Saturday, September 27, 2008

Education System

Hey all,

Well, I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down and write topically. I think I’ll tackle what I’ve seen of the school system in this post. I’m working in all levels now, as I’ve mentioned. First off is Inicial, which schools the four and five year olds. They are about as well behaved as young kids everywhere, which is to say not very, and this holds true for all the grades. I had heard that kids were more disciplined here, and they do have a military-like formation at the beginning of the day, complete with many of the movements I myself learned in R.O.T.C. However, that isn’t exactly true, and it’s one of my bigger pains in the rear trying to hold their attention, which makes me truly sorry for the other teachers who don’t have the advantage of being a novelty. Still, there are students that really want to learn, mostly the girls, that make it still worthwhile.
Back to the level-by-level comparison. Anyway, Inicial is the kindergarten/first grade of sorts and I’m still trying to figure out how best to teach them. Using songs, pictures, and employing hands-on activities are the traditional methods and I’m still trying to find the right mix of these. The school resembles what a kindergarten room would in the U.S., although in a building by itself. The next level is Primaria, which has kids from 6-12 years old. Each level has its own room and the military discipline starts here. The school is public but still has strong Catholic influences and some religious education mixed in. Here the teachers are a fun-loving bunch, which means there is always plenty to eat at breaks and unfortunately, some sporadic drinking during the school day, something that apparently isn’t rare here. I wouldn’t say that I have seen any of them drunk, but still it isn’t a very good practice.
The Colegio is the final level, and the last for most Peruvians. It goes from 13-18 years of age. Here the school is even larger, with the biggest contingent of computers, which I’ll probably be teaching with before to long. Here is where I’ll hold my adult English and Computer classes when I start them up next week. Each level in the Colegio has its own room, with the teachers of each subject moving in and out with the hours, the reverse of back home. The same basic subjects are taught here, although I think they stop Math at a level below the U.S. and have religion classes like the Primaria.
Overall my impression of the level of education here is that it is a fairly professional one, with very dedicated teachers, although there are still strides to be made. The resources provided to the Colegio in particular are also quite good, with most of the books being new and each classroom having a whiteboard. The students seem to be more or less the same worldwide, no matter the different disciplinary practices and backgrounds. Teaching is definitely still a wok in progress for me, but each day I spend in the classroom the more I learn how to make my classes more useful and interesting. Hopefully I can strike the right chord with each level and get as many learning as possible…

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Work and such

Hello all,

Here´s my first promised update, although I have to pound this out at the internet cafĂ© instead of on my computer (just worked through some virus issues) so it won´t be as detailed as I hope to get in the future.
What I´ve been up to lately is revisiting the capital to fix the new computer and talk to a university about giving citizenship chats to my high school, a whole lot of teaching (including in their version of kindergarten now... I´ll have to brush up my nursery song knowledge), and the new addition of a radio show. The town offered me an hour every day on their FM radio station which I´ll use to introduce some international news to the town, talk about community and health issues, and three days a week play some world music (I´ve certainly got enough to fill an hour a day for several years...). I´m going to start getting pretty busy here before too long, but that is exactly what I wanted and is refreshing. I´ve been reading two books a week lately, so as much as I like it hopefully that´ll slacken as I´ve got more and more meaningful tasks to fulfill.
Well, this was criminally short, but I´ve got quite a bit to do. Keep posted for the meatier stuff coming up...

Monday, September 15, 2008

Update

Hello all,

Well, I finally oot a funcioning computer so I should be able to type up blog posts now and put them up when I get access to the internet. That once a week I promised awhile ago is now viable, then.
On the news front, I now have a family to stay with, which is awesome. My mom and dad are both 40 and their primary sustenance is their chacras, or fields. They grow corn, potatoes, alfalfa, lima beans, and quinua, which is a cous-cous like grain with a lot of protein. I helped plow a chacra last Tuesday and I was probably as tired as I´ve ever been afterward. I walked the bulls from 9am to about 5pm with only a small break to eat in between. Still, it was very interesting and even strangely fun, although I´m sure the more of it I do the less fun it´ll be with time (and probably the easier).
I also have an eight year old little sister that has become my shadow and two younger brothers that are studying in the capital. I am getting used to some pretty rustic living conditions, from the outhouse without light or toilet seat (but it flushes!) and washing my own clothes by hand to the four days of various sheep innards to eat as we just butchered a sheep. It is interesting how quickly one gets used to all this as I can´t say any of it bothers me all that much, although if we keep eating like this I will be skinny indeed upon my return (already down 15-20...).
As for work, I am teaching English in the Primary and Secondary schools and will be putting together adult english and computer classes before too long. I have yet to get seriously involved on the business side, but I am having meetings all this week with different organizations that may hopefully be able to get me started there. I also have a heft community diagnostic to take care of, so I am fairly busy right now.
Well, that´s the news I have for now. I´ll get more descriptive in the future now that I can devote some time to it...

Monday, September 1, 2008

First Impressions

Hello all,

Well, the first several days are over and I´ve survived all-right. I still don´t have a host family, but I´ll be looking for one in earnest in the coming week or two. I know that there´ll be something somewhere, and for the time being I´m staying in the municipal hotel, which needs some touching up but is otherwise pretty comfortable, if cold. It does feature potentially the best toilet in town (still no seat, though), which is all mine, so I can´t complain too much.
The town fiestas just got over, which is why I haven´t gotten much done, and they were pretty nice. I described a bit what was to be expected, and it all was pretty exciting. When I have more time in the future I´ll make sure to write a bit on the fiesta culture here, as well as a lot of other descriptive topics, but for now I´ll just keep you updated on what´s happening on my end. Unfortunately my computer was the next electronic device of mine to bite the dust, but thankfully the information on it was all intact and recoverable. There´s an outside shot it can be fixed, but I´m not holding my breath. I´ll know more tomorrow when I´m next in cell phone coverage. At worst, there is another volunteer nearby who has two laptops and may be open to selling me one at a reasonable price. I do have internet in my town, which saves me a lengthy walk, but it isn´t always available so I need to prioritize my time on it.
As for the town, everyone seems pretty nice, if a little withdrawn at first. After a little partying with the mayor and city council among other community dignitaries, I feel as if I´m a little more accepted than my first couple of days. I´ve yet to do anything of any significance with them, but there will be plenty of time in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I´ve already contacted the local schools (they have a primary and secondary/high school here) and set aside a few days to work with each. It appears as if I´ll be thrown into an English classroom right away in the secondary school as they´re looking for another professor. I´ve made it clear that I have no idea how to teach English from the ground up, but would be glad to be a resource and a temporary fill-in. Well, that´s about all the news I can remember,

Zach