The first day (Monday) I woke up in time! It took me a lot longer to get ready for school because it is hard to creep around a hostel, trying not to wake up anybody. Luckily the phone also has a handy dandy flashlight in it. It was pouring rain when I woke up, perfect for my first day. Luckily, my new purse had an umbrella built into it. I grabbed some tea and bread and quickly walked to the Metro Banquedano. This metro station is HUGE, granted it is one of the main ones in Santiago. It was a bit of a maze (since I used the red line entrance and not the green line entrance), but I made my way down deep in the ground to the green line (Linea 5). I rode it all the way until I got to Laguna Sur and walked a few blocks into my school. I was let into the large red building and have got to say, first impression is ¨This looks like a prison yard from TV¨. There is a large open and paved yard in the center, and on the perimeter are the classrooms. If you go up the stairs, there are three flights of floors, and they all have a set of classrooms that are on the perimeter of the yard. So you can be standing on the third floor and look down into the courtyard. The middle area has a hanging overhead to protect from rain, but you are still basically outside. Therefore, it doesn't really matter what you wear on top since you are wearing your jacket all day.
I met with all the jefes (bosses) where I had the look of a deer in headlight since I did not understand a word that they were saying to me. Then I met with the head of the English Department. There are four English teachers in my school, 2 girls, 2 guys, and I spent an English class with each of them in all different grades. Instead of saying freshman (9th), sophomore (10th), junior (11th), and senior (12th), they say primera (1), segundo (2), triecera (3), and cuarto (4). The classrooms are theirs, not the teacher's. They stay in the room for the entire day while the different teachers come into their room. Therefore they are with the same students for the entire day, and basically their entire school "career". They are separated by their field of concentration: tourism, marketing, secretarial, telecommunications, engineering, etc. Therefore in one class, they were all boys except for one girl. The majority of classes have about 45 people. I basically observed the teacher teach the lesson, and then would help groups of students with the activity. It was impossible for me NOT to speak Spanglish, even though the program aims for 100% of English during the class. The class is a double period of 1hr and 30min and then after each session of 1 hr. 30 min., the kids get a 15 minute break. The students call out when they want. They kind of lie on each other and snuggle if they are pollolos (boyfriend/girlfriend) and there is always usually some buzz of talking. In some classes, they talk but still pay attention and do their work, and in other times, they just don't do anything. So that part is the same as America.
So I only had 4 different classes, but was teaching all the same material. The day was good, and I had lunch with one of the teachers (I think she really misses the American who was here last semester) and was done at 3:15. I took the metro back, ready to relax at the hostel, but SO MANY teaching Chile people arrived there and had taken over the hostel. Everyone is really nice and chill, there are just a lot of us and I was pretty pooped from the day and wasn't being very gregarious.
Tuesday, I went to a "sister school," called Colegio de Alma Mater. It is where Christina (the woman who interviewed me and is from Boston) works. She is the vice principal there and also the Director/Coordinator of the English Program. I was there to train, to watch her teach and get my schedule. On Mondays (8:15-3:15), Tuesdays (11:30-6), Wednesdays (9:45-5:30), Thursdays (9:45-5:30), and Friday (9:45-1:00). Tuesdays I teach teachers English after school. Early Fridays is pretty sweet!!!
I was supposed to return back to my school, but there is a lot going on there. There are three sister schools that are owned by the same owner (Colegio de San Mateo (mine), Colegio de Alma Mater, and Colegio de Hannover. Colegio de Hannover has been under construction for a while, and they were supposed to be back up and running by the start of classes in July. During the construction, half the students were relocated to my school, and half to another location. The parents and students are annoyed that Colegio de Hannover are not back in their original school and have been told that it might be AT LEAST another two months. On Tuesday, in protest, Hannover was taken over and San Mateo was almost taken over. Taken over, I think, means that the people sneak inside the gated school and take chairs and tables outside, pointing the legs through the gate to show they got taken over. They said that they were not going to leave until the construction was finished. But how can the workers finish the construction if the students have taken over the school.... TV Coverage of the Takeover
Just to be safe, I went to Alma Mater on Wednesday and Thursday. And on Wednesday, San Mateo was taken over. However, both days were pretty much the same. I went into school at 8 am and left at 6 pm. Working with the kids was good and they for the most part are pretty receptive of me. At Alma Mater, there are kids from kindergarten to 12th grade so it is really bright, lively, energetic. It also has a BEAUTIFUL view of the Andes Mountains [wish I got a picture of it :(]. It has a similar layout to my school but is more colorful and youthful. But I was glad to be back at my school on Friday. I was there from 8-11:15, which was awesome. I like my school since that's what I thought was going to be mine from the getgo. It is also WAY easier to get to, just a green metro ride away and a short walk. Also the teachers are nicer to me and that helps. I took a nice looong nap to catch up on my sleep deprived week. And got a nice hot shower and am now just waiting for people so we can go out to eat at Bellavista.
Alma Mater School from the courtyard, which is similar to my school,
but it does not have an overhanging to protect from weather and is more courtyard-esque, while my school is more basketball court-esque.
Other highlights of the week:
- Regina left for Rancagua :(
- I missed out on a lot of festivities at the hostal for school... oh well, I'll catch up to it later.
- There was a "barbeque" at the hostal, which had some amazing looking food. I didn't pay and eat it though because I had already eaten barbeque at school for lunch. There was a really high attendance rate in a sixth grade class, so they through them a lunch in the courtyard. I got to sit with sixth graders and chat with them.
- Students are amazed that Christina and I are both "gringas" or basically that I am a "gringa," since I am asian. She has to tell them repeatedly that Americans can all look different.
- I looked at an apartment after work on Wednesday, but it was quite a trek since I went from the Blue line to the blue line to the red line, to the green line, the metro skipped my stop, and then I had to walk to see the apartment. It is with two Chilean teachers (so I can practice my Spanish with them). The place is really small, but I don't need much. The price is really good for the area and it is right across from the Green Line, which is perfect for me. So we will see how the apartment search goes. I will try to get my own place by January and then that way people can visit me, and have more space...
- New people are ALWAYS coming to the hostal so it is impossible to just come home and go to bed. You must talk to at least 7 people for half an hour before getting some shut eye. At the same time, people are leaving now to go to their "real" school locations.
- Christina gave me an electric blanket, but I don't think it works :( Oh well, nice of her to give it to me.
congrats on week one of school, love. it looks like you're having a splendid time.
ReplyDeletealso...
asian gringa = gringa banana?
could be the new name for your bloggo!