End of the First Week of School

Staff meetings are the same the world over. Want to fire up the staff? Bring up the topic of dress at school, especially the dress of the staff. A second topic that will bring the staff to their toes is the use of the copy machine. We saw shining examples of both this afternoon as plenty of discussion ensued. I do not know what was said in details, but having heard both of these discussions a number of times, I could tell you what was said. The staff began very calm again when matters of curriculum were discussed.

This week we began administering diagnostic test. The result of the lower level English classes made it clear we are NOT ¨unemployed¨. This is the first time I have seen cramming for a diagnostic test. Sort of defeats the purpose of the test. Actually, cramming didn´t help.

The issue is becoming crystal clear. You can NOT allow anyone who has the money to enter a private school, especially in the upper grades. We have several grade levels where the performance of students is clearly in two wide ranging groups. Allowing open enrollment based on a check book is a sure formula to mediocre academic achievement and a substandard academic reputation. The powers that be have some major decisions to make.

The end of the first week has everyone exhausted. Two little girls (sisters) sat across from me on the bus this morning. The first grade laid her head in the lap of her sister and promptly fell asleeep. I would have joined her except for appearances sake.

View From The School & From Kids

I have a feeling the constant string of surprises will not end soon. The view above was taken this morning from the second floor balcony of our school. This was the clearest morning since we have been here. This means you can enjoy all the flowers and forests of a tropical rainforest while viewing snow capped mountains in the distance. Because layers of ever rising mountains appear before the snow capped one (Mt Sangay), you get an idea of the vastness of the area. We just can't imagine the navigating ability of the local tribes in finding their way throught these mountains. Also can't imagine how good of shape they are in to walk these mountains.

We ride the same bus to and from school that students ride. Sometimes it is very packed and a bit stuffy. However, now the kids want to practice their English with us. One girl read several short stories to me on the way to school this morning and asked me to correct her. It made for a quick trip. Mary Jane had the prize winner on the way home, however. A student wishing to practice her English finally got up enough courage to ask "Mary Jane, what is your name?"

There is a possibility that on Saturday we will have the "powers that be" meet at the school to discuss the installation of the internet. This means we may or may not proceed to the next step. Stay tuned.

Inside Observations of Education

So how is it going after two full days of school? Depends on who you ask. Last evening I was reading a history book for pleasure. Mary Jane was still involved with lesson preparation for the day. The irony of the moment was not wasted as she complained about working while I was the one who pushed the idea of volunteering here. I work with an experienced and well qualified teacher. She works with a teacher new to teaching and especially teaching English.

Problems of new student deficiencies are becoming more obvious. At the eighth grade level. There are nine total students, one of the smaller classes. Seven of the nine are new students to the school. The difference in English between the new students and the former students of the school is like night and day. Somehow the students need to be separated and worked with separately. It will, more than likely, take more than a year to get the larger group caught up.

We discovered that the public elementary teaches English one hour (actually 40 minutes) per week from grades one through six. This amounts to a bit over 140 hours of total English instruction during the first six years of school. No wonder the knowledge of English by students coming in our seventh grade is so weak!

We have also learned that our school (Esperanza Eterna) has had several different English teachers the last several years in the lower elementary grades. Most of them had very limited English. This has not added the necessary solid base to the English program at our school. Students have responded well in the upper grades where there is quality instruction.

A list of the school staff along with their birthdays, including the year, just came out. Looks like we are the senior members of staff with the next oldest staff members 25 years our junior. I expect everyone will learn “grandpa” and “grandma” in English and we should soon hear it.

First Day of Classes

Classes started off with a bang (actually a sreech). A siren from a police car was used as a bell to start classes. This recording is used throughout the day to signal the change of classes. This noise is all outside but can be clearly heard throughout the two buildings. a class schedule appeared this morning. Now we know what each day and the week looks like.
Classes start at 7:30 and end at 12:50. We have a 40 minute break in the middle of all this for a light lunch. The lunch today was a rice dish with veggies, sliced hotdogs, chicken and covered with ketchup.
Several problems emerged in the upper level English classes. We spent the time engaging in conversation about what happened last summer, what they liked and disliked and and introduction of me which included additional questions from them. There is a huge difference between student who attended the school in the past and those who are new. This is a problem that has not been addressed. The higher the grade, the greater the problem.
Mary Jane reports that students pre-kinder through fourth are poorly equiped with English. Their instruction in the past was done by people not eqipped in English. It would be like either of us teaching lower level Spanish. The teacher assigned this year is a first year teacher with fairly good English. However, there is no orientation of new teachers and nor written curriculum. This is a fight in total darkness. We have some major work to do with the lower grades.
Students are very polite and respectful. There is much more of a human touch and concern than is typical of US students. A fifth grade girl got up out of her seat and attempted to kill a bug that was bothering a boy ahead of her. Beat that for concern about the little things.
In general, the same old story about learning a second language exists; much more is understood than can be spoken. We will have extensive work to do with spoken English in the upper grades.
We were both dragging a part of our bodies as we got home today. (Guess!)

