New word for Peruanos...oofdah

Yesterday was out first full day at our school in Villa Salvador. We arrived at about 8:45-9 am and we were there until 6 that night. When we arrived at school I was the first to go into my room because it was right by the door, first room you walk to. I am in the third grade classroom and I have about 21 students with a few that were absent. As soon as I got there I was greeted by the children with "Buenos Días" and I took a seat. I didn't really speak anymore in the class for awhile but more observed. I told the two teachers in my room, Norma and Paula, that I teach Spanish and that I'm ready to teach English and help out where needed. They were pretty surprised that I could speak Spanish and that I was a teacher because they are used to volunteers that don't speak good Spanish and do not have an education teaching background. 

As I observed the classroom flow I noticed that these ladies were very affectionate with their students and wanted what's best for their kids. This is the last of 3 schools that once existed in this area and they have had to do a lot of cuts and are down to their last school. It is only for grades 1-4 with 3-5 year olds there also. One thing I noticed that is different than school in U.S is the classroom management styles and amount of discipline. Besides the disorganization and lack of resources, which are kind of inevitable in this area, the major things I noticed were the latter two. I know my classroom is not perfect by all means, I am still learning and trying new things all the time, but it was difficult for me to sit by while there was chaos going on in the classroom and when asked by the teacher the students would either not do their work as asked or ignore the teacher completely. The students are a lot more rowdy and loud this the teacher has to be louder in order to give directions or what not. OOFDAH. 

Now I understand that this is not my classroom and that these teachers have been doing this for a while with success, children love coming to school, but as a group we have talked to try to come up with some sort of PD for the teachers to explain classroom styles in management and behavior, etc for these teachers and hope to get something in return from then to use in our room. I did not do much yesterday in the room besides listen, chime in every once in awhile with my opinion of answer, walk around and help kids read or what not, as well as raise my voice at a few because they were hitting each other on heads with notebooks and fighting in general, but I would like to help out with some ideas as well as make sure that they don't come off as trying to change their teaching style. My teacher seems pretty open to me teaching English for a bit tomorrow so we will go from there; I'm pretty excited with ideas on what to start with and how much I'll get to do. I understand it is hard to open up your classroom to someone else who just arrived and is expecting to teach, so I'll be flexible and work with my teachers cooperatively. 

After our hour drive to the school and I spent about 3 hours in the classroom and finally couldn't hold it anymore and had to go pee. I realize that this area is not well off and that the idea of running water is new to them, some kids do not have any at home still, but the bathroom was an experience. With about 100 kids or more and multiple staff and adults one can imagine the bathrooms. The pictures show the "baño de los profesores" which is actually used by all and the water to wash your hands, from garbage can filled with water. 

As you can see the toilet doesn't have a seat like we do back home and I don't believe that flushing was an option. So one can imagine with that many people using this and the other bathrooms that the smell and conditions are not what we are used to. I will admit it wasn't horrible and I just squated and was fine and had to do my best to ignore the smells, but this is something that is a kind of new thing for them; a porcelain toilet and a door to go to the bathroom in. Out in their recess area the children's bathroom do not have seats, only holes in the ground. So that was probably the thing that I had to take into consideration our location and resources and understand them to realize it's not a big deal. 

Another thing that was different about this school and I saw a lot in Chile is the amount of dogs that populate this village. The dogs are strays, not neutered or spayed, and keep populating the community with more and more lots. These dogs are all over, search and scavenge for food, their waste is not cleaned up, and they come into the school whenever possible looking for food. Since my room was right by the main entrance we had to let a few people in and then I heard a noise that sounded like people trying to get in, but was told by a kid that it was actually a dog trying to get in. We had a few walk into our room yesterday for a visit and then shooed away by the kids or me. 

After classes ended, about 1:30-2:00 we ate lunch and got ready for the afterschool portion of our day. About 2:30-3:00 the students arrive to get help on their homework and then they can go play whatever or join in on the big group activity (Monday and Wednesdays is futbol days, Tuesday andThursdays are volleyball days). I helped out a girl with her math problems until she kept getting so distracted by others thoughts/ideas that she got up and left and never finished with me. Also I helped a boy out with his English and Colby helped out a girl on her reading. 

After doing that for about 1.5 hours and drawing pictures for a big to color I went and joined the group to play volleyball. We played for about 1.5 hours in different teams and this was the most enjoyable time for the kids. I even had a girl from my class that I had to redirect a few times come and give me hug and so excited to see me. So cool! 

So all in all it was an interesting day and I learned and observed a lot. As a group we have talked about doing so much to help them out and I hope we can actually go through on our ideas!! We have about 11 days to be with them which isn't much so we will have to do or best!! 

Finally to today we started our classes and they were so awesome. We learned a little about teaching English and then had a class about the history of Peru dealing with racism and the cultures which holy smokes I loved it. I am such a nerd and soaked all the information up like a sponge!! Our class was in Spanish too which was awesome and it's sad that we only have one more day of that class, but our other modules should be great also. For our class we need to do a final project and I really hope to soak up a lot of information about education and culture to use in my own classroom/community and have even thought of having my 6 or 7th graders doing a pen pal project over internet. We also are looking at finding ways to inform people of this schools and fundraise or do something to give these kids and teachers more opportunities for learning!! Got to love brainstorming, meeting challenges head on and giving back and making it a lifelong learning process! Loving good ol Peru. 

Things are looking good here and tomorrow will be a new day at our school. Chau chau 

Ps crazy pants no?!! Like a real Peruvian now, blending in. ;)