Medical Report & The List of Luxuries

We have received additional comments and some emails regarding the condition of my father. We will update that situation.

Today he was moved from Mercy Hospital in Iowa City, IA to a nursing home in his home town of Kalona, IA. We were very fortunate to have obtained a Hospice Room which is nearly new. This is a large private room which is very comfortable. It can easily accommodate a number of visitors.

The health situation is not very encouraging. His kidneys have all but shut down and the body toxins continue to build. His heart will not tolerate kidney dialysis. Food no longer has an edible taste. He has no pain and is resting comfortably. The Dr. will not predict length of life but has said it may be as short as a week or as long as six weeks. Now we have some difficult decisions to make regarding the timing of a return to Ecuador.

After only two months in Ecuador, already the comforts of life of the US have made an impression. It is called reverse acculturation. Here is a short list:
1. You can get a drink from the water tap
2. A tooth brush can be rinsed in tap water.
3. A shower is hot and there is sustained water pressure.
4. Traffic flows in lanes.
5. Electronics goods are readily available and for a cheap price.
6. Beef that can be cut with a fork is available most anywhere.
7. Where is the rain????????????
8. Where is the rice?????????????

We Are Traveling

This blog will not be published regularly over the next two weeks. After checking on the health of my Dad, we have decided to return to the US for a two week period. The blog is posted from Quito this evening. Friday, we will fly from Quito at 6:00 A.M. to Miami to St. Louis and then arrive in Des Moines at 7:45. We are currently scheduled to return to Quito on November 6.

Traveling from Puyo to Quito by bus in a "different" experience. The trip takes five hours on an express bus. The bus was ultra-modern and very clean. The first two hours require negotiating some very rugged mountain country. The views are exceptional (except those straight down off the shoulder of the road without railings.) The one section near the town of Banos is still rough, dusty and challenging. The volcanic deposits still cause a dust that covers everything. The highway is buried quite deeply in places from the volcanic flow.

The entire five hour trip costs $5 per person. One of the best travel bargins we have seen! Oh yes, the 25 minute taxi ride from the bus terminal to the guest house through down town Quito was another $5.

Understanding the Grading System

Spent the day with Excel and working with teacher grades. First day I haven't been in the classroom. The classroom is much easier.
Student grading is based on a 20 system here. All scores on all assignments and test are converted to this system. Mathematically, this is not a problem for the most part. However, converting to the 20 system BEFORE calculating grades causes all kinds of injustice. If you violate some basic rules of math, you should expect this. Teachers were totally unaware as to what was happening.
For example if you have three assignment of differing lengths and values and convert them to the 20 system and then average them, really bad things happen. Assignments of 30 points, 50 points, and 5 points could result in students getting less total correct answers getting higher scores on the 20 system then a student with more total correct answers.
Friday, school is over at 10:00 and we are going in to a major "how to grade" workshop. Because I don't have the Spanish, I need to generate several examples of what NOT to do and have my co-teacher understand it thoroughly so he can explain it in detail to the entire staff. I just can't stand seeing students get the short end of the grading stick because adults don't understand the math behind their grading.
More later!!!!!!!!!!

Those Darned Test Results

I will get off the topic of testing and setting standards one of these days. However, it is heavy on the mind at the moment and so here goes.

The first major unit exam results are now in. The picture isn't pretty. We assume that the English curriculum is based on the text. We don't have time to build curriculum from scratch and we don't have people trained in writing curriculum. So I wrote the first unit exams based on the material. We tried to be very straight forward about what was going to be on the exams. We had at least two major review sessions in each class lasting the entire class period. I took notes on each session (which is more than many students did) and I wrote the exams straight from the review material.

The results show about a third of all students failing. We did have a number of students do very well on the exams. We have additional analysis to do. We suspect a heavy percentage of students new to the school in the failing group. We also know that grades have been padded in the past to get students into the passing range and we have a certain percentage of students who are counting on this. (Ain't gonna happen!)

I will do a total analysis of the test results using Excel. I will have the results graphed and a picture available for all to see by meeting time this coming Friday afternoon.

OK! I feel better!

Testing Students & Evaluating Teachers

We are at that time of the year when the first major exam scores are coming in for English. The picture is about what I thought it would be.
First, because of allowing any student to enter the school if the family has the money is really a bad policy. The higher in the grades you go, the worse the situation. In Grade Seven for example, we have three classes in a group of about 18. Three students walked right through the unit exam. About six students were in the middle. The rest were rock bottom. Even in a group so small, this kind of range is difficult to deal with. The bottom line is that nobody is happy.

