Day 5: May 26th

The morning started with pancakes for breakfast. It was wonderful as always. We had fresca, strawberry, jam that accompanied our pancakes and a nice cup of Guatemalan coffee with it. We left for the school and when we arrived the students were taking tests. I believe that the tests are similar in the United States, state assessments. However, at this school they are not super strict with the behavior during the tests. Some students sit outside the classroom while taking the test and it seems like they can get distracted easily. There are a lot of kids that run around while other classes are taking the tests. Doors are always left ajar making it easy for noise to travel in and out of the classrooms.

The test that the students were taking was a religion test. There were different forms of assessment within the test: fill in the blank, matching, sequencing, and finally an essay question at the end. It was very similar to tests that we have in the United States, but not like our state assessments, which are just multiple choice. I think that these types of test, while still may be difficult for some students, is a more authentic assessment of the student’s knowledge in comparison to a test that is solely multiple choice.

At recess, I wandered around the school watching what all the kids were doing. The boys played soccer while the girls congregated around the monkey bars. I did find one group of boys off in a corner playing a game that I was not familiar with. They were playing with what looked like pogs in the United States. The boys would hit the pog, a small, flat, round object, against the wall and the one that had their piece go the farthest would get the other boys’ pogs. It was a very interesting game and I tried to follow it as best I could.

Once recess was over with, my third grade class continued working on their cross-stitching. There were lots of students working very hard on their projects. Some were close to finishing while others were well behind their peers. About five minutes after the students got back to the classroom, the boys were escorted out of the room into another room. I believe that they were getting in trouble for something that neither my partner nor I knew about. We stayed in the room with the girls while the teacher was away. The classroom was so quiet. The girls were working very hard on their projects and did not speak at all. I was pretty shocked at the change in the tone when the boys were gone. When the boys came back, they were quiet for a few minutes and little by little one boy after another would start talking. Eventually the noise level was back to its original level of craziness.

Right before we left the school for the day, the ESL teacher talked to Melanie and told her that we needed to review English terms with the students. It was a fly of the moment teaching opportunity and we took full advantage. Melanie wrote some pre-made phrases on the board and the students had to fill in the blank with the correct verb. For example, one sentence was “I¬¬_____________ mathematics. I study mathematics.” After Melanie did the verbs, I reviewed some of the colors with the students. I pointed to a lot of the colors around the room. I also used Spanish to support the understanding along with the visuals. For example, I would point to green and say “Verde es quel colora in ingles?” The students were so happy to answer the questions and they knew almost all of them. The only color they had hang-ups on was white, blanco.

We only got to teach for five minutes because right at noon the students do their daily pray. I am still uncertain what prayers they are saying, but the students know them all by heart. We left the school soon after and we were on our way to pick up Mafer from school. Again, the driving is very scary. Our host mom was actually driving and talking on her cell phone. I had thought that that was only a problem in the states, but apparently more people talk on the phone and drive than I thought. After we picked up Mafer, Melanie and I were dropped off at Luisa’s university. I can’t remember the name of the university, but there were many similarities to K-State. There was a main plaza area in memory of those that have died. All of the different kinds of studies are in different buildings. For example engineering is in one building and agriculture is in another.

We went to the area where Luisa studies, engineering. There were lots of outdoor tables with umbrellas covering them. It seemed to be a popular hangout for a lot of people. As we walked to the tables, there were a lot of people that were looking at it. It was obvious that we were not from here, and I am sure that everyone knew we were American. There was even a group of people that said ‘hi’ to us. It was just interesting being the person that stood out in a crowd of people. I did not feel uncomfortable by any means, but I just noticed the people around me and their reactions. We meet up with some of Luisa’s friends, one of which loved speaking English. She was really excited to speak in English because she said that she does not get the opportunity to practice her English as much as she would like. It was kind of interesting because when Anna Maria was talking to us she was also with her boyfriend. They were all over one another. This behavior was seen all over the campus. There were lots of people making out and hanging on one another. It was just interesting because in America, it is looked at differently when people show a lot of affection in public.

We walked to the student union where there was a vendor sitting by the front door. The prices she had for the items that she was selling were really cheap. There were a lot of people in the union, congregating around computers of a small food shop. We also ventured to the library where Luisa helped me check out a book in Spanish. There were lots of pictures for support and I hope to gain some new knowledge from ‘reading’ the book. When we got back home, Luisa actually got a lot of her kid’s books out for me to look at. I hope that if we have enough down time, I will try and ‘read’ a book or two.

Again, I went to another Karate class, but this time it was just me and Mafer. The class was not as hard as the night previous, but I still learned a lot and got a good workout. There were a few black belt students at the class and they were a great support. When we learned new moves, they helped me get down the correct movements. It was a lot of fun and I am really starting to like it a lot. The best part is at the beginning of class when we run for close to 15 minutes. I love and miss running so much so it have been fun doing that. It was really funny because during those fifteen minutes people kept stopping because they were tired and a couple people were shocked that I actually ran the entire time! :) I thought it was pretty funny!

For dinner, I had beans and eggs with cream cheese. I really don’t like eggs too much, but I really loved this dish. When I finished dinner, Melanie and I had a long conversation with the family just about anything and everything. We were so tired, but I really enjoyed talking to them. It was well worth the lack of sleep. The family talked about our upcoming trip to Antigua and things to look and watch out for. The described Antigua as a beautiful place with lots of flowers covered in cobblestone roads. We also talked about our families and different types of music they like and we liked. I talked about what type of music my dad liked and Luis, the father, found so many similarities between the music that they both listen to. He loves Credence Clearwater and I thought it was so neat to know that people clear across the world can like the same type of music. We also talked about beautiful churches that are nearby. I know that the family is a very religious Catholic family so I would not be surprised if they took us to either their church or churches nearby. I really enjoyed just talking with the family. I did not do a whole lot of talking because considering it was so late it was hard to translate what I was trying to say, but I could understand them a lot more than I could speak. I can tell that the family is much more comfortable talking to us and we are both learning a lot. We are learning Spanish and we are teaching them English. Dorita has learning ‘hungry,’ ‘Let’s go,’ and ‘hot.’ I am sure that she will learn a lot more just like we will as well!

Hasta Luego!