CEDEI School, Part #3

The week of the 5th through the 9th was an interesting week because many of the international teachers were gone.  Only one, Slocomb, was there everyday of the week.  I was very interesting to see how the national teachers were glad to snatch up more time with their students.  The international teachers have the students most of the time they are in school.  My cooperating teacher, who is a national teacher, only sees her students for a full 5 hours and 20 minutes each week, so when the international teachers are not there, she takes the opportunity to review or start new topics.  It was kind of a boring week for me, not a whole lot was going on.  I taught my two English lessons and then I taught a math less in Spanish, well sometimes Spanglish, but I feel that I got the point across.  My teacher is very helpful when it comes to giving me a hand with the language issues.  She is also very encouraging when I teach English.  She said that she thinks that the students are learning more and are trying harder in English class since I have come, and that she likes the lessons that I do.  This is a big confidence booster if nothing else.
We had a four day weekend because of Cuenca Days, which is the celebration of the independence of Cuenca.  Traci and I took this opportunity to go to Baños de Ambato, where there are thermal baths, which are heated by the nearby volcano.  We did not actually go into the baths, but we went horseback riding and got to drive around in a dune buggy.  We both got burnt going horseback riding, and I am still recovering (it is not a pretty picture), but it was a lot of fun.  We got back on Tuesday the 13th around 6 pm, which gave us enough time to relax before teaching the next day.
We were short two international teachers this week, which is not as bad as it could be, especially since there were only three days this week.  Wednesday, I hung out and helped out in the class.  Thursday, Traci and I co-taught a lesson for science.  It went very well, and we got to eat mandarins after.  The lesson was about seeds and plant growth.  We were going to compare seeds and bulbs, but we could not find any bulbs in the city, so we were flexible and cut it down.  The students seemed to be engaged the entire time, which is difficult to do here.  Friday, I taught English, it was a combination of summarizing, story structure, and prediction, with a focus on prediction.  The students have trouble retaining information they hear in English, so we had to summarize the story before they could predict what would happen next.  The story structure, I threw in there because I am going to have them start writing stories on Monday and want them to at least have heard some of the vocabulary even if they do not retain all of it.  My teacher said that I did a good job keeping on the boys to stay on task.  The boys tend to have problems concentrating unless they are moving, so to have them do seat work can be frustrating, but it is necessary sometimes.  All of the national teachers left at 10 in the morning because Tuesday was day of the teachers, so the government was holding a lunch for them.  I took over my class, which was not difficult because most of them were at dance class, so the rest of the students played a game from Colombia since that is the country of the month.  Then we started doing Lenguaje (language, which is in Spanish).  This was a good thing for me because I had to teach in Spanish.  Well, all but four of my students are in the chorus, so I had those four do the assignment, and I assigned it as homework for the rest of them, which they were unhappy with.  Friday, I also spent a half hour talking with my cooperating teacher, which is more difficult that it seems.  Not because of language barriers, but the fact that it is hard to find time to actually talk.  I told her that I only had a little more than two weeks left and we talked about what would happen after I left.  When she realized that I will be certified to teach Spanish in the states, she said that from now on I can not speak in English except for when teaching English class.  I am okay with this because I know that I need to speak more Spanish, it is very easy to speak English since there are many English speaking teachers at the school, and the students practice English with me.  So I have committed to speaking Spanish, and I am now going to be doing activities for Lenguaje and maybe philosophy, which are Spanish only classes.  The students are very helpful if I make a mistake by correcting me.

