School!

So, I finally became a teacher this past week. But first an important announcement:

On Wednesday, September 16th, I spent money for the first time in over a month. Pretty incredible when you think about it. One of the Haitian staff members makes his own Peanut Butter (he's trying to start a small business) and many of the volunteers (myself included) put in requests for our own jars. 100 gourdes, 20 Haitian dollars, about $2.50 USD per jar. And, it was a good choice. Absolutely delicious. A bit sweet with a shadow of spice. Just a hint though. Perfect. Now, if only we can get him to make crunchy peanut butter...

Here are some lessons learned this past week:

-Flag raising just might be my favorite time of the entire school day. Immediately following first period (7-7:40), the entire school assembles on the basketball court for morning announcements, a daily gospel reading, the raising of flags (Haitian, USA, and LCS), and the singing of the Haitian national anthem and the school's alma mater. It is the songs that make this ritual special. The songs are beautiful and the kids are pretty impressive singers. On my to-do list is to take a video of the kids singing before the year is up. Because, trust me, it's worth it.

-Fresh coconut is delicious. In the USA I don't like coconut very much. But when you watch someone shimmy up a coconut tree and use a machete to cut off the top - it tastes pretty good. The "water" inside is sweet and tasty, the actually coconut is pretty good as well. A nice treat for a Sunday afternoon.

-In addition, it quickly became apparent last week that teaching can be pretty intense and often a bit nerve racking. One of the challenging/fun things about my schedule are my triple class days - this means one of my courses meets three times during a single day. Day one included one of these with what ended up being by far my most unruly section. Ah, good times. I certainly wanted to collapse by the end of the day.

-However, learning as I go, I quickly scrapped my initial lesson plans for the week and began to build anew. I figured that since these kids are smart, work would be a good way to keep them busy and quiet. My idea seemed to work pretty well as the rest of the week was much much better.

-At the end of week 1, I have to admit that really like teaching. Odd as it sounds, I really like the sound of my voice lecturing in a classroom. Is this narcissism? A power trip? Perhaps. But it's the truth. The principal observed one of my classes for a few lessons last week and had this advice for me: he told me I should talk louder. Yes, the students could hear me all right but with a voice like mine he felt I should make the students feel my presence. I should note, that the principal has a pretty deep voice himself and I suspect this is how he lectures. Still, it was fun to elicit advice from a smart man who I imagine is a pretty good teacher.

-In terms of content, this past week my older students read Patrick Henry's famous speech:"Give me Liberty or Give me Death." I'm giving them an assignment this week to write their own persuasive speech from the perspective of Touissant Louverture -the initial leader of the Haitian revolution. I'm pretty excited to see what they write. My younger kids began reading and discussing a short story by Roald Dahl, "Poison." Also, all my classes had to turn in an essay this past Friday, "An autobiography from the year 2019." I wanted them to specifically focus on what happened during the years 2009-2019 and how these events connected with the two themes of LCS: What you receive as a gift you must give as a gift; and I'm ready to rebuild Haiti, are you?

Good stuff. I'm actually grading the essays right now and will have some excerpted answers for all my faithful readers next week. But, just glancing through the responses has made me pause. The range in the English skills of my students is a bit scary. Some understood the main points of the Patrick Henry speech and even began linking its themes to larger issues elsewhere in the world. Others, I think, did not understand the speech when they read it and I fear that they can't even understand my lectures or explanations of the text. This is part of the reason why I'm trying to reevaluate and re-plan my lessons.

They are smart kids, they really are. But it is still very clear that English is their second language. My best students still have subject-verb agreement problems on their papers. Their ideas are wonderful and are communicated pretty clearly. But the mechanical mistakes I think will always be an issue. Still, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming week.

Life is busy. But good. And I'm looking forward to the beginning of clubs this week (Chess? Juggling? Hopefully an advanced English reading/discussion?).

That's about it. Take care.

Peace