That Was the Longest Week EVER

I started working at Centro Multicultural back around the beginning of July of last year -- don't remember perzakly when. They told me when they hired me that they had just started using a new textbook and that the teacher's books (with answers, tests, and "for further exploration" exercises) would be in "next week". Every couple of weeks, the "next week" would be reiterated.

Now, in fairness to the people for whom I work, this is Costa Rica and things happen ... when they happen. Especially when international shipping is concerned. I saw first hand last week, on the way to and from Nicaragua, how the trucks are backed up at (and approaching) the border. We saw trailer rigs with hammocks strung underneath -- the driver asleep in the shade -- showing that the drivers know they aren't going anywhere soon.

Also, there was that coup in Honduras a while back, which blocked up trucking for a while.

A couple of weeks ago, I was told that the books were in country, at the "customs house", and that we should have them -- you guessed it, "next week".

Well, I got to the institute this evening for my Thursday class, and Daniel, the owner's husband, looked at me with a gleam in his eye and said, "I have something for you."

After six months of teaching the books, I now have the teacher's book. And I must say, I'm not disappointed. They're really good books, and my students are doing well (and that was afore I had the T's book).

Yay!!

Teaching Update

Just got back from my (two) Saturday classes, both of which are Level III -- or Intermediate -- English as Second Language. This was the fourth meeting of these two, and what started out as a 20 student early class and 4 student late class has more or less evened out (both by attrition and by getting some of the early students to move to the later class). Up until today, I managed to keep both classes in basically the same place in the book, but today the second class was a lot more talkative (which is exactly what I want... they're in class to learn to speak English after all), and so we didn't cover as much book material as the early class. Hopefully next week the early class will be talkative so I can keep them in the same place.

Also, we finished week two in a Level II class, which is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm-9pm. This class has ten students and has also been a lot of fun. One of the best things about the Level II class is that I've gotten to see the Level II book, and I can better see how the overall program is supposed to work. And I approve. :)

And a week from Monday, I'm to start another Level III class, Mondays and Wednesdays from 7pm-9pm. A third Level III class means a third place in the book to keep sorted in my head. But oh well, that's teaching.

Drop/Add

New year, new term, and all that.

I started a new class this week, a Level II (low-intermediate) class with upwards of a dozen students. These are adult classes and people have lives, so I say "upwards" because I don´t expect to have all 12 of them show up at once... but we´ll see.

Also, I´m not going to be with the beginner´s class I was working with. They are true beginners, and my Spanish is (still) pretty limited, and I was getting a lot of blank looks. So the boss and I talked about it and we decided that it would be in the best interest of the students if the bilingual teacher they have on Mondays and Wednesdays took the Friday class back -- and that maybe I would rejoin them nearer the end of their term, when they have a bit more grounding in English.

And I found out that I´ll probably be getting another Level III (intermediate) class starting sometime in the next two weeks, so that's 4 hours a week to replace the 2 I'm losing.

In other news, the friend of mine in Virginia who loaded his backpacks and started heading this way on his motorcycle has taken a detour. He worked Search & Rescue with his dogs in New Mexico for several years, so he´s flown back (he got to Texas) to pick up his top dog and the two of them have headed to Haiti to assist there as they can. I´m sure he´ll make a positive difference.

Still no word on the DSL, so it´s still Stone Age Browsing at home....

¡Later, phriends!

Ah. Well. There It Is, Then.

I´m back, and still can´t remember what it was that I was going to say last night. I guess the tiredness didn´t really have any bearing on things. I´m just forgetful.

So, what´s new.... told you about the phone, and as Jen relayed yesterday, it could be a month or so until we have at-home internet. I´m hoping that my co-worker´s estimate of a week or so (once the paperwork clears) is closer to the truth. Only time will tell.

Had my two Saturday classes yesterday, and they went well. There was some cunfusion about how many and which classes the students had paid for, but they worked that out with the boss-lady.

And one thing that I had asked about at our staff meeting before Christmas was (I think) addressed. The early class has 20 students, and the later only 4. Boss-lady talked to the earlies about some of them moving to the later so that the class sizes will be more balanced. Also, so when the normal attendence rate of about 60% is reached, I won´t be having a class with only 2 students.

