Just wanted to write a post to tell how everything has been going during October! I can't believe that we're already halfway through the month....
The kids have continued to do well - we had report cards this past Friday, and most of them are progressing well - I will be tutoring David, Jocabed, Denisse and Layshah in math (they struggle because they are just learning English), as well as Gelenita - Gelenita came to Doulos last year, and knows some English, but she just struggles to focus in whole-group lessons and it takes longer for her to grasp concepts.
The parents came after school to pick up report cards - it still surprises me how easy it is to work with parents here than in the States! I still feel like I need to be very careful what I say, and that I always need to be prepared to take a parents defense of their child, not matter what their child has done! But here, most parents are very supportive and trust my judgment and assessments. And scheduling tutoring is easy - I was prepared to ask them when would be best and work from there, but everyone told me to do tutoring whenever I need to and just send a note home on Monday to let them know when! That really illustrates the laid-back nature of this culture so well - and it's something I am gradually getting used to!! I'm so task-oriented and time-conscious…and it is so completely different here! Relationships are the most important, and time is something that you can’t control – you just flow with time and live life as things happen, rather than scheduling in advance.
My Spanish continues to improve slowly but surely – I can have a one-on-one conversation much more easily, and can understand a lot more, although I have such a long way to go. I started tutoring last week with Nelly, a woman from Colombia – I’m going to meet with her Monday and Wednesday for an hour each session. It is just so helpful to just practice talking (she speaks no English, but she’s tutored a lot of North Americans) and to have vocabulary and verbs that I can focus on learning. So, with that, plus talking to my host family and using Spanish in all those everyday situations (shopping, ordering at restaurants, etc.) I feel like I am definitely moving forward.
I’m getting more and more comfortable in the classroom as well. We start our expedition (an integrated 6-8 week unit all grades in the school do once a semester) in the next few weeks – mine is about Keeping Fit and Healthy. It’s a wide-open topic, so I’m enjoying planning ideas and activities for that – the week before last, we planted a garden which we will be tending as part of our expedition. The lettuce and cucumber has started to grow and the kids were very excited yesterday when we went outside to draw the plants and measure them!
If you receive my email updates, you heard my story about the garden planting fiasco – thankfully, it was at the end of the day on a Friday! A man named Felo (the grandparent of one of my students) came to help us plant, and the kids were extremely excited. I couldn’t communicate with Felo very well (and I kept accidentally calling him “pelo,” the Spanish word for hair!), and I wasn’t entirely sure what we were doing, so it was just about impossible to control the kids! They were running everywhere and a group of them was finding all sorts of animals (instead of helping plant the seeds) – and when Felo brought out the hose to water the plants, of course the students ran through it and two of them (Weidy and Pablo) completely soaked themselves with the hose. I considered stopping them…and then decided it was water and it was Friday – they’d be going home soon!
So, this time, I was extremely clear about how they were supposed to act – I wasn’t interested in having another out-of-control garden visit! It went much better – of course, a class always has at least one student (in mine, Roberly) who just has absolutely no impulse control – he stomped on a few of the plants – so, if we do any activities near the garden, it’s going to have to be with 2-3 students only – and he will not be one of them for awhile!
Teaching takes up a lot of my time, but I also have had time to build relationships with the other teachers here and do a lot of things around Jarabacoa – we took one beach trip last August and a camping trip in September – another one of my favorite things to do is to visit and swim in the gorgeous waterfalls.
Due to the craziness of the garden planting, I did not get to take any pictures - but, I plan on taking pictures of the students tending the garden and will post those soon! Thanks for reading!
Erica
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Outdoor Education Week!
Hi family and friends,
Just wanted to update with a few pics of Outdoor Education week! First, Second and Third grade teamed up together to do three days this week about different habitats - during the morning we went on trips (to a field, to the pond in our on-campus garden, to the river), and during the afternoon we did projects! Here are a few pictures I took on Thursday and Friday, when we learned about the pond and the river.
One of the projects the kids did was a habitat box - they loved creating the finished product today!
Just wanted to update with a few pics of Outdoor Education week! First, Second and Third grade teamed up together to do three days this week about different habitats - during the morning we went on trips (to a field, to the pond in our on-campus garden, to the river), and during the afternoon we did projects! Here are a few pictures I took on Thursday and Friday, when we learned about the pond and the river.
One of the projects the kids did was a habitat box - they loved creating the finished product today!
Layshah, my new student that was moved up from Kindergarten - she was very proud of her box!
Elaine!
Dorisbel
At the river today, helping Jerrison, a second grade student, complete his River Scavenger Hunt (they were looking for things like rocks bigger than their fist, leaves bigger than their hand, sticks as long as their finger, etc. - we were practicing tally marks and counting by 5s!)