We have started to teach testing rules. By having a ten minute session the day before the test about how to behave during an exam and by being a real "bear" about it during the exam, we saw some progress. Part of this is teaching teachers not to respond to student question during the exam. I told several students today the test was for them, not the teacher. Our goal is to have a unit exam with total silence in the room, no walking around, no talking out loud, and no bugging the teacher for clues. It will take some time

We have run some sample teacher evaluation forms taken from the internet. One was in Spanish. Remember we are starting with the question of "what is teacher evaluation". Now they can see the components. There are so many assumed things that we have to be very careful. For example, we have nobody trained as a teacher evaluator. Teachers have no idea what is expected of them. We will have to teach teachers HOW to perform. This will be an on-going topic for some time.

The Simple Life

Sometimes you need to send along the simple things of life. The pictures above demonstrate this.

We have several homes in our neighborhood where children need to be inventive in their play. They just don't seem to have much. Now if you don't have an expensive swing set including a slide, you just might be able to build one. These two little guys found two boards and a cut in a bank of dirt. Pronto! You have a slide!

A little closer to our life is the picture of the wardrobe, desk, and what not shelving. This is all one unit and the sum total of furniture in the bedroom except for the bed. We do not have an extensive set of clothing because all the hanging clothes are in the wardrobe.

Now how is this for the simple life??!!

A Minor Wind Storm

Friday afternoon, we had what was considered a serious windstorm here in Puyo. It lasted about 15 minutes. Very small hail was dropped. Ice falling from the shy here in the tropics is something to behold.

These pics were taken within a block of our home. However, damage was fairly wide spread. There is a lot of "basic" construction and so when a wind does come along, things fly. Tin roofs are a major target.

Poor construction is one thing. However, trees here are often not deeply rooted and are in rain-soaked soil and volcanic rock. This picture shows the root system of a tree which fans out near the surface. A blast of wind ends the life of the tree.

All of this left us without electricity for about six hours. The utility company responded fairly quickly. There was just a lot of limbs, tin, etc. that knocked a lot of lines down. In general, the wind was an ordinary wind that comes before a Midwest rainstorm.

Education Discussion

Our meeting with the school director, assistant director, primary school English teacher and the senior pastor was interesting to say the least. There is a common vocabulary among educators that one assumes will carry the day. That assumption is not valid here.
Things like accreditation, teacher evaluation, job description, monitoring student grades, graduation credits, etc. are all foreign concepts. (no pun intended). So in a discussion, not only is a translator necessary but a general description of the concept has to be given. When the translator is not familiar with the concept, it is even more challenging. So, three hours passed very quickly and we were not even through square one yet.
We did decide to meet again next Friday afternoon for two hours to see where this thing goes. A major problem is to determine where to start. So many things need attention yesterday that the starting point is a challenge. We decided to try to deal with two topic areas. One is an issue that is critical to students and the second is an issue that deals with the adults, ie. parents or teachers.
Oh yes, we will try to do some teaching of English along the way too.

Mountain Views & A Meeting

The two pictures on this blog posting are taken about a half block from our apartment. We have been here about seven weeks and today is the third time we have seen these mountains covered with snow. All the other days these high mountains are covered with fog and or clouds. We have mentioned before the strange feeling of being in a tropical environment and looking at snow in the far distance.
There is another distant mountain which can be seen on rare occasions from school. One of the teachers was telling me today that it was a spectacular site when the volcano erupted at the top some time in the last year. Maybe we will be treated to such a site sometime this year.


Tomorrow (Friday) is a holiday. In the history of Ecuador, parts of the country were liberated at different times. The advantage of that now falls to us. The year is scattered with holidays remembering these liberations.

Although we are not in school, we have one of the most important meetings scheduled since we have been here. We are meeting with the senior pastor who really calls the shots regarding school operation. The problem is that there is not a single written policy covering school operations. There comes a time when you can not run a school off the back of an envelope. That time has come. Problem is there is no one who knows anything about policy writing. The school director, an English teacher and the assistant director will meet with the senior pastor and us tomorrow morning. This session ends at the pastor's house for lunch. This session will require diplomacy and supportive suggestions. More about the outcome of this later.

Unwelcome Guest and a First

Recently, we had an unwelcome guest. One night we could hear some sounds as though something was moving about in the bedroom. We didn´t see anything, but noticed some bread was eaten on the counter in the kitchen.

Two night later, I heard something drop in the bedroom. MJ got up to turn on the light. The poor rat was frightened half to death by her shout. He got away under a closet.

In the morning, our land lady gave me the trap you see in these pictures. I was half afraid to set it. It is so strong that one slip and my fingers could have been broken. I think you could trap muskrat with this thing.

When we left for school, I had used some bread for bait. Upon arriving at home the trap had done its work. The rat was a dandy. We keep the trap set. However, the land lady is suggesting this is indeed a rare visit. WE HOPE SO!

