Nimapá Tuesdays

I’m really glad I stayed up until after midnight Monday night to plan my classes for Tuesday.   I arrived on time and was waiting at the school when, thankfully, a student passed by and informed me that they had moved to a new building down the road.  I followed him to the school and was preparing to give a class when they informed me that this is exam week.  So I scratched the lesson plans and was on cheat patrol.  These kids are shameless.  They didn’t even attempt to hide the fact that they were cheating.  One kid had a study sheet – I was letting him hold onto it, and cram until the last possible second when the exam was handed out, until he started copying down all the irregular English verbs onto his palm and I confiscated it.  He pretty much just stared at me for the entire next hour.  He turned in a more or less blank exam.   Half the kids quietly sat and completed their exams.  The other half talked and whispered and stared at other students’ papers.  I’m thinking of ditching the lesson on communication and preparing one on integrity instead.

Wednesday in Chuculjuyup

I arrived in Chuculjuyup Wednesday and was able to give classes to the Primero students and one section of Tercero, but classes were only being held for half the day (2.5 hours) because there was band practice in the late afternoon in preparation for the Feria (village festival) this Friday.  The Primero class was out of control.  They couldn’t follow instructions, wouldn’t participate, and overall just didn’t pay attention.  Disaster.  I went to the Tercero class and decided to attempt one more time to do the same activity.  And they performed beautifully.  I was so impressed.  After, I asked them why this worked so well.  They said: we paid attention, we communicated, we have a leader.  The latter was definitely true; one kid really took the lead and kind of became my right hand man, clarifying things to the rest of the students when my instructions weren’t clear enough for everyone.  They are amazing.  Poco a poco.  Challenges and successes in every day.

Chuculjuyup Tercero A Students

Thursday/Xantún

I showed up today to give a class when “Fíjese que” (a very common expression here – roughly translates to “Listen, but unfortunately…”) the students have exams, so no class today.  I chatted with the students, wished them luck, and returned to town.  A very uneventful day.   A very wet and stormy day, too, I might add.

Student Interests

I’ve been assigning my students a page of homework to get to know them better – I’ve asked them to include something special or interesting about themselves, what they enjoy doing in their free time, one theme or subject they’d like to study in this class, and 3 personal or academic goals for the next year.  They have a really tough time with the first part and do not seem to understand the concept of “something unique, special, or interesting about themselves.”  They’ve come up with things like “I don’t speak K’iche,” “I have a good relationship with my parents,” “There is nothing special about me,” or they just list an interest or hobby which really should be answered in part two.  What themes they want to study are the most interesting to me.  Every grade level and every school is different.  Some of these subjects will require a bit of research and planning, but I definitely want to get answers to their questions.  I’m still in the process of collecting data, but in Xenajtajuyup, the Primero students are most interested in learning about alcoholism/drug addiction, followed closely by family disintegration.  In Chuculjuyup the Primero class is most interested in studying the environment (8 votes), learning English (7 votes), or improving self-esteem (6 votes).  Other themes of interest include human rights, values, and natural disasters.  I am interested to see what my other students come up with whenever we have class again.