Katherine

These two weeks have been full of responsibility for me. The 5th through the 9th, my cooperating teacher was traveling in the Galapagos with her family so I was left to manage the classes on my own. This was fine, however, the teachers didn’t realize that, though my cooperating teacher was gone, I would still be teaching some of the lessons. So, of the four I had planned for, I only taught two. This just shows the importance of communication. The lessons that I did get to teach went ok. I am finding I have issues with timing. This is definitely something to improve upon, especially here because the students don’t have the discipline to behave. Most students can see when a teacher is faltering and they take advantage of it, but the students here take ten times that advantage. Thankfully, these two lessons weren’t so bad as far as timing but the ones I was responsible for the following week definitely could use some improvements.
The four day weekend was a lot of fun. Katherine and I went to Baños de Ambato which is known for its thermal baths. The bus ride was long, eight hours there and back. Charter buses are nice, but not that nice. We visited some of the local tourist shops and participated in some of the activities that one of the agencies had to provide. One of the more interesting sights was the people standing in the doorways of little shops pulling taffy. It comes in various forms and flavors and is quite good. Upon returning to Cuenca, Katherine and I were very sore and suffering from bad sunburns (so if your travels take you to Baños, be warned and put on your sun block) but thankfully had enough time to unpack and relax before going back to school.
The three day week was a good time for me to start my full time teaching. I didn’t feel as overwhelmed to make sure I had enough planned for an entire week. Throughout the week, I have 20 classes to prepare for, these classes being half hour periods of time. Some of these classes are combined so that it ends up being only 14 different classes.  So one can see how this can be a bit overwhelming. I teach science to grades Kindergarten to fifth, math and art to Kindergarten, and library to second grade. Keeping the different themes across grade levels in addition to making sure that every student is able to participate is proving to be a great challenge. It would be one thing if I was only teaching science to each grade level, but also incorporating the other subjects is what I believe makes it a bit more difficult. Also, trying to come up with ideas with limited resources is difficult. Where in the states, one can readily print and make copies of information, the people at CEDEI need a minimum of a day advance to make the copies. Even then, it is better to have a few days.  This also proves a problem because of the inconsistencies in scheduling and it is hard to plan so far in advance. The best a teacher here can do is plan ahead and hope that things work out for the best.
I have seven more days of full time teaching ahead of me. It will be an interesting experience and one to really test me as a teacher. Hopefully things work out for the best and I am made a better teacher because of this experience. One can only hope.
Traci

Teacher’s Day

Teacher’s Day in Ecuador has been celebrated every 13th of April since 1990, and is one of the biggest annual events in the country. This date is very significant since this is also the birth of Juan Montalvo Fiallos who is remembered in Ecuadorian  history as a great teacher and thinker.  Fiallos is given credit for  initiating great changes in  his country–especially in encouraging the Ecuadorians to remember how important education is to the people.

Like many other countries of the world, the celebration of this Teacher’s Day in Ecuador includes participation by thousands of schools where students demonstrate their appreciation of their teachers in the form of dances, comical skits, song renditions, dramatizations, monologues and other forms of entertainment. Many schools in Cuenca have even canceled classes today. At CEDEI this morning the administration brought a cake to share with all of the teachers.

Don Bosco

I was just finishing lunch on Saturday when I heard drums beating in the street in from of Macondo. In the past this has been a sign that there was some sort of a parade going by. Since this weekend was “Cuenca Days” (A celebration of the founding of Cuenca somewhat similar to our 4th of July), I grabbed my camera and ran out front to see what was going on. To my surprise, it wasn’t a parade in celebration of Cuenca Days. When I got out front I saw a group of m en offloading a glass sarcophagus containing the remains of Saint John Bosco!

Don Bosco  was an Italian priest who dedicated his life to improving the lives and education of children.  His teaching methods were based on love instead of   punishment.  He was the founder of what has come to be known as the “Salesian Society” which attempted through works of charity, to care for the young and poor children of the industrial revolution.  The society grew rapidly and within ten years had chapters in several countries around the world. Today the society continues to operate worldwide; in 2000, it counted more than 20,000 members in 2,711 houses. It is the third largest missionary organization in the world. A little more than 40 years after his death, Pope Pius XI canonized Don Bosco.

Apparently what I saw Saturday was part of what I am calling the “Don Bosco World Tour.” His remains are being taken throughout Latin America where loyal followers are being given a chance to pay their respects. Saturday morning was just part of a several day “visit” to Cuenca. There was a large crowd gathered that included a band and several hundred followers carrying signs and banners.  It caused me to wonder if there would have been similar turnouts in the States. My “gut” tells me that there would not. I guess it is just another difference in our cultures.

