Back to School

Well, in Honduras the school year begins in mid-February, so we officially began last Monday (the 16th). The first week went pretty well for both Terrez and I & all the teachers. Terrez has his 4 math classes and 4 English classes, so he teaches all day. As for me, I only have 4 English classes, but supervising the preschool, kindergarten, and special needs classes has kept me more than busy. Right now we have one of the biggest, most involved groups visiting the orphanage, so all those who help out in the Pre-K/K/Special Ed classes have to use me to translate. My translating skills have definitely picked up recently. One thing I have experienced this past few weeks is how much teachers prepare for the school year. I have a new appreciation for the efforts of all my (good) teachers I've had throughout my schooling. It takes so much more than I previously knew. I'm glad to be experiencing this now so I can have a deeper insight into the work Terrez will be doing for a while back in the States.

Things here are constantly changing, and responsibilities get added all the time. One new idea the staff are implementing this quarter is elective courses taught by the orphanage staff. All of a sudden, I am now the teacher for the Drama Elective class. For the next few weeks I will be instructing 6 middle/high school girls on various aspects of drama. Now, I'm not particularly fond of drama, so this will be very interesting. I have to plan the entire curriculum however I want to, so I might incorporate singing and dancing (since I like them more). A few of the girls sing in the choir, so they can help me if I ever decide to teach a song to the church choir.

Back Safely

We made it back safely, even though one of our bags didn't make it with us. And we hit the ground running. This week has been the first week of teacher professional development, so we've been busy. The first day we met all the other teachers and found out exactly what we'll be doing this school year. It's definitely more than originally expected. Terrez will be teaching English and Math for colegio and bachillerato (7-11 grades). I am the director for the preschool, kindergarten, and special needs classes and I will be teaching English for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. So far we've had a few seminars and time for decorating/cleaning. Next week is the hard part: curriculum and planning. The two preschool teachers are older girls from the orphanage who will be taking high school classes half of the time and teaching the other half. It's been nice working with the 4 teachers in my cluster. Everyone is friendly and open, and I don't feel like it's a burden or too much of a challenge. It's still a challenge, but nothing unbearable. I just hope it stays that way once the kids are in the classrooms.