Under the Weather but Onward with Teaching

I’m a bit under the weather this week, just with a head cold, so this will probably be a little shorter than usual.  My weekend included a mix of activities.  Friday night while walking around the city with Sonia, I saw a clown doing a street performance.  He juggled and rode a unicycle, much like American clowns, but he was much, much funnier.  His vocal expressions and jokes were much funnier than what I’m used to seeing.  Saturday, I decided to try out washing clothes by hand.  My host family does not have a washing or drying machine, so they do most of their laundry by hand using tepid or cold water, a few buckets, and a few drying lines they have in part of their house.  (This method of washing clothes is fairly common for the Mexicans of middle and lower social classes.)  Have you ever tried wringing out a soaking wet sweatshirt by hand?  It’s quite the chore.  Although washing clothes by hand was tiring, I thought it was a neat way to be more in solidarity with my family and embrace their simpler way of living.  Saturday night, I went to La Plaza Morelia with Sonia and a 10-year old who is the daughter of a doctor, who Sonia works with in her hospital internship.  The girl is also in a bilingual school and wants to improve her English, so we talked in English for the night.  At La Plaza, we watched salsa dancing.  The show included professionals in elaborate costumes dancing with very quick feet and fancy turns.  On Sunday, my host sister, who lives out of town, came with her three little kids, so I spent most of the day with them.

This week, I’m teaching composition, spelling, and math.  Composition is fun, because the main project is making Valentine cards for an exchange on Friday.  I’ll be showing them how to make pop-up (3-dimensional) cards tomorrow. J  I learned that the students really enjoy competing against one another when I had them race in teams today to write spelling words on the board.  I think activities like this outside of their book are more engaging.  Although the curriculum doesn’t allow much time for such activities, I’m going to try to fit more in.  Although sixth grade is supposed to be a review from all the primary grades, I learned that math is a difficult content area, at least for some of the students.  I need to be really thorough in my explanations and check for understanding frequently. 

My main goal this week is to be very clear when I am teaching (explaining content, giving directions, etc.)  I have to keep reminding myself that my students are all learning English as a second language.  Sometimes I speak too quickly for them or use words that they don’t understand (just as most of the Mexicans do when I try talking to them in Spanish, so at least I can sympathize!).  I am working on slowing my rate of speech down, repeating instructions, and thinking about what words I use to explain something.  I’ve also found that using more visual aids with my explanations is very helpful.  The nice part about this placement is that I teach everything twice.  I enjoy having the opportunity to teach something a second time, so I can adapt and improve parts that didn’t work the first time.

Here’s a fun cultural fact to finish this blog:  Mexicans eat hot dogs, but they call them “Salchichas.”  They sometimes eat them in a bun, but I’ve more commonly seen them in a soft tortilla like a hot dog taco!  They also add things to them like salsa and chile, which makes them quite uniquely Mexican.

Note: Friday’s blog may appear on Saturday, since on Friday, the teachers have a V-Day party at the elementary coordinator’s house.