Holy Week

This is Holy Week in Cuenca. As you would expect, Ecuador is a predominantly Catholic nation. Therefore, Holy Week is very important to them. For some reason each of the past three years has found me out of the city during Easter weekend. Such is not the case this year. As a result, I have been able to take in a couple of the church related activities.

Yesterday was “Good Friday” and there were two events that I attended. The first was a procession that left the Santo Domingo church @10:00 AM and wound around much of the central city. The procession focused on the twelve stations of the cross. Each of the “stations” was represented by very large statues that were carried on platforms by anywhere from 10-15 people. I think that each of the “stations” was carried by members of a different church and it was followed by members of the parish. The procession was led by a small drum corp that set the pace by beating out a very slow funeral dirge. I can’t imagine what it would be like to carry the platforms for many blocks at a slow pace on what was a very warm day, and wondered if there were “relief teams” who stepped in to give the people a break. It was quite impressive.
Last night several of us went to a dramatic reenactment of Holy Week up through Christ’s ascension. The “play” was held outdoors in front of one of the churches, and was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM. We arrived at 7:30 to find the cast and crew busy setting up the scenery. Chairs were not brought out until shortly before 8:00. In true Ecuadorian fashion, the performance did not start on time–in fact it was late even by their standards. Finally, the performance started at 8:45 and lasted another 2.5 hours. The actors/actress put their hearts and souls into the performance. It certainly wasn’t their fault that the sound system did not always work. Occasionally they would break out into song (Mary Magdalene had a beautiful voice!) or dance ( a combination of ballet and what I would call “modern dance”). The gentleman who was playing the part of Jesus had extensive lines and was very passionate in their delivery.

The play culminated with Christ’s ascension. Upon his death, the cast had carried him into the church (The front doors had been  made to look like a rock wall to simulate a cave.). After a short time the doors reopened and out came Christ standing on a fork lift. Once the forklift had exited the building he signaled the driver, and he was “raised from the dead.” After a bit he offered another signal and he “came back to earth.” It was difficult to not laugh at the “hokeyness” of the whole thing. At least the “gringos” weren’t the only ones laughing!

One thing I did notice was that a majority of the businesses were closed on Good Friday. Everything seems to be open today, and the city is quite lively. I’m told that the same (many of the restaurants/businesses being open) will be true for tomorrow: Easter Sunday. I know there is a performance of the Passion Play scheduled for Parque Calderon tomorrow afternoon. After last night, I may have all of the “culture” that I can take for one weekend.

Chairs

I have a new quest: It is now my goal to find a comfortable chair in Ecuador!

During the four years I have been  coming to Cuenca, I don’t believe that I have yet to find a  chair that would be comfortable for an extended period of time. “Kitchen” chairs have very straight backs and offer little, or no, support. What we would call a “living room” chair is not much better. The depth of the seats is uncomfortable, and the backs are either very short or overly padded. I find that my back gets stiff after only short periods of sitting in these chairs.

It is a pretty sad statement when you find yourself lingering in the banos because that is the most comfortable seat in the house!

CEDEI School, Part #2

Week of March 29-31

It has been two weeks since our last blog and it has been an interesting two weeks for Traci and me.  Last week, we only had two days with the students.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent as “in-service” days.  Wednesday we had a whole staff meeting, which started out as a “the international is not doing what they are supposed to” from the national team, and the international team replying “no it is the national team who is not doing what they are supposed to.”  After we got through that, the rest of the meeting was good.  We talked about the different learning styles in Spanish, and then in English.  Traci and I ended up passing notes to each other in Spanish during this time.  It is not that it is not good information; it is that the different learning styles along with Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences have been drilled into us since day one at Ambrose.  We did try to help out when they started doing it in English because many of the international teachers are not certified teachers, so this was new to them.

