I’m a substitute teacher for a teacher called Beverly who got Glandular Fever and is back in States recovering. The school is called Cloud Forest School, Centro Educacion Creativa. The class is a Grade 1 and 2 class (6-8 years old) of 16 children. The pay is very minimal but the great thing is that we can stay in Beverly's little unit, which is very comfortable for $60US for the two weeks - bargain (we've been paying that kind of price for two nights up until now)! And it's a great opportunity for me to be able to teach here to see what's it's like. It's so nice to be in one place for awhile and not have to pack up our packs all the time. It's also refreshing to be in a cooler climate, with fresh mountain air.
I teach in English. This makes it interesting as 2/16 children are fluent English speakers, 2/16 can pretty reliably translate from Spanish to English (although I have to mention that yesterday - to my delight I found it easier to translate a story about a Rainbow Fish than they did – yippee I must be getting my Spanish back!), and the rest have varying levels of English – ranging from good to none! My job got heaps easier as I realized that it was ok to do some translating for them during the day so they actually know what I’m asking them to do!! Then they can actually do what I'm asking (because they understand)!
The school is very interesting, run quite differently from a NZ school! The children don't seem as interested in adults?! This may be because there are so many adults at the school - there is a volunteer programme (both in the classroom and in the garden). The school is really big on conservation - they're all set up with a big garden and a full time gardener - we have a garden/environment lesson each week. Last week the children picked and ate carrots. Today we gathered up leaves for the compost, did some weeding and painted a sign (purple!). I love that lesson! The children are schooled up to be the guardians of the neighbouring 'Cloud Forest'. The senior school does a lot of fundraising - they cook local food and bake and sell it around the school - which I like - today it was cheese empanada, last week baking and tomorrow...burritos with guacamole!
Cindy (the acting Principal who gave me the job) is really happy to have us here (she taught the class for a week before I arrived) and is wonderfully hospitable. Her and her husband Jason look after us really well (they also invite us daily for a hot shower at their house as our hot water has putted out). I get a ride in with Cindy at 7am and at first I tried the school bus home. Now I walk and let the bus pass me half way home. I love that part of the day. I drop the children off at the bus stop, pack up my stuff then run down the steep hill to the main'ish road, then walk to meet Snowdon in the cafe. Yesterday I passed a truck loaded with water/rock melon with a group of men gathered around it. I stopped and bought a watermelon for 1 000 colones ($2.50NZ). I was so happy to have bought a watermelon off the back of the truck (I mean how fresh is that! - market garden style but fresher), that I carried it in my arms (not hidden away in my backpack) and smiled the whole way to the cafe. I smiled at every person I saw and they all smiled back! We ate half of it last night and MAN IT WAS GOOD!
Over the weekend we participated in the Carrera Creativa. It was a great event! Snowdon and I did the 5km walk (originally I was keen for the 10km run, but hadn't been doing much running .....+ altitude.... + last year another teacher told me she went in it and fainted - she's still not quite sure why..). Anyway the walk was fun. I handed out balloons to the support crews along the way. We were given fresh fruit on our arrival at school (the race finish) and then we bought a cheap, filling and delicious meal made by the parents who were fundraising at the school festival.
That's it for now about our new temporary home. Today was my second day of the second week and I feel like I'm now settled in and things are running along quite nicely. I'm not quite sure how Beverly's recovery is going...
Off home to cook up a storm with my honey and get my daily few hours of reading on the couch in...(LOVING THAT!)
Thanks for reading :)
The school is very interesting, run quite differently from a NZ school! The children don't seem as interested in adults?! This may be because there are so many adults at the school - there is a volunteer programme (both in the classroom and in the garden). The school is really big on conservation - they're all set up with a big garden and a full time gardener - we have a garden/environment lesson each week. Last week the children picked and ate carrots. Today we gathered up leaves for the compost, did some weeding and painted a sign (purple!). I love that lesson! The children are schooled up to be the guardians of the neighbouring 'Cloud Forest'. The senior school does a lot of fundraising - they cook local food and bake and sell it around the school - which I like - today it was cheese empanada, last week baking and tomorrow...burritos with guacamole!
Cindy (the acting Principal who gave me the job) is really happy to have us here (she taught the class for a week before I arrived) and is wonderfully hospitable. Her and her husband Jason look after us really well (they also invite us daily for a hot shower at their house as our hot water has putted out). I get a ride in with Cindy at 7am and at first I tried the school bus home. Now I walk and let the bus pass me half way home. I love that part of the day. I drop the children off at the bus stop, pack up my stuff then run down the steep hill to the main'ish road, then walk to meet Snowdon in the cafe. Yesterday I passed a truck loaded with water/rock melon with a group of men gathered around it. I stopped and bought a watermelon for 1 000 colones ($2.50NZ). I was so happy to have bought a watermelon off the back of the truck (I mean how fresh is that! - market garden style but fresher), that I carried it in my arms (not hidden away in my backpack) and smiled the whole way to the cafe. I smiled at every person I saw and they all smiled back! We ate half of it last night and MAN IT WAS GOOD!
Over the weekend we participated in the Carrera Creativa. It was a great event! Snowdon and I did the 5km walk (originally I was keen for the 10km run, but hadn't been doing much running .....+ altitude.... + last year another teacher told me she went in it and fainted - she's still not quite sure why..). Anyway the walk was fun. I handed out balloons to the support crews along the way. We were given fresh fruit on our arrival at school (the race finish) and then we bought a cheap, filling and delicious meal made by the parents who were fundraising at the school festival.
That's it for now about our new temporary home. Today was my second day of the second week and I feel like I'm now settled in and things are running along quite nicely. I'm not quite sure how Beverly's recovery is going...
Off home to cook up a storm with my honey and get my daily few hours of reading on the couch in...(LOVING THAT!)
Thanks for reading :)
Lovely to read about your daily life for the next couple of weeks, sounds wonderful. Wish I was there with you : )
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying reading about your time over there. I don't think I'm jealous, maybe it's admiration for being brave enough to just get up and go and live this adventure. Keep on posting.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteneat to see that you are able to interact with the locals. first weeek of teaching sounds pretty challenging, keep the blogs coming DAD
Thanks everyone - I've been a bit silent on the blogs for awhile, so am in catch up mode now!
ReplyDelete