What a Life

Typical weekday in Torreón...

6:15 - alarm goes off (snooze...snooze...snooze...)
6:30 - wake up and get ready for the day
7:00 - make breakfast (huevoooossss güey!)
7:15 - walk to school (say hello to the gatekeeper Alberto)
7:30 - kids arrive and go play
7:55 - lines and prayers to start the day
...school...school...school...school...
2:30 - kids leave school
2:40 - teachers leave school
3:00 - lunch time!
3:30 - SIESTA
4:00 - go get a tan at the pool or continue nap time
6:00 - hang out with friends (pretending to do work)
7:30 - supper time
8:30 - more chilling out (maybe do a little work)
10:30 - bedtime

Typical weekend in Torreón...

9:00 - wake up
9:30 - breakfast
10:00 - shopping
11:00 - pool time (tan time)
1:00 - nap time
3:00 - lunch
4:00 - afternoon hang out with friends (clean and do laundry if really necessary)
6:00 - get ready for the night
7:30 - supper
8:30 - find some people to party with
...fun...fun...fun...fun...fun...fun
5:30 am the next day - bedtime

I think I can handle this schedule :)

First Week of School

    I have officially survived my first week of school as a kindergarten teacher. I have 17 kids and they are the most adorable kids I have ever seen. One of them is from London and does not speak Spanish, which is hard because he is a lot farther along than the other kids and he is new to the school and can't talk with most of the kids because their English isn't good enough yet. I have another student who is Chinese and doesn't speak English or Spanish. I have four kids who are new to the school, so they do not have any experience with English. The rest were students here during Kinder 1 and 2. They can say some words in English and they know their numbers, colors, and shapes very well. They speak very good Spanglish! I don't speak Spanish to them, and they usually understand me.
     To be completely honest, I don't love being a kindergarten teacher. I love the kids. They are cute and they love to give hugs. It takes a lot of patience to handle 17 kids who like to talk to each other and hang on each other all day long. I miss my high schoolers, but I am sure I will get used to 6 year olds.

Colegio Inglés - Educacción es Libertad

This is the outside of the building. There is a gatekeeper 24 hours a day and the walls are topped with broken glass for security. 

This is the play area of my classroom! All of the toys and blocks were provided, all I had to do was set it up and make the bulletin board. "Welcome to Miss Jenna's Class!" Tomorrow the kids will make all-about-me posters that we will hang on the board. 

This is what the pre-escholar classes look like. There are classes on each side and a courtyard and playground in the middle. 

This is the courtyard in the main plaza of the school. The students line up at the beginning of each day to do prayers and a flag salute. They are graded on patriotism during the salute! 

This is my assistant Karen and me in our classroom. She is absolutely great to work with and her family is cooking me an authentic Mexican meal after our first day of school tomorrow! I am so lucky to have her as my assistant! 

Latino Time

     One thing that I have learned a lot about in my experiences with Spanish speaking countries is that time is completely different than in the United States. 1:00 actually means 1:45 (or later), today means tomorrow, and a couple of days means a week or two. Thankfully, I am used to this, or I would be freaking out right now! Tomorrow is the first day of school at Colegio Inglés. I got my class, which I was supposed to have last Thursday, this morning. The elementary and high school teachers don't have their class lists yet. I know we have to do duties during/after school, but we don't know what we have to do yet. There is not a schedule for the special classes (religion, Spanish, gym, computers, and music), so I am assuming we all have our kids the entire day all week, but that could change. Our requisitions for the week haven't been purchased, so we don't have supplies. There are still teachers who have no arrived to Mexico yet, so their students are teacher-less. The ninth graders have not chosen their classes yet. I am very glad that I can handle being flexible and doing things last minute!
     I am really excited for the first day of school. When the kids get there, I will help them find their hooks, their seats, and their book shelves. We will sing some songs and get to know each other a little and then go over the rules and the rewards/consequences. We are taking a tour of the school and doing a classroom scavenger hunt and then playing some games so I can see what they are able to do with English. The first three days of school are about having fun and assessing where the kids are at so I can start curriculum next week. It is a lot of work, but it is going to be a lot of fun!!

