This week has been nonstop! School started today which meant a lot of meetings and prep work to ready the school for the children. It was so good to see my students again! I started the day in 1st grade so I would get to greet them (it has been over a month since I saw them last!). They reacted from disbelief to squeals and hugs. One little girl, Isabel, walked into the room oblivious to the fact that Peggy and I were standing right by the door. She looked around for a minute until her grandpa called her name and pointed to me. She turned around, yelled "Miss Loosa" and ran to give me a hug. If anyone one needs a self-esteem boost become an elementary school teacher. :)
As for my permanent job, however, I will be doing a variety of things. One part of it, which I am really excited about, is to work with the school's EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher, Carolina, to create and implement an EFL program in preschool. Currently all of preschool is in Spanish only and students are first exposed to English in kindergarten. This makes for a very difficult and slow moving year in kindergarten which affects progress in 1st and even 2nd grade. So the plan is for me to try out an EFL program for the 4 year old class and the 5 year old class to give them a base in English before beginning school. It is something the school has wanted for awhile, so here we go! I am excited about it, although I know it will be difficult at the beginning...many of the 4's and 5's know zero English. Also, all of the preschool staff is Tico. I was hoping for more culture and language experiences these next few months and the Lord granted my wish. Now I will see what I am getting myself into...
Along with working in preschool I will be tutoring a number of elementary students in English and reading. And then my afternoons will be a split between 1st grade and kindergarten for reading and phonics. They will be busy days!!! But, I am pretty sure I will love all of it.
As for my living conditions...Jeanette is wonderful. She makes excellent arroz con pollo, complements my Spanish all the time (she is very kind), and loves to hear about my friends and family in the states (although she keeps thinking that everyone lives in Washington?!). She even laughs when I am an idiot...she has an alarm system on the house that she taught me how to use the first day. Really simple- I just press a button when I leave and a different one when I come. Last night, however, I got pizza with some of the girls and they were going to meet Jeanette when they dropped me off at home (she had been looking forward to this). Forgetting that she had told me she would be at a friend's house for the evening I quickly unlocked the door, forgoting to deactivate the alarm. The second I stepped into the house loud alarms started blaring. Of course my Tica mom wasn't there so I was running around like an idiot pushing all the buttons I saw and opening and shutting the door in a panic. Then I remembered she had a cell phone and ran to get her number so I could call her. Just as I ran back out of my room to get the phone she ran into the door and punched in the code to stop it. Apparently her friend also happened to be our neighbor, gracias a Dios! Luckily she thought it was very comical. I, however, was panting and sweating, and nervously laughing and muttering in Spanish. She said that all of the girls who live here do it at least once, but then remember...I agree that I will NEVER forget that again!!!
Hopefully pictures will be coming soon!
with a whole class. I start some private after school tutoring next week and hoping will be getting involved with Roblealto soon (an orphanage near my house).
Gringo girls. :) It was delicious. Afterwards we went to the nearby pool and soaked up the sun while surrounded by mountains and banana trees. Picture perfect.
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