English language teaching at Escuela Serapio Lopez Fajardo.... whew.

Odalier is the normal English teacher here. He is benevolent and kind, but very passive, and it is hard to tell how much learning has been accomplished up until we got here. I've never watched him teach, but to hear him and Angela tell it he has a very hard time keeping control of a classroom (which I understand, it is difficult! more difficult at this school than in the schools I've taught in in the States)... and there are some large issues at the school that he is teaching in the face of. So, we stepped in and took over his classes the first week after San Jose, and had to pick up where he left off teaching the parts of the body.
Chris and I began by having kids form groups and make up songs about an assigned portion of the human body to remember the names (take a beat and put movements and words to it), but it soon became apparent that before anything like that we had to establish classroom policies and order. So, that was our next order of business.
I have found English teaching to be really fun, personally, in part since I get to switch back and forth between Spanish and English as I teach, and this helps me a whole lot with my own language learning, as well. Also, we're experts on English! So I feel like I'm able to teach the students, and they're able to teach me, in turn, as we translate and interact.

During our lesson on classroom routines and expectations, we asked the kids whether they thought learning English was important, and why. Especially in this tourism-driven economy, these kids will have a better chance of success if they are able to speak English (I have such mixed feelings about that fact personally, but it's the truth). They pretty much all answered that they really wanted to learn, and one girl worked so hard to avoid the word "gringos" in her answer... she said (in Spanish) "there are lots of people who come here who only speak English... and we need to be able to talk to them". I hadn't really thought too much about how "gringo" could be a slightly offensive term until then. But it can be! I call myself a gringa and expect to be called one, since, hey, my skin is a shining white flag in this Latin country. But it's not something I'm proud of, rather something that makes me embarrassed and self-conscious more often than not. It's a label I have to accept and embrace however I can, rather than something I wish to be seen as. Truthfully I'm glad that white people have this experience here, though, of being in the minority... since wherever we go we carry the invisible knapsack (racial privilege reference), but in America it is easy to ignore since Caucasians are the majority. Here our skin color is an obvious and separating defining feature that quite obviously leads to snap judgments on us every day, by every person we encounter. Both positive and negative snap judgments. This fact opens us to realizations of the sort of snap judgments we make every day, without even realizing it.
Race is a very different sort of issue here than in the States, but being here makes me think about it even more than I normally do. And I think that's good.

Right. English language teaching. The younger grade teachers (Molly, Britt, and Meaghan) are having to teach their kids the alphabet in English and Spanish, since there are many teachers here who apparently (and I am saying this after much personal observation as well as discussion and corroboration by teachers who work here who really care) haven't been diligent or caring enough to make sure their kids know the alphabet by second grade... errrrrrrrrrg.

So, yes. There is much to do. Mostly I want to see the community empowered, of their own accord, to lead their school well and in unity. The school-wide meeting yesterday showed very promising signs of this sort of parental community organizing... and I just hope that it will continue, and that parents will continue fighting for their kids and communicating well.
The most our group can do is contribute the skills we have in the time we are here, and hopefully leave the community with some gifts that will help them take ownership of their kids' education... but more than anything we can give, we are learning an incredible amount about the world and what life is, by being here and participating in the community.