There is a crack under the front door for a creature to slip in. Also, an exterior window is always open. We live with the ventilation and hope for no more guests via under the door or through the open window.

PS.

We saw our first Hourani lady this morning walking across from our apartment. She must have been about 70. Age is difficult to estimate. In any case, she would have been a part of the Hourani tribe when the 5 missionaries were killed 50 years ago. For those of you who have seen the movie End of the Spear, you will know what I am talking about

Award Ceremony

We learned a bit about "pomp and circumstance" today when academic awards were given out. Students took considerable time from classes the past two days learning to march and line up properly for this award ceremony. This was to be held in the area immediately in front of the school. Sometime in the night it started to rain. Of course it rained through the ceremony and then some.

The pictures are taken from a second story covered assembly area above the high school rooms. This area has breath taking views of the surrounding mountains. All came off well even though the space was crowded. Many parents showed up to witness the academic recognition.

After the ceremony, parents hosted a major lunch at a large down town restaurant for teachers, award winning students and guests.

The care taken to put on a proper ceremony, the costumes, and the proper form were all impressive

That was it for the entire day. No classes!

Our Lunch Spot

The last blog entry showed a higher level of dining here in Puyo. Today, we are showing the everyday style of dining. The pictures shows the school principal with her husband outside their little cafe. We eat here several times a week for $1.25 per person. The meal consists of a large soup and then a full rice plate with some side dish on top. We often struggle to eat it all. A glass of fresh juice is also included. The building is little more than a long single car garage. It can seat 16 people. The building is in an emergency hospital compound for government workers. Don´t let the sign outside fool you. The ´bar´doesn´t mean what it does in the US.

This family of four are regulars at the lunch. The wife works at the hospital. The mirrors on the wall make the small room look a lot bigger than the space really is.

Around Town Pictures

LET US DEAL WITH AN EMERGENCY REQUEST FIRST
For those guys who wanted a closer look at all the beautiful Ecuadorian gals in the parade shown in the last blog, we have a solution. Most computers have a photo magnifier built in. JUST CLICK ONCE ON THE DESIRED PICTURE AND YOU WISH COMES TRUE.

We thought we would include a few "around the town" shots. So here goes.
We have not tried the "whole hog" roast as of yet. Might be more tempted to give it a try if we could get the frown off the pigs face first!

Hanging meat is also something we have not tried. Quick purchase might be one thing, but a slow day at the meat market in a tropical climate kicks my imagination in to high gear in the world of micro-biology.

Clothing stores do not necessarily have the full line of goods. This shop provides clothing for a limited number of things that may need a cover. Baby's heads (of course) are often covered with a full winter cap. The temp never drops below 65 here and at about 80, parents uncover the baby's heads.

NOT McDonalds

Since few people own cars, taxis are everywhere. It is a $1 charge anywhere in town.

Cooking large quantities of rice can require special equipment. This "cooking pot" store has the big pots. Cook a sack of rice at a time if you want.

This is the new Puyo "Wal-Mart". Tia has a variety of items and is about as big as they come here in town. They even do a little "loss-leader" flier advertizing.

MJ gets a hair cut. Nice job and all for $1.

The resturant pictures given idea of "Sunday dinner out". This is a new, nicely decorated resturant about half a block from the church. The four course meal is $3 each.

The soup is a chicken broth with a cornmeal ball around hamberger, peas, cabbage, carrots, etc.

The main course was chicken, rice, corn with cheese sauce and veggies

The desert was fruit in a jello mixture with part of a grape on top.

And then there are the street vendors who always make the rounds. These two had a huge supply of balloons to sell today. Must be called "balloons on a stick".

LET US DEAL WITH AN EMERGENCY REQUEST FIRST

For those guys who wanted a closer look at all the beautiful Ecuadorian gals in the parade shown in the last blog, we have a solution. Most computers have a photo magnifier built in. JUST CLICK ONCE ON THE DESIRED PICTURE AND YOU WISH COMES TRUE.

Friday Night Parade

For those of you who would rather look at pictures than read my nonesense, this blog entry is for you.


Friday evening we happened on to a ¨festival¨parade in down town Puyo

This parade was about an hour and a half. We think they were celebrating something about schools.

This culture is wonderful about celebrating most anything. Parades consist mostly of outstanding costumes and plenty of street dancing.

You can tell from these pictures that they spend a small fortune on clothing and costumes.

Some of the costumes were simply like shirts and jeans. Others were eleborate,

The above picture shows the boys dressed in a type of cowboy outfit. Not sure what that was all about.

Many of the group participants were junior high age.

