Back to Work

            After my weekend trip, it is especially nice to be back in Pisac and back in a regular schedule.  I feel like I never know what to expect from my teacher, Vanessa, but that is starting to become the expected.  I am still frustrated on some days (ok probably most days) but am learning to deal with it and work around my teacher.  Today, for example, Vanessa was working with only one table at a time and the kids at the other tables were goofing off.  I went to sit with one of the tables and had them start counting things around the room and on their bodies.  It was a good vocabulary lesson for me (I kept confusing ojos and orejas – eyes and ears – and the kids had a great time laughing at me and correcting me) and they got some practice counting.  After about ten minutes of this Vanessa heard what I was doing and immediately stopped what she was doing with the other table and stood in front of the room and asked the whole class to count their ears, eyes, legs, etc.  I couldn´t decide whether to be mad that she stole my idea and didn´t give me credit or flattered.  I think I will be flattered.

            Vanessa does some crazy things.  One of the weirdest activities we´ve done is pouring glue into the hands of each of the kids.  Then they were supposed to sit still until the glue dried and then they were supposed to peel the glue off.  Vanessa said this helps with their fine motor skills and she praised the kids that were able to get the biggest pieces of glue of their hands in one piece and scolded the kids that got frustrated and rubbed their hands together.  Another weird thing is that creativity does not seem to be praised in my classroom.  Vanessa wants the kids to color in the lines and use the colors she tells them to use.  Each assignment is graded with a stamp that says either excellente, bien, or triste (excellent, good, or sad/bad).  Vanessa will give the kids a triste stamp if they get the answer right but don´t color in the lines or don´t color dark enough.  It doesn´t seem right to me.  I am struggling between praising the kids for doing a relatively good job and taking Vanessa´s harsh stance.  When I let something slide, such as a picture that is colored slightly messy, Vanessa will step in and scold the child that I was working with.

            Although there are a lot of things that we do in the class that I don´t think are the most appropriate activities for five year olds or the best way to teach, we also have done some good things.  Last Friday, for example, I brought in a bunch of fruit and, as a class, we made a fruit salad.  It was a great activity because the kids were able to practice counting the fruit, practice naming the colors of the fruit, and learn about healthy food.  Today, I brought toothbrushes and toothpaste to the school, enough for each kid to have one toothbrush.  Most of the kids have rotting teeth and do not brush their teeth at home.  For many of the kids, this was their first time brushing their teeth and it was interesting to see how they reacted.  Vanessa brushed her own teeth first to show the kids what to do and many of them broke into nervous laughter as if she were doing something inappropriate.  When the kids got the chance to brush their own teeth many were nervous, thinking that it would hurt, actually it probably did hurt some of their gums.  It was interesting to see how new this was to them, whereas it is a regular habit for me.  We hope to have them brush their teeth every morning.

            As for my host family, I haven´t talked about them in a while because the school stuff is more on my mind now.  I don´t have much to report, but things have been good with them, but because I am so busy I really only see them at meals.  This Sunday is Fortunata´s birthday so Mariska and I are planning on making her pancakes for breakfast because she keeps talking about the pancakes a previous volunteer made.  That´s all for now!