After the big meeting, the international team went and talked with the therapists that work at the school.  The one therapist is the special education person, and coming into this meeting we all thought that we were giving her our lessons and she would help us modify it or give us goals for the students she works with.  This is not what happened.  Instead, all of the international teachers were told that they are not teaching correctly because they are not spending all of their time with the students who need help.  The international teachers tried to say that you cannot teach only one student when there are 19 other students in the classroom.  We decided that the reason for this argument was because the therapist focuses on one-to-one education, and the teachers are whole class.  Traci and I were so upset because it seemed that no one was listening to the other, so we got up and left for five minutes to cool down.  When we got back to the meeting, not much had changed, but the therapist was reasonable about one student.  The biggest problem with the second meeting is that the school either has “normal” students or severe and profound students.  There are not any in between students to adapt lessons for.  The severe and profound students need to have an aid with them at all times because they do not need to learn how to speak, read, and write in English.  Many of them need to learn life skills.  It is difficult as a teacher to adapt a lesson for a student who needs to be doing other things.  I have a boy who is completely blind.  He does not need to learn English; he needs to focus on reading and writing in Braille.

This week we only had the students for three days because it is Holy Week.  My cooperating teacher was not here at all this week.  It was not bad, except that she did not remind me that she was going to be gone.  I also did not know what was going on because the week before we received a load of “practicantes” which are practicum students.  In my class room there are two of them, which means less time for me with the students.  The practicantes took over all of the classes done in Spanish and I took over an English class and a math class.  In essence, I taught my students twice this week because of the fact that other teachers also have my students.

Practicantes: why would you put two practicantes in a class that already has a student teacher?  The practicantes are good because they serve as aids for the two students I have who do not need to learn English.  The worst part about the practicantes is that they rank higher on the respect level than the international teachers.  The national teachers treat them better than they do their coworkers, which is ridiculous.  It also means that I have just been pushed further down the line.  It is already hard enough to get the students to respect you and then to add all of this on top of it.  The practicantes in my class room are nice and the students seem to like them, but I have started to see that the students are more disrespectful of me now that the practicantes have come.

Katherine

Katherine has a bit of a different experience than I do. I understand the perspective of the one ‘special education’ teacher since I am myself a special education teacher. However, she was coming at it from the viewpoint that the teachers need to be making more accommodations for the students who need it. This is all well and good except there are times when there aren’t enough helping hands in the room to deal with the students who need the extra attention. As Katherine mentioned, the students at this school are either ‘normal’ or have disabilities that would characterize them as severe and profound. These disabilities include cerebral palsy, blindness or extreme vision problems, a muscular degenerative problem, Down Syndrome, and a few who have extreme behavior/attention difficulties. Not only do the international teachers have to deal with accommodating these students, which, when given somewhat of a guideline of how these students should be taught, is not all that difficult, they have to deal with the language barrier. All international teachers teach the students in English. This is not their primary language and can prove difficult even for the ‘normal’ students. I am willing to offer my suggestions to the other teachers as far as how to work with these exceptional students and plan to incorporate them to the best of my ability with what resources I have during the time I am taking over the class.
As far as the practicantes are concerned, I don’t have much interaction with them. The only time I have really worked with them in the room is when I am teaching Primero de Basica, which is the equivalent to Kindergarten in the States. During the time I am teaching, the two ladies that are in the room help by focusing their attention on the two boys who have severe visual impairments. They also assist when it is time to clean up. In my point of view, in this class, they are serving much like aides would in the states for students with disabilities who are included in the normal classroom.
Although, I can see where this type of situation with the practicantes would be difficult, especially with upper grade levels. The students in the upper grade levels often have an English class. These practicantes don’t speak in English with the students as do the international teachers. Therefore, standards that the international teachers follow to help improve their students’ English are lost because the students have the opportunity to seek help from one of the practicantes who will speak to them in Spanish rather than in English. It would be different if the practicantes knew enough English to speak it to the students when the class calls for English. However, I do not believe that this is the case.
This coming week, my cooperating teacher will be gone and I will be teaching one class a day. The way that my teaching is going to work out is basically co-teaching. Since I do not know most of the names of the students, my cooperating teacher will work on the classroom management part and I get to plan and actually teach the lessons in the classroom. My cooperating teacher is also there to help assist with the students who do need the extra attention in the class. It will be an interesting week, especially leading into when I take over full time.

Traci