One of the most eleaboratly sewn costumes is shown above.

We are not sure exactly what was being represented by the above costume. Everyone seems to have a great time. This is the second major parade in six weeks. Unfortunatly, the first one found us without a camera. Our luck was better this time.

Even the teachers had a good time!!!!!!! Why not, it was Friday night!

The Cultural Concept of Reading

Both MJ and I have been struggling with students and the concept of reading. We live in a non-reading culture. It is only now becoming apparent as to what all this means.

Up through grade 4, students are not capable of reading in English. Today I took grade five and they attempted reading a simple story. It did not go well. Some basics of reading a story are assumed by all readers. First, one page of information leads to the next. Secondly, any well written story will build to some kind of a conclusion. I found the concept of following a storyline totally lacking at the fifth grade level.

Textbooks donated by the Allamakee School District in Waukon, IA were in excellent condition after seven years of use. We had to explain to students how to turn pages and basically how to handle a book. Even with this, fifth and sixth graders wrinkle pages and turn the pages in a very rough manner.

Everyone wants to flip through a new book. However, we had to lay down the law about sticking to the page we were reading from. After our experience with the first class, we opened all books to the designated page and handed it to the student with the demand that they not turn pages. Students in grades 7 through 10 began to grasp the reading of a story and storyline very quickly. They stuck to the designated page more easily. They were disappointed when the class hour was over.

Today was a real education for us. Where "reading" will go in the future remain to be seen. Assumptions only make fools of the teachers. Hopefully, reading assumptions in the future will be at a minimum. Our goal is that student will clamor for the days when they read from a book.

Teaching, Our School Bus & A Simple Life

I just finished an hour and a half of teaching English. Group two is a more spirited bunch. A couple of the ladies can manage to keep things going. Who knows where this group will end up. The list of sounds in English that are nearly impossible for Spanish speakers seems to grow. Spanish speakers have no sound such as the TH. They really find it uncomfortable to stick the tongue outside the front teeth to make that sound. The list goes on and on.

Our ten year old school bus was not in action this morning. A city bus was rented to run the route instead. I felt the transmission doing things transmissions are not supposed to do yesterday. We were lucky to make the route last evening. Watching the faces of people when they realized the city bus was THEIR bus this morning was a kill. I even started to wave the bus on. You need to realize that three buses come and go every morning in a five minute period just before our bus arrives. Bottom line is that you need to catch the right one.

Time has been speeding up from our vantage point as we get more involved in projects. We have another class made up of pastors which is yet to form and be scheduled. Running a full load of classes in the day and then teaching two or three evenings a week tends to make the time speed by. I have even heard a few complaints about exhaustion around the house.

Not having a TV or a radio has been a shock to our system on one hand; on the other hand it has been a nice break. I can only assume the US is continuing to irritate other countries around the world. We also assume that good old election rhetoric is making most Americans sick. We have suddenly dropped out of all this “stuff”. Our world is fairly simple.

Teaching Teachers

Had our first group of teachers and staff tonight for an English class. We had a total of ten people show up. It went reasonably well. I included way too much vocabulary. Will have to do a lot of review next week. Tomorrow night, group two shows up.

It makes a very full day. Ecuadorian time does not allow us to start at promptly 4:00. Then one of the teachers brought along a daughter that stayed and asked for help with her English . That took another hour. Yes, we came here to help out so stop complaining!

Looks like I will be solo next week. My co-teacher is taking another job. Can´t wait to see what kind of a co-teacher they replace him with. For sustainability of the program it is very important that a good teacher come in and listen to the pronounciation for a year. Oh well, another¨wait and see¨.

School Assembly Skit

Ecuadorians are noted for their "festivals" or celebrations. This is true of most of Latin America. The local joke is that if there is not a reason to celebrate, we will create one. It is all part of the emphasis on people and on each other. They finds ways to "connect".

This series of pictures was taken this morning at school. We are celebrating senior citizens. The second grade teacher and her class put on a skit.

Of course, the proper dress and costumes needed to be worn. Some were a little strange, but they got the point across. The "couple" in this picture looked very grown up.

In the background, one sees other students of the second grade class with their appropriate dress. Watching second graders attempt to walk like old people was a hoot in itself.

Of course, the student body was on hand to see the performance. Just sit on the cement sidewalk or play area and enjoy the action. Nobody cares as long as we are out of class. Parents of class members showed up to support their child. Part of this was because parents had to bring the costumes and assist with the dressing. the entire skit took about 15 minutes. a good time was had by all!

The teacher, as is always the case, was most relieved when it was all over. She thanked everyone for their support.

The only downside of the entire celebration was that the teacher portrayed a 65 year old person. MJ and I were NOT laughing.