A semester has almost come to an end...

School is coming to a close and there are only about three weeks left. And basically for one week, we are off for holidays, so only two more weeks left? School was going better for a while or less stressful anyway... I was doing a presentation about my life with all of my classes and some of the sophomore classes, telling them about my family, where I went to school, where I lived, and so on. The students were really interested in it, for the most part… It was the most attention I had from the entire class. Afterwards they had to write some sentences about their life, and the majority of students did it without complaining, and some students who usually do not participate. So I would call that a success.

I also made a pretty legit worksheet that was a review of what they learned all year. I was pretty proud of it and it became the last grade in the book for all the students during ‘taller.’ The only downfall is that all of my classes besides three are taller, and since I made it and offered to grade it, I had about 13 classes to grade...and there are about 40 students average in each class. Also, while grading the papers, it is insane how much cheating there is and laziness there is. They had an hour and a half to answer questions about themselves and then the rest was more or less fill in the blank. Corresponding textbook page numbers were given, definitions and examples were written on the board, and there were two teachers to help out. And for some reason, in a lot of my classes, there were a surprising amount of students who didn’t do the worksheet or only did partial, or just flat out cheated, and cheated BADLY. If you are going to copy another students’ work, could you at least write down the letters properly and not make it sooo obvious? They also cheat so much during tests, or they just take a nap and don’t even just fill out the bubbles. It’s quite disheartening and sad.

However school is basically a joke for the students and the teachers now. The teachers now have to finish putting in all of the grades into the book. They also have to change some of the grades if there are too many students failing... It bothers me, at least in English Taller, the way the grades are distributed, and the types of grade that are put into the book and not a true representation of their ability, knowledge, or effort. It is also crazy that even though they have nothing to do, they cannot just sit there at a normal volume and hang out with their friends. They have to make a complete mess, wrestle around with each other, or cause some other disturbance and headache.

 The seniors are already gone. Too bad, I really liked my 2 senior classes and all the other ones I was in from the beginning of the semester when I was replacing the other English teachers. They have basically been done for a while now, but they get to leave school early so they can prepare for the test that they need to enter a University, which is only offered once a year. It was cute, the seniors last day, the bell rang, the music blasted, and the seniors left their classes throwing all their papers and books off of the balconies and into the courtyard. Balloons were thrown and lots of tears were being mopped up by t-shirts. Last Friday, students got to leave early so the school could prepare for the senior dinner/prom for all of the seniors and teachers who taught them. I was not invited even though I do teach seniors. I probably would not have gone in the first place, but I don’t really feel like a part of the school. Unless people didn’t see me during the break, I wonder if they would notice that I wasn’t there… I don’t have the same passion for teaching here as I did back in the states. Sad to say, but I am glad for the end of the year, hopefully things will be different starting the new school year. I know the level of English, I can start with a new batch of students, and do things a bit differently and with some more confidence.

Some other random stories of school are: 

1) I was on my way to get ice cream at Emporio de la Rosa with some of the lovely gringa friends, and as I was walking, I heard “Miss, Miss, Profe, Miss Rha!” Behind me were about 8 of my students calling my name… Oh it was random, but kind of cute that they were really excited to see me. Emporio de la Rosa had some of the best ice cream! I had a raspberry mint and green tea honey ice cream, which was quite refreshing on that hot spring day.

Mmmm Ice cream!

2) I don't feel as foreign as other people! On my way to work one day, as usual I was in a rush, and to use the metro, you either need a BIP Card that you swipe in front of the magnet or a little paper (one time use entrance thing) that you insert into the meter. I was wondering what the hold up was, and there were two people in front of me waving their paper in front of the magnetic swipe. In Spanish, I gave them instructions on how to use the paper, and they thanked me in English. More people have been asking me for directions, but I think it is because I am friendlier to some Chileans than Chileans are to each other. For the most part, hey are very helpful to foreigners, but not sure how nice they are to each other. 


3) One of my students, don’t know who, stole my external hard drive. It was kinda shocking the lack of reaction that I got from the teachers, I asked around and so did another teacher, but nothing else. Good thing I have everything backed up at home. I am just worried that if something happens to my computer, I am going to lose all of my photographs from Chile. Can’t let that happen, so I guess I need to buy a new one… just another thing to add to the list of things to buy.

4) It's not just me getting things stolen, there has been a problem in a junior class where someone stole a classmate's phone, MP3 player, and money. There was a big tiff over that, but apparantly not for foreigners. And then in another junior class, there are 3 pregnant girls. I'm not even talking about the people in the school, in one class! Insane!

Okay, enough talk about school. Next topic is play and plans!