Down by the river bank with a group of students!
Painting their bird-feeder bottles in the afternoon!
I was pleasantly surprised by how well it went - it just started to get really messy near the end (completely covering your hands in paint is an excellent idea, according to first-graders - but, I should count my blessings - Troy, the third grade teacher, told me that two little girls started face painting while they were supposed to be finishing their bottles! Their response to him was , "But, Mr. Troy, you never told us we couldn't do that!" :) I made sure to emphasize that the paint was for the bottles only after hearing that story!)
The little boy on the left is Jesus Miguel...a very typical picture of him!
Jenny and a third grader, Priscilla, measuring plants at the pond! It was so neat to see how some of the third graders worked with and supported my first graders during our activity about word problems! This pond is part of a gorgeous park that is on our campus right in front of my classroom building.
Gathering around to talk about what they found at the pond - the building you can see in the top right is my classroom building - I promise to get up pictures of Doulos' campus sometime soon!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and got a bit of a taste of what the week was like! It was so much fun, and I know the kids really enjoyed it - it's so amazing being in a school that encourages this type of exploration-based learning! It was so much fun to getting to know students from the second and third grade classes as well - they are a great group of kids! And, I must admit that I'm looking forward to a weekend to rest and recuperate! :) Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Erica
Friday, September 25, 2009
Dear Friends and Family,
Once again, it's been too long since I have posted! I've included individual shots of each of the kids, and a few more pictures of my classroom. Pictures of the school and the kids doing activities for Outdoor Education Week will be coming late next week. Thanks for reading!
A view of my classroom during Friday free-time.
The front...
And another view!
This is Pablo - he's one of my mischievous boys! He loves to answer and talk...and has a pretty amazingly loud voice! :)
This is Jenny - she is one of my chatty/struggles to focus girls! She loves to participate in math - and today, she said a whole sentence in English! She was here last year, but she is slower to speak/remember English than some of the other kids.
This is Elaine - she's one of my highest students in math, and speaks really good English as well!
This is Jaquidys - she is the daughter of the high school math teacher here, and is one of my highest students - she loves to come visit after school and be my helper while her dad has planning time!
This is Dorisbel - she is new to Doulos this year, and came from the United States.
David is a new student to Doulos - he is very bright, and is learning so much English, although it is still a huge struggle for him! He told me at the beginning of the year, "Profe (what so many kids call me!), yo no hablo ingles -necesita hablar en Espanol!" (I don't speak English, you need to speak in Spanish!) - I tried to explain that he was here to learn English, and that's why I had to speak in that language! Not that he would understand me any better if I tried to speak my broken Spanish!
Jocabed - another student who is new to Doulos! She is very loving, but hard to engage in the classroom! I think she's starting to shut down because she cannot understand...I need to start some tutoring to help with that!
This is Melisa - she's the best English-speaker in my class. She's fluent in Creole (her family is Haitian), Spanish and English. She always raises her hand to answer every question - she'll make an answer up on the spot if she doesn't know!!
Denisse - she's another one of my new students. She's really been flourishing the last few weeks, and has made a lot of friends - she is really quick at memorizing, and I think she'll be one of my higher students in all subjects once she starts understanding English more!
Frenesi is a really sweet girl (sounds generic...but she really is!) - she was at Doulos last year, and know quite a lot of English, although she's usually pretty quiet!
Marky - he is one of my huggers! He was at Doulos last year, and he is extremely bright! His English keeps getting better and better as the year goes on.
Katherine - she is one of my artistic students - she always takes more time to color or draw pictures than other students, because she is spending so much time doing it perfectly! She is one of my better English-speakers.
Once again, it's been too long since I have posted! I've included individual shots of each of the kids, and a few more pictures of my classroom. Pictures of the school and the kids doing activities for Outdoor Education Week will be coming late next week. Thanks for reading!
A view of my classroom during Friday free-time.
The front...
And another view!
This is Pablo - he's one of my mischievous boys! He loves to answer and talk...and has a pretty amazingly loud voice! :)
This is Jenny - she is one of my chatty/struggles to focus girls! She loves to participate in math - and today, she said a whole sentence in English! She was here last year, but she is slower to speak/remember English than some of the other kids.
This is Elaine - she's one of my highest students in math, and speaks really good English as well!
This is Jaquidys - she is the daughter of the high school math teacher here, and is one of my highest students - she loves to come visit after school and be my helper while her dad has planning time!
This is Dorisbel - she is new to Doulos this year, and came from the United States.
