The Only Gringa

My life is about to change, a lot.

Since arriving in site, more than two months ago (where does time go???), I have had two sitemates.  They have helped me with everything from introducing me to their connections in town to telling me where to buy the best peanut butter.  In a very short time, they have become two of the best friends I have ever had.

This week, they both left.  One left and is going to be traveling for a month before coming back to Guatemala to work.  The other left more unexpectedly for medical reasons and is now happily enjoying hot water that comes from the faucet in Oregon.  I am going to miss them, but I am so looking forward to hearing about their adventures and I know that, thanks to the miracles of the 21st Century, I can still pick their brain for everything they know about Peace Corps and Guatemala and just life in general.

Without sitemates to eat with, chat with, and dance with, life will be quite different.  I loved having sitemates to work with and hope to be getting another one in August, but until then I will enjoy my extra time by working a lot, spending more time with my host family, and establishing my own routine here (i.e. running, cooking, setting up my apartment).  Most Peace Corps Volunteers around the world do not have sitemates, so I'm excited to give it a go for a few weeks!

School in Guatemala

School in Guatemala.  Where do I even begin?  There are so many differences between school in Guatemala and the US.    Learning exactly how schools work here has been one of my first and most important challenges. 

I have been working with fourteen grade schools, the grades are K-6, but some of the children are as old as 14.  The smallest school has about 70 children and the largest school has about 400.  Working in the classrooms has been way more fun and rewarding than all those boring things I have to do with adults.

The school day in Guatemala technically goes from 8:00am-12:30pm, but usually goes more like 8:30am – 12:00pm.  Snack and recess usually take up the whole ten o’clock hour.  This leaves about 2.5 hours each day of instruction.  The doors to the school are often left open, leaving stray dogs and small children to come and go as they please.

The teachers in the school are also the janitors, administrators, and cooks (the children receive a snack each day); as a result, the teacher is often not even in the classroom and young students are left to copy things from the white board as their only method of learning. 

Furthermore, student: teacher ratios are about 30:1 on a good day.  There are no aides or reading specialists.  If a child misses a lot of school or just can’t keep up, they can repeat a grade, but there are no IEP’s – just the hope that another year will do the trick.

Teachers rarely have more than a high school education.  Many people become teachers chose their profession simply because they do not like the other career paths offered at their high schools.  This being said, there are some really wonderful teachers in Guatemala.  I think it is especially impressive when teachers pursue a college education, given that there is no financial incentive to do so.

There are no libraries, computer labs, gymnasiums, or cafeterias in any of my schools.  Children do all their learning in one classroom and all of their playing on one dirt field (and a basketball court, if they’re lucky).   This set-up obviously has some serious draw-backs, but there are some really net things that come of it, too.

Kids of all grades interact and they interact very nicely.  Recess is typically a time where brothers and sisters check in on one another.  There is typically three or four games happening on the field at once, which appears to me to be chaos, but everyone is happy, so I don’t ask questions.

Children each have chores to do to keep the school running (i.e. retrieving snack, mopping classrooms, collecting trash, etc.) and they do them without complaining.  There is typically a fair degree of chaos inside the classroom with kids moving around and leaving as they please, but generally when the teacher does ask them to do something, they do it.  For the most part, kids are even respectful to me, the strange white girl who is still learning Spanish.

Teachers are required by the government to teach English, at least once a week..  However, the teachers don’t know English and the result is some bizarre pronunciation of English words: for example, pronouncing the “e” on the end of “blue” – “Blu-EEEE”. 

So, this week, I am beginning a class for teachers about teaching English.  The two hour class will combine English lessons and discussions on teaching methodology.  I am not particularly qualified to teach either of these things.  However, my 21 years of education were all about learning to identify a problem, find a solution, and presenting that solution.  Therefore, after a quite a few hours of research I am ready to get started.

If you, too, can think critically, please go hug a teacher!

P.S. Here are some pictures of a few of the awesome kids with whom I've been working!