Half way done...wow!

Well, I am now about half way through my time here, which I can hardly believe.  It is going very quickly!  So far, I feel like I've gained more confidence as a teacher, improved my Spanish, become part of a new family here, and learned a lot about the culture in Mexico, Morelia, and at Varmond.  I've also definitely had the opportunity to practice being flexible, open minded, and positive.  I find it kind of amazing that I feel pretty much at home here.  There are still times when I can't follow some Spanish conversations well or participate.  However, for the most part, I feel like I fit in here...not to the extent that I could live here indefinitely or for a very long period of time, but I know I'll miss the people, places, and culture here for sure.

Over the weekend, I went with my host family to Copándaro de Galeana, a small pueblo less than an hour away.  There was a Carnaval there which involved a "toro" (bull) parading around the city streets.  Don't worry...it was just men under an adorned, flashy bull costume.  A band came behind the toro to provide music (brass, drums, and woodwinds), and the toro stopped at assigned houses that provided drinks for the huge mass of people that were parading around the city with the toro.  When the parade stopped, there was a dance in the street with the toro.  I have some neat videos of this parade to share but am unfortunately experiencing some technical difficulties with my camera right now.  If I'm able to, I'll upload the video in another blog.  The Carnaval also entailed much of what we would think of as a carnival with rides (tilt-a-whirl, ferris wheel, etc.) and food vendors set up in the middle of the pueblo.  

Toros have been parading around Morelia since Saturday.  When someone pays them, they stop in the street, play music, and dance!  I've heard them pass by my house as late as 11p.m. when I'm trying to sleep!  It's a little crazy, but just part of the tradition here.  They have toros now, because they signify the bad.  They celebrate with them before Lent starts (like our Mardi Gras, except it's a 4 day event here!)

In the school, I'm doing most of the teaching this week, and I'll be completely on my own next week.  This week is a little crazy, because we're trying to finish up the February book with enough time to review before the standardized exams in the second week of March.  Some students are leaving for vacation and need to take parts of the exam early, so that makes things yet more interesting! 

One way I'm trying to keep the focus more on the process of learning while still completing all the pages is by turning all of the math word problems in the book (over 20 of them) into presentations.  I assigned a word problem to each student, I'll give them time to work on it in class/ask questions, and I'm going to have them present their problem to the class on either this Friday or Monday (or some on each day).  I found that this was a great way to differentiate.  I read through all the problems first so that I could assign problems according to students' ability levels.  I'm hoping this will allow all of the students to successfully complete the assignment of being able to explain the process of solving a math problem to their classmates.  I'm also using this as a way to get them talking in English more.  

Classroom management is going fairly well.  The students know that I'm watching them, and making eye contact and using physical proximity has continued to be helpful.  My only challenge now will be to bring them initially to attention at the start of a class or in the middle of an activity when there's more noise in the classroom.  I want to find something that makes a noise (like a stuffed animal or whistle) to use as a signal to start class, bring the class back from team work, etc.  I think I'll be making a little shopping adventure this week or weekend.

Okay, well I need to get ready for bed now.  I'm not sure how soon I'll be sleeping.  Two more toros just went by our house complete with bands.  (I've given up on early bedtimes during the Carnaval.)