. We saw about 20 crocodiles and they were very big! I was so impressed and in awe at the size of these animals! Our next "surprise" was something that I never thought that I would ever do in my life. We pulled up next to a sign that said Crocodile Safari Boat Tours! I couldn't believe that we were actually going to get in a boat in the same river that many crocodiles lived. We all pilled on the boat and within the first ten minutes, we spotted our first big crocodile. It was a female about 10 or 11 feet long and the driver of our boat pulled over to the nearest bank, grabbed some fish he had in the back of the boat and began slapping the water with the fish. The crocodile turned around and started heading towards us! The driver was on the bank alone with a huge crocodile right in front of him. He fed one fish to the crocodile and had one more left in his bucket. He put the fish in his mouth and the crocodile came within inches to his face before snatching it right from his mouth! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen and was so neat to see it right in front of my face! We then saw numerous other crocodiles and learned a lot about them. It really made me realize the importance of field trips and other things that I can do in my classroom to keep my students engaged. During the whole safari, I was definitely engaged and hardly realized that I was learning all about insects, crocodiles, plants, crabs, birds and all sorts of other information.

The next day, we woke up early to go on a hike through the Manuel Antonio National Park. We saw sloths, monkeys, bats, and many other interesting insects, trees, and plants. We had a little more beach time before heading up the mountains to Monteverde where we are staying for two weeks. The ride up was so scary and being in the dark did not help my fears at all! We were literally inches from the cliff and heading up into the clouds. When I looked out the front window, I could hardly see more than a foot in front of the bus. Good thing that we have an awesome driver, Roy, who always gets us to where we need to be safely! We met our new families when we got off the bus...I will tell more about my family the next blog!

Go to this link to watch the crocodile video!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSRXYAdiws4

Day 8-La Carpio

Today has been one of those days that just tugs on your heart strings. We began our day by taking a bus to La Carpio. La Carpio is a community outside of the city living in severe poverty. Many of the families that live in this community are immigrants from Nicaragua who came here to live a better life. From the photos above, you would think that these people do not have a good life while living on almost nothing. Actually, this community is all about hope. La Carpio was started by a women named Gail Nystrom who saw many people living on the street who needed an education and a place to live. This woman worked very hard to build this community to give families, mothers, children, and anyone else a chance of hope.

Today we were able to visit a Montessori school in the community that was started by Gail to give children a place to get education. We had "circle time" with the students who were ages of about 2-7 where we sang songs. They taught us some Spanish songs and we taught them some English songs. After, we each worked with one or two kids coloring and then center time. In most schools that I have observed in Wilmington, do not have the same center time that we witnessed. Here, the kids were able to wander around the room and play with any sort of manipulative that they found. It was so interesting to see how organized the class was and what each student did with the different manipulatives. I worked with a six year old girl named Raquel. She reminded me of myself a lot. We began by putting a math puzzle together while she quizzed me on my addition skills in Spanish. We then played a matching game, matching the Spanish word to the English word to the picture. After, we played with colored popsicle sticks for almost an hour. First we built a tower, then sorted them, then made patterns, then built more towers based on colors. During this, I was amazed to see how you do not need much to learn things. Also, by letting the students explore things on their own, they are able to make their own discoveries and think of things that maybe the teacher would have never thought of.

We then received a short tour of the community and walked by many of the houses. Many of the families have only one or two beds in their house for four or five people. Walking through the community made me feel so grateful for what I have been given in my life and to see people living out of a small tin house full of hope made me feel so blessed. I can't put in words the emotions that were running through me the entire time we were there. These people who live in this community are living with close to nothing, but hoping for a better future for their kids. In the words of the painting on one of the houses: Ninos de la esperanza...Nuestro futuro! (The kids of hope...Our future!)