Hello Blog Readers!
I feel like it’s been awhile since I last posted as I can’t remember when that was… maybe it was just this week and I shouldn’t feel so badly about it. I think I’ll go with that option.
This was an interesting week! I lived through my first earthquake! It was a 5.4 on the Richter Scale in Mexico City, but it was much tamer here in Zihua. So tame that I thought it was Pako’s leg shaking the bed for the first 15 seconds, then the windows started rattling and he said “ahhh, tu primer temblor” (ahhh, you’re first earthquake) and that was a big enough clue for me to get it. It wasn’t strong, but Pako was surprised that it lasted as long as it did, about 30 seconds, start to finish. I wasn’t scared at all, but my large and ferocious guard dog, who was under the bed, got rather frightened and trembly and started barking. Let’s be serious, the only reason I wasn’t scared was because it was so mini an earthquake. Apparently when they are stronger, all of the windows in our project –ahem, apartment complex rattle and you can hear the building creak and groan. Super. I think mini-temblors are good enough for me!
On Friday I gave my first quiz as a high school teacher. They’re required to take a quiz on irregular verbs every Friday. Base group Jason would be appalled because there are NO higher level thinking aspects, all rote memorization. (If you didn’t understand that, don’t worry, just enroll in the licensure program at the U and 15 months from now you’ll be all caught up). They have to know the infinitive (to be), present tense conjugations (am, are, is), past tense (was, were), past participle (been) and meaning in Spanish (ser/estar). If they don’t get them all write, they have to write that out 10 times. Yuck. Not my idea, not my choice.
My boss, Jeannie, the English coordinator of the school, finally showed up on Thursday! She hasn’t told me much, but it is nice to have her in the building (and country) because she’s the only one who really knows what her requirements are! Everyone else in the school kind of just said “oh, well, let’s just wait for Jeannie to get back… can’t you play a game or something?” An interesting thing that Jeannie did tell me: she wants me to cover 2 units in the book per month. Sounds fine, right? Yeah, except that the units are 4 pages long (maximum) each and include activities that take about 35 seconds in the advanced class and 45 in the lower level class… Ah well, I guess I’ll be creating curriculum with the wealth of materials and resources that are provided for me by the school… Oh wait… shoot. At least I like to be challenged!
I will have a 6th grade class and a 7th grade class added to my repertoire starting the 24th of August. Those classes have more extensive books and set curriculums that they want me to follow, so the issue there won’t be lesson planning, but classroom management. The 7th grade class will be 15 students or less, but the 6th grade class will be 20-25 students. Piddly if you’re used to teaching in Minneapolis public schools, I know, but still kinda scary if you’re a first year teacher in a new school in a new system in a new COUNTRY! Like I said, I enjoy challenges J We have an orientation with Jeannie on Wed, Thurs and Fri of this week, so hopefully I’ll learn more about what it is exactly that I am doing. Also, I’ll FINALLY get to meet the other English teachers and force them to be my mentors… I mean, ask them nicely and bribe them… request… BEG them to give me guidance.
Oh, one last thing about school. Jeannie did inform me that this year all teachers have to wear uniforms. On the outside I smiled and nodded and said ok and on the inside I though ‘wait, what? What the hell have I been wearing this goofy get up for during the past 2 weeks?!??’ Then I politely inquired about how I could get the blouse (white, brown or tan… sexy) and what kind of pants I needed (praying inwardly that I could get away with my beloved jeans and not have to wear the awesome but nonetheless less comfortable polyester things). She thought I would be able to get away with dungarees. Ok, anyone under 50 know what dungarees are? Yeah, me either. I asked, dungarees are jeans in old people speak.
Another very exciting thing that happened this week? I GOT MAIL!!!! Holy cow, I can’t really explain how it felt to get mail, sorta like I remain connected, albeit marginally, to the world at large. Sure email, text messages and phone calls help with that too, but there is something incredibly comforting about receiving snail mail when you least expect it. I got a Badgers/Packers football schedule (very VERY important as I let Pako know immediately upon opening the envelope) from my good friend Will and some choice comics and crossword puzzles from my parents. Let me be clear, getting mail is super cool and I am soliciting it from all of you! I would like to apologize to Chelsea Twohig, who lived in Spain for 2 years, and who I am now realizing did not receive enough mail from me – wapa, lo lamento!
Ok dear readers, here ends this tale. I’ve included a picture of me in the “uniform” that I have been wearing (white blouse, blue jeans – you’re not getting a pic of the polyester pants, sorry) and one of me coming back from the beach with a buddy in my backpack. I’ll write next weekend, letting you know how my last week of purely high school teaching goes and what I learned in my (hopefully) more extensive orientation!
Adios and SEND ME MAIL!
Love,
Leyah
I feel like it’s been awhile since I last posted as I can’t remember when that was… maybe it was just this week and I shouldn’t feel so badly about it. I think I’ll go with that option.
