First Day Back for Teachers

Hola,

Today I got to meet all of the new teachers, which is good because I think the new teachers were starting to get a little tired of each other (maybe it was just me). I work with a great team, composed of 5 of us in all. There is Hillary, from Canada, who is a new teacher. We also have Liz, from Philly, Allison, from Canada, and Naomi, from Wisconsin. They are all high-energy, experienced teachers who I'm sure will teach me some new tricks. Naomi is apparently very organized, and I hope to glean something from that...

Our schedule is completely different than anything else I'm used to. We have TONS of prep time where the kids are off doing different things, such as PE, values and ethics classes, counseling, choir, Spanish classes, etc. As it turns out, I think I only teach 3-4 hours a day, but I have been assured that there are many other responsibilities that I am currently unaware of. I have heard lots of different things about the school, which mostly seem to suggest that the school isn't quite perfect. It sounds like things change a lot, and that it seems to operate rather shabbily. To get straight to the point, I asked our team leader what was more important: teaching the kids, or keeping the parents happy. The answer was unequivocably the latter. Also, I have been told that the kids are REALLY chatty, which is definitely a cultural thing (as witnessed this morning while all the Colombian teachers talked through the entire presentation) and that is going to be a problem. I'm going to put the Kaibosh on that right away. Also, the school frowns on negative consequences and yelling, two of my strong points. However, I have also been told that the kids are really great and a lot of fun, just not too serious about school. We'll see.

Tomorrow I'm getting the number of someone who will "exchange" with me, meaning that I will meet with them at least once a week over a drink and exchange Spanish for English, one hour each. Also, it seems to be a great way to meet people. I'm also going to be getting a Direct TV package, which I think will also supplement my Spanish (or at least that's the excuse I'm going with). In about an hour, I'm going to try my hand at jogging at 8,000 feet. I'm thinking that equals a lot of walk breaks, but when I get back, watch out!

I'm off. I think I need to get some work done.

Ben