I got a message on Facebook just a few minutes ago that one of my friends (in Virginia for the moment) has decided to fill his backpack and saddlebags and mount up on his motorcycle and head down the Pan American highway (which runs about 5 miles west of here) and work his way here. I´m looking forward to that. I haven´t seen him in a long time.

I guess that is all for now.... See y'all later!!

O Little Town of Belén

As I've mentioned, I'm teaching some Saturday classes now, over in the town of Belén (that's Bethlehem to those who don't comprende español), and I took a couple pictures out the window last Saturday:



Also, tonight the institute had a "training session" for several new teachers, and I was surprised to be asked a lot of questions about procedures and how "we" should do things. I didn't realize it, but I have the most seniority (yeah, six months).

And we also had Tamales: The Costa Rican Version. They were different from the Mexican tamales I grew up eating, but were pretty dang good.

Today in the Annals of Teaching

I picked up a new class tonight. A Level 1 (beginners -- like really beginners) class. After a nice, hearty blank stare all around, I started searching for a way through the language wall, and, luckily (and somewhat surprisingly), there is a book for the class.

So we started at the beginning: The letters of the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, months, and all that. And by the end of class, I think I had learned as much Spanish as they learned Inglés.

To be continued, I'm sure....

New Classes!

This morning I started two new classes in Belen (aka three towns over). These are groups that are new -- both to each other, and to our institute -- and there was some question as to what level (or levels) for which the students were prepared. And it was left up to me to make the determination. Which was fun in a way, because I'm really just flying by the seat of my pants to begin with in teaching these classes.

Lucky for these students, I've now had -- or at least, I've begun (they've not all 'taken', which, I'm learning, is par for the course in Costa Rican language schools) -- five classes, so I do know approximately what the different Levels are expected to know.

The first class had twenty-one students in it, ranging in age from 30 down to 11 (yes, 11 year-olds), and the second one four students (three adult women and one teenage boy). I'm pretty sure (but have to converse further with the Director of the institute to be certain [hey, we were both tired at the end of the day]) that the two classes will be combined, because 4 students isn't really financially viable for the business.

Oh, and I decided that the class(es) are to be Level III. So best of luck to the students (and me)!!

30 Years And 2 Months Later....

In the fall of 1979 I started my first year of high school Spanish. The first things we learned were the "stock" tourist questions. You know, how to ask for directions, more beer, &etc.

Today, subbing a couple of classes at a location (an elementary school) I've never been to before, I finally made use of that first-learned phrase, "¿Donde esta el baño?"

Sr. Farias would be so proud.

Finish Line

So today was the final exam for my first class. It's hard to believe that I started working at the Institute four months ago, but my first day was 15 June. I began with eight students, lost three (all three were from other countries and needed to "go home for a week" and never came back -- hope you're okay Omieda, Mauricio and Luis) and ended up with six. I really enjoyed it -- even though we didn't have a book for the class. Oh, the books finally showed up, but it was only a month or so before the end of the class, and too late to start using it.

I haven't gone over the exams yet, but did take a quick look at a couple of the "essays" (min. 120 words) and they looked good.

I took my camera this morning, with the intention of taking a picture of the group, but ... I didn't. Oh, well.

So, thanks for a good four months Adriana, Diego, Esteban, Faustino, Kevin and Kevin (isn't it odd that in a class of six Latinos, the only name that was repeated was "Kevin"?), and best of luck as you continue in your English studies.

It's All I Got Tonight....

During my Level II English class tonight, the "I would like to buy a hamburger" scene from the Steve Martin remake of the classic Pink Panther was brought up.

Also, we talked about an online translation site that speaks the translations for you (which, let me tell you, it's very helpful to hear the words when one is trying to learn a new language).

So, of course, I ended up here.

The Things We Learn

So, I'm preparing for a private lesson I have tomorrow afternoon with a new student. He lived in the United States for several years as a child, including the grades K-4 in school. But in the 12 years he's been back in Costa Rica, he hasn't used his English and it has gotten very rusty. So we're going to catch him back up on the basics and I'll also help him with pronunciation and such.

