teaching at san jorge school

hi guys,
sorry i haven´t updated for a while i dont have internet yet. last week i finished my orientation at centro colombo americano and i started at san jorge school. i observed classes for one day and then i leaped into teaching. my job in manizales is to be an english teacher to grades kindergarden to fourth grade. i have three kindergarden classes i see once a week, three first grade classes i see once a week, three second grade classes i see once a week, and three third grade classes i see twice a week, and three fourth grade classes i see twice a week. i also teach teachers english one hour a week on thursday. in total its no too bad i only have to do three different lesson plans one for kindergarden, one for first and second grade, and one for third and fourth grade. i work 21 hours in the school, and then on friday i come to the american colombian center to do lesson planning with the other volunteer in manizales, angela. All the teachers and children are really sweet, or as they say in spanish,queridos. the teachers all invited me for lunch at thier houses one of these weekends, and everyday i spend my break with a really nice teacher Emily, who has the quietest and best behaved kids in the whole school. The kids are also really cute and want to learn English. I enter the class and everyone claps and says yes. when i walk through the hallways all the kids come up to me and hug and kiss me and say the only thing they know how to say in english which is i love you. these kids have whatsoever no english, so most of the time i play games, do songs, and drawing activities. the children really look up to me, which is cute, they give me candy and when i go out of the classroom always offer to help me carry my things to the next class. also its nice to know that i´m making an impact, that i´m not teaching priviledge kids, but kids that are not as well of, and for whom i´m definatly making a difference in their lives. the first week i went over introductions such as saying names and how are you, the body parts, and abc. i do a lot of songs such as head and shoulders, abc, incy wincy spider, little teapot, etc. All the children love songs. as soon as i turn on the music the whole class goes silent. they also love singing and moving around. i do a lot of tpr, total physical response activities. i have gotten the impression so far the colombians are in general good-hearted people that they will do whatever they can to help, from my friend, to co-teachers, to my students everyone has been very helpful. I know that many people in the US fear colombia´s drug problems and violence, but being here, i can say that, that part of Colombia is in the past. In Manizales at least, they are very focused on education, on making the students be good citizens, and see English as a solution for the future, to help Colombia be competitive in the world.
Yesterday there was a meeting to talk about a peaceful classroom. one of the most difficult part of teaching here is the big class size, most classes are 45-50 students. Although the students are really sweet, anytime you get fifty students together there is bound to be some roudiness. Much of the time i only get done 2 out of the 3 activities i had planned, becuase it´s really hard to get everyone to be quiet. Also with so many students it´s hard to give each student the personal attention they need to learn a lanugauge. By no means am i expecting to teach children here perfect english with only one hour of english a week, but i hope to makie a positive inmapct on thier lives and show them that learning a language is fun. I like teaching becuase it´s a challange, i am learning techniques to controlling big classroom, and i am teaching elemntary as oppposed to middle school. On saturdays here i am hoping to visit the many national parks in manizales and on sunday there is ciclovia.
ciclovia is when they close the main street of manizales, avenida santender to bycicles the entire day. last sunday i ran all of ciclovia which is about 2 miles each way. It´s like an organized marathorn every sunday. there is music a long the way, carts along the road for people to buy fresh juice and fruits, people eating ice cream, and big groups of teen girls dancing salsa, and following the dance instructor on stage. There are also red cross tents which show kids safety rules, have aid for the runners and bikes and blast music throughout the streets. this culture is all about music, salsa, merengue, regaton, bachata, pase doble ( traditional colombian music), and much more. wherever i am, i am sure to hear music, whether its on the streets, bus, ciclovia, salsa is part of what makes colombian culture a vibrant one. there is also tons of great food for example: ajiaco ( soup), empanadas with meat, cheese, or potato, fresh fruit juices, granadilla and pataya both fruits, arepa ( corn tortilla) plaintains fried or toasted, and of course lots of rice and beans.
This is it for now, i hope to update soon, and with pictures,
Besos,
Neta