David is a new student to Doulos - he is very bright, and is learning so much English, although it is still a huge struggle for him! He told me at the beginning of the year, "Profe (what so many kids call me!), yo no hablo ingles -necesita hablar en Espanol!" (I don't speak English, you need to speak in Spanish!) - I tried to explain that he was here to learn English, and that's why I had to speak in that language! Not that he would understand me any better if I tried to speak my broken Spanish!
Jocabed - another student who is new to Doulos! She is very loving, but hard to engage in the classroom! I think she's starting to shut down because she cannot understand...I need to start some tutoring to help with that!
This is Melisa - she's the best English-speaker in my class. She's fluent in Creole (her family is Haitian), Spanish and English. She always raises her hand to answer every question - she'll make an answer up on the spot if she doesn't know!!
Denisse - she's another one of my new students. She's really been flourishing the last few weeks, and has made a lot of friends - she is really quick at memorizing, and I think she'll be one of my higher students in all subjects once she starts understanding English more!
Frenesi is a really sweet girl (sounds generic...but she really is!) - she was at Doulos last year, and know quite a lot of English, although she's usually pretty quiet!
Marky - he is one of my huggers! He was at Doulos last year, and he is extremely bright! His English keeps getting better and better as the year goes on.
So, that's a synopsis of the children in my class - I did get a new student, Layshah (she moved up from kindergarten) who I have not been able to take a picture of yet. That will be coming with my next round of pics! Thanks for looking!
Blessings,
Erica
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A few pictures...
Dear Family and Friends,
Here are a few pics of the kids in my class! I haven't been able to get an entire class shot yet - when I tried, they somehow ended up in a pile on top of each other on the floor! (It's amazing how many things happen that I would not think to anticipate!) But, we got some good candid shots! I got individual photos of each child, and included a couple so you can start to put faces with names! Thanks for reading!
This is Weidy, the one I sent an email to pray about today. He is a wonderful kid, but comes from a rough family - which is often evident in his behavior.
This is Gelenita - she is one of my "can't stop moving" kids!! :) She went to Doulos last year, so she understands some English -but I think she's still rusty from the summer! So, it takes some creativity to communicate right now!
This is Roberly! He's adorable...but can be a handful in the classroom, as you know if you've been getting my emails! His new baby sister was born last week, so he's not an only child anymore! He seems to be adjusting well to that...and is doing SO much better in the classroom than he did the first week!
The kids doing puzzles and coloring during their Friday free-time!
David, Melisa and Jocabed - Melisa comes from a Haitian family, and she is fluent in Creole, Spanish and English. She's my biggest talker, and sometimes even translates for me! David and Jocabed are both new, and began the year knowing absolutely no English! But, they are picking more and more up as the weeks go by - it is a huge challenge not being able to communicate well with them.
Katherine, Frenesi, Jesus Miguel, and Denisse - Katherine and Frenesi are two of my students who are always on green (we have green-yellow-red behavior color system), and they speak English well. Denisse is a new student to Doulos - after a rough start (she went to the second grade classroom the first day by accident!), she's adjusting really well! And Jesus Miguel - any of you receiving emails have heard his name - he's one of my tougher students! He loves to move and do his own thing - he's the oldest of three boys, so he's used to calling the shots - he's still learning how he should behave in the classroom.
And, I will post some pictures of the different places I've gotten to visit on weekends later, as well as more pictures of my class and the school. We're having three days of Outdoor Education (September 30-October 2) where the kids will be studying different habitats and creating a worm home and a birdhouse - expect pictures of that!
Here are a few pics of the kids in my class! I haven't been able to get an entire class shot yet - when I tried, they somehow ended up in a pile on top of each other on the floor! (It's amazing how many things happen that I would not think to anticipate!) But, we got some good candid shots! I got individual photos of each child, and included a couple so you can start to put faces with names! Thanks for reading!
This is Weidy, the one I sent an email to pray about today. He is a wonderful kid, but comes from a rough family - which is often evident in his behavior.
This is Gelenita - she is one of my "can't stop moving" kids!! :) She went to Doulos last year, so she understands some English -but I think she's still rusty from the summer! So, it takes some creativity to communicate right now!
This is Roberly! He's adorable...but can be a handful in the classroom, as you know if you've been getting my emails! His new baby sister was born last week, so he's not an only child anymore! He seems to be adjusting well to that...and is doing SO much better in the classroom than he did the first week!
The kids doing puzzles and coloring during their Friday free-time!