Now, I've spoken English for 45 years or so (I don't remember exactly when I started talking) and, if I may say so, I speak it pretty well. But if you ask me why to use a certain form of a verb, and what that form is called -- for example, the Present Continuous -- you are likely to see a blank stare. I know it, but I don't know what it's called, basically. Therefore, I'm having to learn all the boring bits that were the parts that I really detested in school (which was the main reason I turned down the full scholarship in English at a prestigious Midwestern university that I was offered coming out of high school).

Anyway, as I was preparing for tomorrow's session, I came across this:

Betty Botter's Better Batter

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.

If I bake this bitter butter,
It would make my batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter –
Better than her bitter butter –

And she baked it in her batter;
And the batter was not bitter.

So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

Try saying that one five times fast. :)

Old -v- New

I've been using one of Jen's old Spanish/English dictionaries for my classes (both learning and teaching):







But, as you can see, it's... well-broken-in.

Jen's dad is visiting, and brought me this:






Thanks, Dick!

The Bottle Was Dusty But The Liquor Was Clean

Today in my Level III Class (#1 -- I now have two of them) I got to talk about The Grateful Dead and Deadheads.

How cool is that?

Also Too (También)

Remember my post on Monday? About the new class that was supposed to start a couple weeks ago, or maybe this past Monday, or possibly a week from next September????

It started tonight.

This is an upper-intermediate English (second language) class, and these folks are ready to rock and roll! None of your basic parts of speech crap for these people, oh no. Unfortunately, a lot of what I had for this first class was just that, because I didn't really know what level of expertise would be exhibited by this new group.

Best of all, they could understand me well -- which, I've found, isn't often the case for a person (or persons) listening to a non-native language.

This should be fun....

:)

And Another Thing...

Okay, it's not really another thing, but a thing.

At least I don't remember talking about this before.

Anyway, I have a new class that was supposed to start tonight. Another Level III (that's intermediate) Conversational English class. I had a private session with a student this morning (that is new, too), and whilst at the school, asked about the class tonight -- to clarify, because in one place I had written 5 August as the start date, but in an email, the date of 3 August was said.

"Oh, I think that's starting next Monday. Or maybe Wednesday. I'll find out and let you know after your session."

"Okay," I replied, and went off to work with my new student -- who, by the way, speaks very good English (and wants to be even better) and had not, before today, taken any classes. TV and movies. And books. Pretty impressive, IMHO.

So, session ends, I go back to the front desk to verify... "Sorry, he's gone."

"Ummm." Oh, did I mention that the person to whom I had asked the question is the only upper staff person who actually speaks more than a very broken English?

Later in the day, Jen called the school for me and the person who answered the phone (who is one of the front desk workers) looked it up and said, "That class starts next Wednesday."

Good enough.

Oh, by the way, I just logged into my email and had a message (timestamp 7:45 local) from the person to whom I spoke this morning, saying that the class does indeed start next week. On Monday.

And, his answer to my question came through 45 minutes after the class was to have started (if, indeed, it had started today).

When Hot Is Actually Cool

I had to get up early this morning (alarm set for 6, but we woke up a little before that) and go the the Centro Multicultural (where I'm teaching English, yes?) to meet the boss and go on a field trip to Siquirres, which is over near the Caribbean coast, and give a talk to high school students about holidays in the United States. I was told -- more than once -- that where we were going was going to be hot, which makes sense because we're near the equator here (10°N) and Siquirres is near the coast and the land is barely above sea level, as opposed to the 4000+ft elevation we enjoy here in San Rafael de Heredia.

As luck would have it, though, it was a cloudy, drizzly day on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, so it wasn't really very hot after all -- so I didn't melt into the predicted puddle. :)

On the way back I took some pictures, and here are a couple of them. I'll post more tomorrow and tell you more about the trip.

In the flat lands... notice the lack of topography.

Climbing back up into the mountains... notice the abundance of topography -- or, you would notice if we hadn't been in the clouds by this point.