clases, estudiantes y maestros

My first week at Varmond School has been both exciting and interesting. The school system is very different from that of the United States. I am working with Miss G in 6th B. I am also helping the junior high teachers, Miss M, Miss A, and Mr. R, in their classes. I am excited for the opportunity to work with and learn from a variety of teachers and help many other students. However, I have already noticed that my weekly schedule is going to be difficult for me. Difficult in that I have many students' names to remember, many classes to prepare for, and many different classrooms that I teach in. Also, with the way that the daily school schedule is designed at Varmond I see some students only two or three times a week. The students want me in their class and when I leave to help with another grade they always want to know when I will be back. In Mexico, the teachers do not go by last name. I am not Ms. Schauer but rather Miss Stephanie or sometimes even Miss or Teacher. I definitely need to get accustomed to students calling me by my first name. It feels weird.

Varmond School used to be in a large, old house. There was no room for the students to move around in the classrooms and space outside to play. Therefore, a new location was chosen about six or seven years ago and a new school was built. The students and teachers enjoy the building and large outdoor space. When I arrived at Varmond on Monday, it looked like a hotel to me. No joke! It is very modern in construction, but the openness of the school creates noise and atmosphere issues. Often, the junior high students on the first floor can be heard on the second floor where the elementary grades are located. Also, the junior high bell for class is heard throughout the entire school. Hmmm...

Varmond is having a Halloween event next Thursday evening. Miss M told me it is their biggest and best holiday celebration they do. Each grade is assigned a different Halloween topic and they are to give a presentation the evening of the event. The students dress up as their topic and the event will also have food, music, dance, and much more. I can't wait to see how Halloween is celebrated in Mexico and how it might be different from the United States. The past two days I was helping the students edit their pumpkin poems for the Halloween poem contest. I struggled with this. The students are very intelligent, but when it came time to check their poems some of the students thought their poem rhymed. But for me it didn't. This is because their pronunciation of English words is not exactly correct. I was trying to explain to students why it didn't rhyme and they were confused. I had to repeat the words over and over to them so they could hear my voice. Finally, I think the students understood and began revising their poems. Some of the poems are very creative, original, and funny. I think that I get to judge the final poems on Monday with Miss M. I will try and share a winning poem with you next week.

My biggest challenge at Varmond is going to be classroom management. There is very little here in Mexico. Students talk when they want, rarely raise their hand, get out of their seats often, talk out of turn, and do not listen. Some students have little respect for the teachers. At times, it almost feels like the students are running the classroom. The teachers are also supposed to speak English in the classroom because that is the "foundation" of the school. When a teacher gets upset, he/she often tends to revert back to Spanish and raise his/her voice which frustrates me. I will have to try my "magic" to see how the students respond to me because Miss M told me to only speak English in the classrooms. "The students need to improve their English and having you here is one of the best ways to do so," she said. The students also have so much energy. I get tired just watching them! Maybe this is because they get two breaks, or recesses, during the day to refuel themselves.

I was surprised to find out that all students in junior high, sixth through eighth grade, are required to have a laptop. But, it makes sense in that Varmond is a private school and I suspect that most families can afford it. The junior high teachers occasionally have the students use their laptops in class. However, with the lack of classroom management students are often playing games or looking at internet sites that have little to do with the topic. It is great that Varmond wants to incorporate technology in the classroom, but from my first observation it may cause more harm than good. I wonder if the students received a "lecture" on the true educational use of computers in class and the consequences if rules are not followed. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. It is hard to identify because some work diligently while others take forever to open the internet because they talk too much.

In April, students from Mexico are going to London for two weeks to participate in the British English Olympics. Twenty students from Varmond School are participating. At this event, they must perform, in English, a dance, debate, song, and other activities. They will also take part in a spelling bee. I have never heard of something like this and I believe thirty to forty schools in Mexico have been invited.

The curriculum at Varmond comes from workbooks designed by AMCO. It started in California with the increase of Spanish speaking students in the schools. The workbooks are written to help Spanish speaking students learn English and become acquainted with American history and customs. There are multiple units and each workbook represents one unit. The curriculum is very rigid in that all of the material must be covered within a certain time frame, not leaving much opportunity for other ideas to be incorporated into the classroom. The Conversation Lab classes for junior high students are more flexible and we can talk about any subject or do any project as long as the students practice their English. I get to teach the seventh grade Conversation Lab classes Monday morning and choose the topic. Exciting!

Go Varmond Dolphins! Not sure why a dolphin...

Hasta manana,

Stephanie