Katherine, Frenesi, Jesus Miguel, and Denisse - Katherine and Frenesi are two of my students who are always on green (we have green-yellow-red behavior color system), and they speak English well. Denisse is a new student to Doulos - after a rough start (she went to the second grade classroom the first day by accident!), she's adjusting really well! And Jesus Miguel - any of you receiving emails have heard his name - he's one of my tougher students! He loves to move and do his own thing - he's the oldest of three boys, so he's used to calling the shots - he's still learning how he should behave in the classroom. And, I will post some pictures of the different places I've gotten to visit on weekends later, as well as more pictures of my class and the school. We're having three days of Outdoor Education (September 30-October 2) where the kids will be studying different habitats and creating a worm home and a birdhouse - expect pictures of that!
Thanks so much for reading, and for your prayers!
Blessings,
Erica
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
First weeks of school...
The past few weeks have been extremely busy - as evidenced by my complete neglect of this blog! I will try to write a post weekly from now on!
I have almost finished three weeks of school. It has been more difficult than I could have anticipated - God has revealed (and continues to reveal!) things about myself that are not pretty - pride, selfishness, lack of trust in Him. All things that were always there - but which I have to face head-on during this experience.
I have 16 students in my classroom - six boys and ten girls. Eleven of them were here last year and know limited English, but most of them (except for about 3) are still pretty rusty in their English skills after speaking only Spanish all summer. Five of them are new to the school this year - two of the new kids speak English and three do not know any English - I had a lot of blank looks the first few days, and the three new children still struggle to follow what is going on in the classroom.
The first week was extremely difficult - I struggled to communicate with the students, and I struggled to understand that some of the "bad behaviors" I was seeing were simply a result of the students living in a more laid-back culture than I am used to. It is normal for students to do exactly what they want during the summer. They have very little structure in many of their homes, and so the structure needed in a classroom is completely foreign to them. All first graders need lots of time to learn routines/procedures in a classroom, but these children need even more time because of the difference in their culture, and because of the language barrier between us. It has gotten better, and I am learning through trial and error what works in my classroom.
Another challenge has been simply my selfish and prideful desire for perfection. I struggle with being so wrapped up in what others think of me and how they perceive me that I put that above simply loving the children. So, anything in the day that did not go perfectly (and there will always be lots of things!) made me question myself and feel angry. The Lord has really been showing me the depth of my own selfishness and pride, and that I need to let that go and allow Him to work through me to love these children, whether they behave well or poorly.
But, it truly is a good group of kids - they are usually very kind and encouraging to each other - and they like each other a lot! That's part of the difficulty I have managing them - they enjoy talking to each other so much, that they don't want to stop! :) When I have a more relaxed attitude and focus on just loving them, the days always go better. So, it's just a matter of daily casting my cares on God and allowing Him to work through me to love the children.
My home-stay has continued to go well - Yudi, Shanell and Alfida (Yudi's mother) are all very welcoming and it is easy to be a part of the household. Learning Spanish is not progressing as quickly as I want it to - but it is progressing! I am still looking for a tutor to help me practice and learn. I need the motivation of a tutor to get me to practice amidst all the other responsibilities that I have here! But, I also need to remember that the language learning process takes a lot of time - it will be months, not weeks, before I can begin to really communicate!
Thank you all so much for reading - and thanks for your prayers! I hope to post pictures of my classroom and students this weekend!
Blessings,
Erica
I have almost finished three weeks of school. It has been more difficult than I could have anticipated - God has revealed (and continues to reveal!) things about myself that are not pretty - pride, selfishness, lack of trust in Him. All things that were always there - but which I have to face head-on during this experience.
I have 16 students in my classroom - six boys and ten girls. Eleven of them were here last year and know limited English, but most of them (except for about 3) are still pretty rusty in their English skills after speaking only Spanish all summer. Five of them are new to the school this year - two of the new kids speak English and three do not know any English - I had a lot of blank looks the first few days, and the three new children still struggle to follow what is going on in the classroom.
The first week was extremely difficult - I struggled to communicate with the students, and I struggled to understand that some of the "bad behaviors" I was seeing were simply a result of the students living in a more laid-back culture than I am used to. It is normal for students to do exactly what they want during the summer. They have very little structure in many of their homes, and so the structure needed in a classroom is completely foreign to them. All first graders need lots of time to learn routines/procedures in a classroom, but these children need even more time because of the difference in their culture, and because of the language barrier between us. It has gotten better, and I am learning through trial and error what works in my classroom.
Another challenge has been simply my selfish and prideful desire for perfection. I struggle with being so wrapped up in what others think of me and how they perceive me that I put that above simply loving the children. So, anything in the day that did not go perfectly (and there will always be lots of things!) made me question myself and feel angry. The Lord has really been showing me the depth of my own selfishness and pride, and that I need to let that go and allow Him to work through me to love these children, whether they behave well or poorly.