First Day of School (No Labor Day here)

The attached pictures were taken today, the first day of school. They show a rather formal assembly which included both parents and student which lasted a bit more than an hour. That was it for the day for students. The picture above shows the new English only library. It is a room where MJ, the two local English teachers and I work. We hope to have students and parents identify this room as the ¨English area¨.

In addition to proper introductions all the way around, the staff put on a mime style play. The story was about a student whose mother died. The teacher and students had no idea about his reason for being uncommitted to school. They learned about his situation and became supportive. Later in life when he married as a college graduate, he invited the teacher to stand in as his mother. The play was well done and well received. A strong message of “we care for each other”.

Children were served ice cream and a roll. Everyone visited and students and parents went home. Staff members had meetings and some of us wrote curriculum. Some staff was working on the class schedule as we still don’t know the class meeting schedule. Staff went home at 1:30

We ate lunch at the café establishment ran by the husband of the school director. A large soup and a main course of rice, meat gravy, a fired banana and a slice of tomato and a juice drink. We were absolutely stuffed for $1.25 per person. MJ said she is done cooking at noon!

Sunday Adventures

The way to church is a 20 minute walk from our apartment across the down town area. Church “begins” at 8:30. That means people come in and wait for something to happen. Singing begins at 8:45 and continues for about 30 minutes. The sermon and communion took until 10:30 when church was dismissed.

Seven – eleven music (singing the same 11 songs over 7 times each) has never been my favorite. I discovered today that it is an ideal time to learn Spanish. I took notes on frequently used words. We will look up the meaning and attempt to memorize them. Next Sunday we will have a chance to reinforce these words at least seven times.

We reflected on our communion experience over the last three churches we attended counting our experience here. It seems as though we have gone from wine to grape juice to kool aid. To each his own flavor.

On a more serious note, we continue to be impressed with the sincerity of the people during church service. This is not just a formality for most. The simplicity and bare necessities of the surroundings add to the favorable atmosphere. And now if we can condition the posterior to accept these bare (and hard) necessities, we will be OK.

After church we encountered, by chance, a wonderful cultural parade lasting about an hour. The tourism bureau sponsored a parade consisting of many of the Pastaza (our province) ethnic groups as well as some barrios (neighborhoods) of Puyo. Each group was dressed in full costume. Each of them did extravagant dances to a loud boom box type speaker in the back of a pickup. One of the Indian groups included some old men and women with feet which had never seen shoes. The feet at the toes are twice again as wide as normal. The men have a big toe which is almost like a thumb. This is developed over the years by extensive tree climbing. We normally don’t take a camera to church and so missed many wonderful pictures.

Our Sunday noon meal was eaten at the church owned restaurant located just behind the church. This is a new beautifully decorated restaurant which is quite formal. A four course meal including an appetizer, soup, main course, and desert was $3. We know of some congregations in Iowa who should consider this idea as a church fundraiser since half the congregation heads for a restaurant after church anyway.

It is time to make those final preps for classes tomorrow.

Last prep day for school

The books sent from Iowa all arrived. The photo shows MJ checking them

This evening we will have been in Puyo for a full week. Because of the wide variety of experiences, it seems as though it has been much more than a week. It is this constant exposure to new experiences that makes living in another culture the rich experience that it is.

The weather has been very nice once you get use to the frequency of rain. Temperatures have ranged from a low of about 68 at night to a high of around 80. It rained five days out of seven at some time or another including two full nights of rain. Life goes on during a rain as though it were not raining. The 240 inches per year of rainfall is taken as part of life. The clouds hanging just above the mountains or at other times obscuring the mountains is a beautiful site.

Friday, our last preparation day before school starts was like no other last day of preparation in my 38 years of experience. We spent about one quarter of the day in academic preparation and the remaining three quarters of the day cleaning and scrubbing the school. There is one custodian for the campus. He seems to be occupied with maintenance matters and not with cleaning. Tile floors in classrooms and hallways (which are outside) can be washed and swept. A garden hose is not to be found and so we carried buckets of water to throw across the floors while others mopped and swept. Leading the charge to all of this was the school director. Somehow in my 30 years of school administration, I missed this activity. Mary Jane wished she had remembered her camera.

About 10 in the morning we had a snack of a small meat pie. At about 3 in the afternoon a quart container of chicken with rice, potato, and salad was eaten by all. A strong spice mixture of onion, tomato, hot peppers, and lemon is available to spoon over the rice. New comers to this food called aiji (pronounced ah hee) often want to summon the fire department. We find it delicious.

This morning, we walked to the market. A quart container of radishes, 6 mandarin oranges, 4 large lemons, 7 apples and a head of cabbage cost $2.50. A large fresh pineapple costs $1. So far during the first week Montezuma has had limit success in seeking revenge.