First day at work....

Today was filled with utter confusion for Sara and I. We were told the the kids reported to school, this Wed., Aug.15, but teachers were to report today, to set up our classrooms and and meet the other teachers. So, like good employees, we walked up to the school only to find that nobody was there but Graciella, the founder of the school, who speaks very little English. She showed us to our classrooms, and of course.....all of the tables and chairs were outside because they were still painting the rooms! So there went any chance of us being able to put anything on the walls..Then Graciella, told us to come back at 1 beacause that was when the principal of the elementary school was coming. (she conveiniently doesn't speak any English either) :) Thank God I brought my Spanish/English dictionary with me!

So, when we returned to work, 2 hrs later, sad that we had wasted away most of our day, we spent the remainder of the day meeting other teachers, and trying to plan out the first weeks of school. Even though I knew how few books they had, I was still surprised to see that the school REALLY had absolutely no books for the kids to practice reading. They do have a lot of textbooks and workbooks, but everyday is spent teaching out of textbooks and filling in pages in workbooks. The kids have no opportunity to read books on their own, or of their own choosing. So THANK YOU to everyone who had a part in helping us ship all those books here!

A volunteer from Belgium , named Kim, is returning for her third year, and she was nice enough to let us know that the communication at the school, as in any school here, is horrible, and more often than not, we won't have any idea of what's going on, as far as assemblies,days off, or anything else for that matter because many teachers just speak in Spanish to each other, and/or completely forget to tell us what's going on. I guess this will all just add to the excitement, right?! But for the most part the other teachers seemed nice, and just happy to have us here. Hopefully working with so many people who only speak Spanish, students included, will only help me more in learning the language! I guess we'll wait and see! I'll be posting some pictures of the kids and classroom soon!