So, a few weeks ago we visited volunteers at their sites to see how a “real” school functioned; this week, we visited the schools that will be our very own for the next two years!
The week kicked off with a “conference,” where during Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning we all met with our Colombian teacher counterparts at a local hotel in Barranquilla to have introductions and go over expectations, project details, et cetera. The idea was that each school would send a teacher or administrator—the teachers from Santa Marta and Cartagena even traveled to Barranquilla for the meeting.
Of course, attendance got a little tricky, since the director of both my school and another volunteer’s failed to alert any teachers about the conference. Which meant that our awesome program administrator got on the phone with whomever it took to fix this issue—including, in the other volunteer’s school’s case, the secretary of education in Bogota.
As for me, my school answered Olga’s call by grabbing the nearest English teacher they could find and sending her on over (interrupting her daily activities and not giving her any information, of course). However, Shirley, the teacher I got to meet and shadow, is wonderful. She’s 26, speaks incredible English, and is the newest teacher at the school, having started just this past September. The first things about teaching at this school out of her mouth included statements such as, “I think we can really improve things a lot. The curriculum isn’t very holistic and there isn’t enough focus on speaking and listening.” Which are only the subjects most emphasized for us volunteers to attack(!) She’s done amazing projects with her students and is incredibly sweet, as well. The only thing I worry about with her is that seems like they’re really dumping a ton of work on her, as her hours are long and she teaches English classes to grades three, four, five, six, seven, ten, and eleven (!)
The absolute worst of all of Shirley’s situation is that Shirley shared with me that she has had to lessen the amount of English she speaks in class. Why oh why would she have to do this? Because her students don’t understand? Nope. Because she finds it too difficult to do? Nope. Beeeecause, the other teachers and her boss became resentful of her language abilities and thought she was trying to show off when she taught her classes mostly in English. As the new teacher, she couldn’t risk her boss holding a grudge, so she took it down a notch. She tells me she hopes things will be better this coming year, and she can speak more English, because, as she said to me, “how else will the students learn the language?”
I got a little more clarity on the subject when I briefly met the head of the English department. (She’s the one to whom every teacher has to submit lesson plans for approval, and has designed a highly restrictive, grammar-oriented curriculum everyone is mandated to follow). Her English is…not so good. I think she was partially nervous trying to talk to me, but the differences between her English and Shirley’s were staggering. After speaking a few broken English sentences to me, she gave up and spoke instead in rapidfire Spanish while Shirley translated…So we could be in for some awkwardness on this one.
In terms of my school itself—it’s both a primary and secondary school with grades K-11. With a total student count of just under 800 students, it’s pretty small, in Colombian public-school terms. There are four English teachers with various degrees of English proficiency who all hold at least one other job.
In addition, from what I’ve gathered, it’s been a difficult school in general because there’s seemingly not a central push from the director to make the Peace Corps presence anything of great note, and the teachers are so busy that they are certainly not planning to change the structure of their days around me. (I actually heard a rumor that the last volunteer recommended that my school be taken off the list of PC-patronized schools for something of this reason. Hrrmm.)
As for the visit itself, there’s not much more to say. This week wasn’t exactly the typical school week for students. As in, the vast majority of students (as well as teachers) simply weren’t around; regular school finished last week, and this was the week to deal with grades and students in danger of failing. Grades were due on Friday, but before grades can be given, the failing students have to be passed. In Colombia, only a very small percentage of students are “allowed” to fail, by law. For students who currently have failing grades, this was the week these students are supposed to be “caught up,” and then given a second test so they can not-fail. But, if the student is failing three or more subjects at the end of all this, he is held back a grade. While I was visiting, there was a small boy in absolute tears being comforted by a math teacher. Turns out he’d failed not only math, but English and something else as well. Shirley comforted him—“Tranquila, mi amor,” and the teachers all rallied to try and help him pass at least one subject.
I don’t know how that all turned out, however, because turned out that afternoon was my first and last day visiting the school. In a twist not unlike some of my other fellow volunteers’, I wasn’t invited back for any sort of follow-up visit, since during this week no one at school was really around and no one had communicated about or planned for my visit. I have to say, it was a little disappointing. However, since the teachers were either on vacation or just doing grades, I’m hoping this was more about the timing of the site visit, and less a harbinger of things to come.
Meanwhile, the only other interesting thing I was able to see at school was Shirley prepping for her review. Since she’s new at the school she’s on “probation.” Here in Colombia, under the new reforms, the newest teachers have reviews each year. Shirley had collected samples of her material from the last few months she was at school, made copies, burned CDs, and generally had an impressive portfolio assembled. She had to “prove” that she’s taught effectively, which meant lesson plan examples, grades, tests, other project examples, etc. Certainly not a project for the disorganized! It was clear she should do amazingly on her review, so hoping that all goes well for her.
Whew. Long update! Anyway, in other news, having only one afternoon at the school meant…free days for Emily!
Since I have no pictures of the school (thinking I’d be back during the week meant I didn’t bring a camera on Tuesday), here is a sampling of how I filled my days:
Strolling the streets and catching up on Barranquilla fashion:
Making a delicious pan of brownies out of the mix my wonderful parents sent me in my very first care package:
(As a small sidenote, chocolate here, to my great dismay, costs a PREMIUM. This brownie session was the culmination of seven weeks of chocolate frustration. It was amazing.)
The Barranquilla volunteers recorded a podcast on Chance’s awesome technology (yes, he somehow managed to fit those microphones into his suitcase…and you can catch the broadcast on peacecorpspodcast.com if you’re so inclined)
And taking a turn downtown at El Mercado, the city market that sells just about everything you’d ever want or need, where I purchased the Divinci Code in Spanish because I wanted a taste of great literature. Just kidding. (Turns out reading translated fluff is super good for learning Spanish!)
Anyway, this is the statue outside the little city library near the market commemorating Barranquilla’s independence:
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