The purpose of my time in Costa Rica is really about service. The project I’ve chosen is teaching English and Projects Abroad, my program provider, works out my placement. The school where I’m working is in Bagaces, about 40 minutes, by public bus, outside of Liberia. It’s one of two schools in the city, but is the oldest in the region. It’s a primary school, so they teach grades 1-6.
I’m working alongside a teaching named Clara (or “Clarita” as the other teachers call her. She’s very helpful and patient with me. Which is good considering that I keep getting completely confused. She teaches English at the school to children of all grades. Her 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son go to school in Liberia, where she lives. We travel in the mornings, at 6:25 to the school in the other community and begin classes. We have classes with the older children in the mornings (grades 5-6) and classes with the younger children in the afternoons (grades 1-2).
I’ve only been there for two partial days so far and so I haven’t figured out the schedules quite yet. Each class lasts 40 minutes, much of which is devoted to chaos (at least in my initial impression). I haven’t figured out the definition of “acceptable” behavior yet. The school yard, to me, appears absolutely insane, but the teachers just watch with smiles. Many of the children are, by my American standards, very violent and undisciplined, but by Costa Rican standards are just “playing.” It’s very strange for me not to be able to step in when something appears wrong because I haven’t yet learned what’s okay and what’s not, at least in the cultural sense.
The school, as a whole, is incredibly loud. In the classroom and out, all the children are constantly yelling and screaming as they play or disrupt class. I’m still not sure how any actual teaching goes on with all of the chaos. I anticipate that I’ll see some order in the classes in the next week, but for now, I’m still confused.
Yesterday, we worked only with the younger children. They’re really loving and were really excited to have me in class. Some were eager to show off their English skills while others just crowded around asking me questions. Clara taught the same lesson to three classes in a row and let me participate more and more in each one. I picked up on a bit of classroom routine and got to lead some of the vocabulary portion by the end of the classes. Mostly with the youngest kids, it was more like babysitting than teaching. Lots of classroom management that had nothing to do with English at all. Fortunately, a disapproving look at a child speaks volumes, especially compared to my Spanish.
The older children, who I just met today, had an exam, so I didn’t get to interact with them too much. The all noticed the strange white visitor at the back of the class almost immediately and so Clara had me introduce myself so they’d stop being so distracted. After the first class, she let me help out with questions during the test when the students needed help. It was neat to get to talk more with them, but I still didn’t know exactly how much I could help them or what I was allowed to say.
I had a late breakfast in the teachers’ “lounge” (more like a large closet) this morning. The teachers were all incredibly nice to me, but I honestly couldn’t understand anything they were talking about. While a lot of it is just a language issue, they’re also discussing topics I’m totally unfamiliar with and don’t have any place to start. I basically just sat there awkwardly as they gave me food I didn’t recognize. I tried to subtly watch each of them and not act quite as clueless as I felt. I’m also 10-30 years younger than any of them (jovencita) and feel rather out of place.
While I’m still immensely confused, I’ve tried to adopt the attitude of “jump in now, apologize later.” To wait until I’m perfectly comfortable with all of the classroom etiquette will take until after I leave and there’s no point in just watching for the next two months. I’m sure I’ll make a mess of some things along the way, but hopefully I’ll do some good too. I’m less worried about my relationships with the rest of the teachers (except for Clara) and more concerned with how I do with the kids. They all are really excited about me being there, but I hope that I can be useful to them over the next two months as well.