But, it truly is a good group of kids - they are usually very kind and encouraging to each other - and they like each other a lot! That's part of the difficulty I have managing them - they enjoy talking to each other so much, that they don't want to stop! :) When I have a more relaxed attitude and focus on just loving them, the days always go better. So, it's just a matter of daily casting my cares on God and allowing Him to work through me to love the children.
My home-stay has continued to go well - Yudi, Shanell and Alfida (Yudi's mother) are all very welcoming and it is easy to be a part of the household. Learning Spanish is not progressing as quickly as I want it to - but it is progressing! I am still looking for a tutor to help me practice and learn. I need the motivation of a tutor to get me to practice amidst all the other responsibilities that I have here! But, I also need to remember that the language learning process takes a lot of time - it will be months, not weeks, before I can begin to really communicate!
Thank you all so much for reading - and thanks for your prayers! I hope to post pictures of my classroom and students this weekend!
Blessings,
Erica
Monday, August 3, 2009
First day of Orientation
Dear family and friends,
Today was my second day in the Dominican Republic, and the first day of new orientation with the 8 other new teachers. I moved in with my host family, along with another teacher named Meredith who is also living there. A woman (Judy) and her daughter (Chanel) and mother live there. They do not speak English, so it is forcing me to practice my Spanish! I don't have any funny language mistake stories, but I'm sure those will be coming! I just don't know enough to understand the mistakes I'm making right now!
Orientation was just with new teachers, so I got a tour of the school and learned more about Dominican culture and history. The school is completely gorgeous, with lots of space. There is a botanical garden the fourth grade designed and built last year...and a huge plot of land with space for a vegetable garden (which I know I will be using with my first graders), and an enormous ampitheater that was recently built and where the entire school gathers every morning for assembly. I will post pictures soon!
Please continue to pray as I adjust to this new place and culture - it is very overwhelming right now and I'm trying to take everything in! Please pray that I would trust completely in God and focus on others rather than my own feelings of fear/inadequacy! Also, please pray that I would continue to focus on learning the language, even when it gets hard/frustrating! Finally, please pray for my class of students and that God would continue to prepare them to learn, and give me the wisdom I need to teach them - classes begin two weeks from today.
Thank you so much for your prayers - they are very much needed and appreciated!
In Him,
Erica
Today was my second day in the Dominican Republic, and the first day of new orientation with the 8 other new teachers. I moved in with my host family, along with another teacher named Meredith who is also living there. A woman (Judy) and her daughter (Chanel) and mother live there. They do not speak English, so it is forcing me to practice my Spanish! I don't have any funny language mistake stories, but I'm sure those will be coming! I just don't know enough to understand the mistakes I'm making right now!
Orientation was just with new teachers, so I got a tour of the school and learned more about Dominican culture and history. The school is completely gorgeous, with lots of space. There is a botanical garden the fourth grade designed and built last year...and a huge plot of land with space for a vegetable garden (which I know I will be using with my first graders), and an enormous ampitheater that was recently built and where the entire school gathers every morning for assembly. I will post pictures soon!
Please continue to pray as I adjust to this new place and culture - it is very overwhelming right now and I'm trying to take everything in! Please pray that I would trust completely in God and focus on others rather than my own feelings of fear/inadequacy! Also, please pray that I would continue to focus on learning the language, even when it gets hard/frustrating! Finally, please pray for my class of students and that God would continue to prepare them to learn, and give me the wisdom I need to teach them - classes begin two weeks from today.
Thank you so much for your prayers - they are very much needed and appreciated!
In Him,
Erica
Monday, July 6, 2009
The journey begins...
Hello Everyone!
As many of you know, I am beginning an amazing adventure this fall! I am traveling to the Jarabacoa, a small town in the Dominican Republic, to teach first grade at Doulos Discovery School (if you'd like to learn more, there's lots of info on their website - http://doulosdiscovery.org/content/). I'm leaving August 1st, so these last few weeks are a busy time of preparation - which involves both excitement and nervousness! Thank you so much for your support - I will be sure to update often once I arrive in the DR!
Erica
As many of you know, I am beginning an amazing adventure this fall! I am traveling to the Jarabacoa, a small town in the Dominican Republic, to teach first grade at Doulos Discovery School (if you'd like to learn more, there's lots of info on their website - http://doulosdiscovery.org/content/). I'm leaving August 1st, so these last few weeks are a busy time of preparation - which involves both excitement and nervousness! Thank you so much for your support - I will be sure to update often once I arrive in the DR!
Erica
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