This was an interesting week! I lived through my first earthquake! It was a 5.4 on the Richter Scale in Mexico City, but it was much tamer here in Zihua. So tame that I thought it was Pako’s leg shaking the bed for the first 15 seconds, then the windows started rattling and he said “ahhh, tu primer temblor” (ahhh, you’re first earthquake) and that was a big enough clue for me to get it. It wasn’t strong, but Pako was surprised that it lasted as long as it did, about 30 seconds, start to finish. I wasn’t scared at all, but my large and ferocious guard dog, who was under the bed, got rather frightened and trembly and started barking. Let’s be serious, the only reason I wasn’t scared was because it was so mini an earthquake. Apparently when they are stronger, all of the windows in our project –ahem, apartment complex rattle and you can hear the building creak and groan. Super. I think mini-temblors are good enough for me!
On Friday I gave my first quiz as a high school teacher. They’re required to take a quiz on irregular verbs every Friday. Base group Jason would be appalled because there are NO higher level thinking aspects, all rote memorization. (If you didn’t understand that, don’t worry, just enroll in the licensure program at the U and 15 months from now you’ll be all caught up). They have to know the infinitive (to be), present tense conjugations (am, are, is), past tense (was, were), past participle (been) and meaning in Spanish (ser/estar). If they don’t get them all write, they have to write that out 10 times. Yuck. Not my idea, not my choice.
My boss, Jeannie, the English coordinator of the school, finally showed up on Thursday! She hasn’t told me much, but it is nice to have her in the building (and country) because she’s the only one who really knows what her requirements are! Everyone else in the school kind of just said “oh, well, let’s just wait for Jeannie to get back… can’t you play a game or something?” An interesting thing that Jeannie did tell me: she wants me to cover 2 units in the book per month. Sounds fine, right? Yeah, except that the units are 4 pages long (maximum) each and include activities that take about 35 seconds in the advanced class and 45 in the lower level class… Ah well, I guess I’ll be creating curriculum with the wealth of materials and resources that are provided for me by the school… Oh wait… shoot. At least I like to be challenged!
I will have a 6th grade class and a 7th grade class added to my repertoire starting the 24th of August. Those classes have more extensive books and set curriculums that they want me to follow, so the issue there won’t be lesson planning, but classroom management. The 7th grade class will be 15 students or less, but the 6th grade class will be 20-25 students. Piddly if you’re used to teaching in Minneapolis public schools, I know, but still kinda scary if you’re a first year teacher in a new school in a new system in a new COUNTRY! Like I said, I enjoy challenges J We have an orientation with Jeannie on Wed, Thurs and Fri of this week, so hopefully I’ll learn more about what it is exactly that I am doing. Also, I’ll FINALLY get to meet the other English teachers and force them to be my mentors… I mean, ask them nicely and bribe them… request… BEG them to give me guidance.
Oh, one last thing about school. Jeannie did inform me that this year all teachers have to wear uniforms. On the outside I smiled and nodded and said ok and on the inside I though ‘wait, what? What the hell have I been wearing this goofy get up for during the past 2 weeks?!??’ Then I politely inquired about how I could get the blouse (white, brown or tan… sexy) and what kind of pants I needed (praying inwardly that I could get away with my beloved jeans and not have to wear the awesome but nonetheless less comfortable polyester things). She thought I would be able to get away with dungarees. Ok, anyone under 50 know what dungarees are? Yeah, me either. I asked, dungarees are jeans in old people speak.
Another very exciting thing that happened this week? I GOT MAIL!!!! Holy cow, I can’t really explain how it felt to get mail, sorta like I remain connected, albeit marginally, to the world at large. Sure email, text messages and phone calls help with that too, but there is something incredibly comforting about receiving snail mail when you least expect it. I got a Badgers/Packers football schedule (very VERY important as I let Pako know immediately upon opening the envelope) from my good friend Will and some choice comics and crossword puzzles from my parents. Let me be clear, getting mail is super cool and I am soliciting it from all of you! I would like to apologize to Chelsea Twohig, who lived in Spain for 2 years, and who I am now realizing did not receive enough mail from me – wapa, lo lamento!
Ok dear readers, here ends this tale. I’ve included a picture of me in the “uniform” that I have been wearing (white blouse, blue jeans – you’re not getting a pic of the polyester pants, sorry) and one of me coming back from the beach with a buddy in my backpack. I’ll write next weekend, letting you know how my last week of purely high school teaching goes and what I learned in my (hopefully) more extensive orientation!
Adios and SEND ME MAIL!
Love,
Leyah
P.S. This last pic is of me on the way home from surfing. Pako surfed (obviously) and I played with the dog. Tired the little tyke out and he decided he didn´t want to walk up the 5 flights of stairs to our apartment... what a wimp!
I'd love to send you a postcard or something, but I don't have your address! You should post it somewhere or send it to me. I have to confess that I am insanely jealous of your beach--it looks like you're having fun!
ReplyDeleteBecky
Agreed. What is your new address? And am I slow, or is there no picture of your uniform? I somehow missed it apparently lol.
ReplyDeleteLove you. Love your blog.
Besos y un abrazo fuerte.
~Kim