Developing Youth? Part 3, The First Three Months

So in my first three months in site, I decided to focus on teaching Tercero Basico, the oldest middle school grade (equivalent of eighth grade) since we were supposed to focus mostly on doing our diagnostic of the schools. I wanted to try to give them *something* of the program since they’d be graduating (in October), and also that way I would be able to start fresh with the complete program with all 3 grades when the new school year starts (end of January).

Sadly, I didn’t really get to teach that many classes to my Tercero students because in the months Aug-Oct, not really much class time goes one. The month of September was the month of Independence Day, which meant more time was spent preparing for and participating in the festivities than in class. Then at the beginning of October, the Municipality of my communities had their Feria, or town fair, so then there were yet more festivities to prepare for and participate in. Classes ended mid-October. In a couple of my schools, I only really taught 3 or 4 classes in 3 months (pretty sad).

But I definitely learned a lot. Some lessons that I thought would go great completely bombed. Others that I wasn’t optimistic about surprised me. The class of students that I thought I liked the least (they seemed to give me attitude and make fun of my Spanish) ended up being one of my favorites.

There were moments when the entire class would give me blank stares like they clearly had no idea what I was talking about. There were times when I would begin an activity I had planned and suddenly realize that I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain it in Spanish. (A highlight was when I was trying to kill 10 minutes at the end of the class by having them do the human knot activity --participants stand in a circle and grab the hands of someone else in the circle and then they have to work as a team to detangle themselves into an open circle, still holding hands. I had 4 circles of students with their hands grasped in the “knot”, and I frantically went around to each group to try to explain what to do next, but they all just looked confused. And I ran out of class time.) There were times when I assigned them an art project, and they would spend half their class time measuring and drawing a perfect rectangle to frame their art, rather than working on the actual project (Guatemalan students are absurdly, painfully meticulous with their schoolwork). There were times when I would assign them group brainstorms, and 20 minutes would pass and their paper would still be blank. There were times when I came ready with a fun game that I’d played with kids in the US, and the students would be too shy or self-conscious to play.

But then there were times when I gave them a problem to solve or a scenario to analyze, and their head would be together as they discussed it earnestly and passionately. They were times where we would play a dinamica (like a warm-up game) and all of us would be cracking up and they would beg me for another. There were times when they would all crowd around me to proudly show me their work.

One of the biggest lessons was a final class report I assigned to the students of my big institute, mostly at the request of the Director. I presented it 2 weeks before it was due, re-presented it a week before it was due, and then when the day arrived for them to hand it in, not a single student (out of 95) handed it in. Also, at the last minute my co-teacher decided that my part of the class should be 50% of the grade, which completely surprised me. In none of the other institutes was I expected to assign grades yet, and I hadn’t been taking consistent attendance or giving much homework because I didn’t expect to have to grade the students. So all I had to go on was this report I had given them… and because these students were in their last year, suddenly it was partly my decision whether they graduated or not… WAY more responsibility than I was expecting or prepared for in my first 3 months. And NO ONE handed it in when it was due! So I spoke to them again, reiterated its importance, and told them it was worth half their grade. The next day to my relief a big stack of reports were turned in. But when I took a closer look, I realized that most of them were just copies of someone else’s work. Probably about 20 students actually wrote the report, and many of those students printed out several copies to give to their friends to hand in. This was especially ridiculous because the report consisted of very individual questions, such as “In your opinion, how is your self-esteem?” and “What are two goals you have for the future and what is your plan for achieving them?” OBVIOUSLY (I thought) each one would have to be different. But somehow the students thought they could get away with it. So now I was REALLY distraught. I came in and talked to them again and told them that if their work was the same as another person’s I couldn’t accept it. So I gave them yet another chance to turn in the report. Finally, the message sunk in and most of the students turned in their individual work. (Some of them were amazing, full of art work and thoughtful insights into themselves. Most were just a brief, fragmented sentence for every question with bad grammar that didn’t have much thought put into it.)

Really, I don’t blame the students. I see this incidence as a sad reflection of the education they’ve been given and the standards they’ve been held to. Obviously if a vast majority just copied work, they’ve gotten away with it before. And these are the students that graduated, most of whom probably will not continue studying.

But one of the best things that happened was when the 12 students from my smallest institute showed up at my house one morning (this was after classes had ended but before the graduation ceremonies) after having made the 45 minute walk in the rain from their community. They had come to give me an invitation to be the “Madrina” for their graduation. The Madrinas or Padrinas (literally, godmothers and godfathers) are either teachers the students found inspiring or important members of the community. These “Godparents” are expected to get each student a gift or a sum of money and make a speech at the ceremony. I was very touched that they had chosen me and that the whole class (so what if it’s 12?) made the long walk to deliver the invitation to me in person (even if I did make the same walk each week to teach). The Graduation Ceremony was a success, and especially important because it was the first ever for this institute (which is only 3 years old). I did feel honored. I also made it through my speech alright, even wishing everyone a good evening without looking at my notes (“the mayor and his corporation, representatives of the Junta Directiva, the director and faculty of the establishment, male students, female students, parents of the family, gentlemen of the music, and general public, good evening… a lot harder in Spanish!). And I bought them each a double-sided picture frame. In one side I put the “inscription” I wrote about the graduation and the other I left empty for the pictures I took on graduation night. Needless to say, I spent hours painstakingly cutting out construction paper as a matte for the picture and “inscription” and putting in perfectly in place. Thank god there were only 12.

There were certainly challenges in my first three months, but they only made my successes and breakthroughs that much better. Really, it was the perfect time to start. We had three months to “dive in” and get a taste of the reality of the institute—of the teachers, students, directors—and what it’s like to teach a class of Guatemalan teenagers (in my case, Guatemalan indigenous teenagers whose distant second language is Spanish). Then, thankfully, the school vacations rolled around, so we have 3 more months to get our feet under us before it all starts again. And when the school year starts, I will be teaching around 600 students in 3 institutes in the afternoons (each class once a week), and an English class for 3 elementary grades one morning a week. I also hope to have a girl’s group that meets regularly, and possibly in the future a drama club… but we’ll see. Oh yes, and I want meet regularly with the existing Women’s Group, stay involved with the Catholic youth group, in addition to holding workshops with parents, training teachers, and organizing extra-curricular activities, such as career fairs and field days!! Whew, it’s exhausting just to think about. Who knew it was possible to be such a workaholic in the Peace Corps? But I have no doubt it will be rewarding. It already has been, and supposedly this was the “hard part.”