Time for School

    School starts on Wednesday and I couldn't be more excited. So far, my experience at the school has been wonderful. Colegio Inglés is a private school that offers a bilingual education with native English speakers. This sort of education is highly sought after here. There is another private school in Torreón with a similar program called Colegio Americano. The difference between private and public schools in Mexico is huge. The public schools don't have the physical resources to provide students with an outstanding education. Private schools are very expensive, but they truly provide a great education, and many offer bilingual programs. I have been asking other Mexicans about the schools here, and they said that many students can't even afford the dues at public schools, so they don't go at all.
     The program at Colegio Inglés is great. The three levels of the school are preprimaria (preschool), primaria (elementary), and secundaria (high school). There is a program for babies starting at 2 years old, and they are with a Mexican teacher who speaks to them all in English. That way, they get familiar with the language but it is not completely foreign to them. At 3-4 years old, the kids go to Kinder 1, and then at 4-5 years old they go to Kinder 2. Both of the Kinders are similar. They spend half of their day with a Mexican teacher who teaches them how to read and write in Spanish, and then they spend the other half of the day with a native English speaker who does reading, math, and phonics in English. The next grade is pre-escolar (me!). The have a native English speaking teacher who teaches them reading, math, science, and phonics. They leave the class for 1/2 hour every day to go learn reading and writing in Spanish with a Mexican teacher, and also have phy ed, computer, religion, and library classes throughout the week. After this level, they have completed the preprimaria part of the school. Next, they move into primaria, which is grades 1-6. During premaria, the students spend almost their entire day with their English teacher. The curriculum is pretty intense. They must complete workbooks for math and English and they have exams starting in 1st grade every month, which makes up 50% of their final grade. The last part of school is secundaria. In secundaria, they go to their English classes with native speakers, and also to history, art, science, and math with native English speakers. They finish the school in 9th grade. After 9th grade, many students go to the United States to finish high school, or they go to another private high school.
     I have talked with a lot of the kids at the school and even at the 3rd grade level, they are speaking very good English. I have been instructed to only speak English to the students. They should not even know that I can speak Spanish. The parents get very upset if they hear that their student's teacher spoke Spanish to them because they are spending a lot of money to have their kids learn from a native speaker. I am a little nervous about not speaking Spanish because it is so much easier. I had a hard time sticking to English when I was teaching in Costa Rica. I am going to try my best though!

Its Getting Hot in Here!

     I finally made it to Torreón and have access to internet again - yay! My experience getting here just made me even more sure that my decision to come was a good one. While I was in the Houston airport waiting to board the plane, I had two great encounters. One woman came up to me and asked if I was going to Torreón and if I was going to be teaching at the Colegio Inglés. I told her that I was, and she proceeded to tell me that she was the principal's mother and that if I needed anything that I could come ask her for help. It was so nice to hear someone knew I was on the plane and would be there to help me if I needed it when I landed. Next, a younger girl came up and asked me if I was a teacher and we had a great conversation about our teaching experiences and Torreón (her home town). She was going to start her student teaching in Houston this fall and then return to Torreón. She gave me her email address and told me that I could email her if I needed anything at all. This openness and helpfulness is something that I LOVE about the latino culture. I feel very comfortable here knowing that I have people ready and willing to help me when I need it.

     On Monday, I got to explore the city a little bit. Walking around the city, we did see a lot of police and a lot of men riding around with guns. I don't feel unsafe, but I wouldn't want to be out alone at night for sure. I had to stock up on groceries and, much to my dismay, Walmart was the place to go. It was a fun shopping trip though. Instead of going to the grocery store and having one isle with Mexican food, there was one isle with very American food. The prices were about the same as they are in the United States - maybe just a little bit cheaper. Other than groceries, I won't need to buy much. The house that I am staying in is stocked with pretty much everything. The main floor has two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room with a nice TV, and a kitchen with everything we could need. The upstairs has three more bedrooms, three more bathrooms, and a washing machine. The rooms are really comfortable and the closet is huge, which is good because I brought a LOT of stuff with me. 

    It is super hot here. We don't have actual air conditioning, but we do have an air cooling system in the house that runs off of water. It works pretty well to keep the house from being hot, but it doesn't get cool. Last night, the water pipes got plugged somehow and we had no water - and no air. It was SO hot. I woke up in a pool of sweat. So hopefully that doesn't happen too often...

     Tomorrow I start orientation at the school! I'm excited to hear about what I will be doing this year. All of the teachers that I have met are young, nice, and fun to be around. I think we will all get along pretty well. I will hopefully post some pictures up soon! 

     

Ready and Waiting

      In just six days I will be boarding a plane in Minneapolis, Minnesota and flying to Torreón, México.

     Torreón is a city of 608,000 people in the state of Coahuila. It is a big city with many things to see and do, but because of drug problems in the country, safety is a big concern. I will be teaching at a private catholic school called Colegio Inglés. The school has preschool, elementary, and junior high programs that are all bilingual. I will be a kindergarten teacher! I don't have much experience with kindergarteners, so I am a little nervous about teaching, but I know I will catch on quickly. I will be teaching math, language, reading/phonics, and science. I am so excited to get packed and get on that plane to start my first Mexican adventure!