School and El Bario

 So these last few days have been eventful.... To start there hasn't been any running water for the past two days so we've been using water we had in our pila which is almost out. They said yesterday that it would be working in the afternoon or if not it would for sure be working this afternoon but so far niether is true. I do trust that they are working as hard as they can to fix it though so I'm not worried. I'm not that worried about water either its just been an interesting few days and its actually lessened my work load because we can't have pe in the mid morning cause its too hot and afterwards kids will want water which there isn't any...

School has been an interesting adventure as well actually. All the kids seem to love me ( who wouldn't -Arogant Nate) I don't quite know where to start because I think that all the high school kids are really cool and nice but its hard to make friends with them cause I'm their teacher too. The style of learning is much more different as well. There is much less structure and homework and I personally feel that there its much harder to learn in this environment here because you really have to put in extra time outside of class without a textbook and practice what you wrote down in your notebook and in class its difficult as well because esspecially in high school (like most highschools I guess) there are those few in the back of the class that don't want to learn and never do their homework and disrupt others from learning. In the past two days of English the teacher wasnt there. She came today and was helpful as well but she also had to do paperwork so I ended up teaching the middle class of 8^th Graders. There is really a lot to say about English these past few days and this whole week actually so I think I'll make a list:

-It feels weird to correct the English teacher during class but I've had to a few times because for instance when we were teaching today we were starting with our first year students and talking about the verb to be. And when she was sayin the phrase in english she wasn't using a or the so I said something. Nobody noticed cause they were all confused themselves but it felt weird idk. I kinda feel like I'm taking her job which I don't want to make her feel like that.

-I really love my students that are taking the morning classes because they know soooo much more in just a week and they have started to talk with me and practice speaking which is the most important. There are a good number of very promising students in both 8^th and 9^th Grade which I'm really excited about. There are some good ones in 11^th too but they are almost done so I don't have much time with them and nobody in highschool wants to practice with me in English which kinda sucks but I know they are busy cause they have classes all day instead of just in the afternoons.

-I've also started speaking with 9^th grade students in the afternoons during recess which I like cause its just a bit of practice but it really helps to reinforce it. I also get to ask questions about culture and what they do during the day and stuff so I'm learning family dynamics which is pretty cool. I really want to push this one student to convince her dad to have her continue on and go to high school because I think she has that drive to really do well and finish school and do well in the world and not just cook and clean and work at the house (yes thats just what they do here I've learned to accept it)

-The high school students gave Dialoges and I literally had to sit up in the first seat and lean over my desk to hear what they were saying. It was partly because we had the kids in the back who were talking some and mostly because everyone spoke really quitely and some of them made absolutely no sense and I had to ask what they were trying to say after wards.

• Homework: I'm really confused about homework because I've been giving it out to most classes that I teach and the only class that has done their homework has been 9^th grade. The trouble is that I've never seen homework that has to be turned in like stuff that I would grade. Infact I've never actually seen the english teacher pull out a gradebook the entire time I've been working with her. I think I will ask how this system works because as of now with the grading system we have now nobody volunteers for exercises and examples and we are at a stand still because we can stand up at the board and talk and talk all we want but if they don't put some effort in they aren't going to learn. I'm thinking of a system I would like to implement like Daves card system where everybody writes a card with their name on it and I go through and call people out for different problems.

-Its sometimes a bit difficult without textbooks. Honestly I think that is one of the main disadvantages because it wastes class time when we have to wait for them to copy down whats on the board and we can't just say look at your book and do this exercise we have to write it down on the board and then have them copy it etc and then start the exercise.

-I haven't started the candy system because I don't know how I want to implement it. If I do a ticket system I have to make up the tickets and supplys are pretty low here.

-Essentially I think the things that are holding back the students from learning is A: lack of incentive because from my view grades either don't matter or she gives easy grades and doesn't grade all the homework because she doesn't have time for that. B: There aren't any books to assign homework from or for kids to study with at home C: Many have given up and don't even try to do their homework ( I'm pretty sure this is also related to lack of a grading system and structure.

Overall, I love the school but its nothing like school in the US which I really shouldn't be comparing it to that but I want this school to be the best it possibly can. I'm excited though because it means that there is lots of work to be done and I have been creating a list of things I want to do when I return. Its different because the bell system an the recess kinda changes daily. I have a schedule but I can usually assume that it will be changed most days for example not all the kids can have an eating recess at the same time cause there is only one snack bar so they tend to stagger them and don't tell me which ones will stagger which days so I sometimes just don't have that PE class in the afternoon. Honestly I should have talked with every teacher individually and said I'm planning to take your kids for PE at this time today but I haven't been doing that well recently. Recess also seems to continue on for extra time everyday as well cause its not a mechanical bell system and sometimes there really isn't a bell at all.

With PE I've been doing great and teaching new games that the kids have loved recently. I taught them sharks and minnows on land and spud (papas) elbow tag (didn't go well with the little kids) relay races and futbol too. I also started with some basketball but I need to find a pump. Honestly I've been kinda lazy with my volunteering here just because I know I'm only here for two weeks so I've been making a mental list of things I want to do when I come back to make my classes and the school better but I haven't done them all now although I really should find a pump to start teaching basketball and be able to do a station thing with frisbee, soccer and basketball. I can't figure out how to get girls to stay with me or for that matter I can't figure out how to get some kids to participate at all some days. I try to make it fun but honestly its extremely frustrating because I can't quite articulate myself they way I would like to and some of the kids (especially 2^nd grade just start fighting no matter what and I honestly feel bad for the teacher because I've yet to find a way of stopping it. I've taught them a freeze which helps a bit and I've talked to them many times saying that we won't play soccer if it continues but I don't know a good way of punishing them that won't make them get mad at the one kid who started the last fight. I kinda snapped today when the other team won at a game of soccer. I wasn't mad at first cause we were winning and then it started to get out of hand with kids playing unfairly but I kinda let it happen which was a mistake and I tried to make it fair by playing better myself which eventually backfired because they tied it up on a questionable goal and then in the last minute scored to make it 2 to one. This wouldn't have been bad except that this group A: always fights and yells at eachother and B:once they one they started chanting we won we won we won. I was soo mad that I tried to explain to them that is wasn't nice but I couldn't articulate well and eventually I just gave up. I need a way of punishing students or threatening students because to be honest I really can't figure out a way to teach these kids how to play fairly and how to be good sports and be kind to others. They have grown up all their lives with it and honestly they need it to change but just positive encouragement isn't going to change their behavior because its already been trained into them to antagonize each other. To be honest just writing about this makes me frustrated and disappointed because I can't seem to get through to these kids. Especially running an entire class of PE when I don't know names and I have to keep everyone in order and keep people playing its pretty much impossible to teach the kids that need the most help how to be good sports. Its like English I can talk up at the board all I want but its not going to help everyone. I worked with this girl today in 7^th grade that after 3 times and me helping her word by word how to write I am tall. We are beautiful. They are happy she couldn't come up with an example of her own when I told her what pronoun to use like we or he or she.

Thats all I have for now because I'm tired and I think that I've been typing a lot (wow I'm on Page three) especially about school but it was important to get it all out there because there are lots of things I need to do and figure out at the school if I'm going to help to the best of my abilities.