Spring is springing!

It finally feels like spring. Months upon months of winter start to become very dreary after a while, so this spring is a wonderful change. I feel like I have been waiting forever! I think the combination of sun, chirping birds and flowers blooming is making my classes more fun and exciting too. 

First up, a recap of my beginners class, as promised. Of the 42 on the list, 32 showed up the first day. There still weren't enough chairs for everyone, so some students had to sit on the floor in the beginning. After introducing myself and explaining the directions, I sent half of the students to the room next door. I spent the rest of the class running back and forth between the two. It was a little bit chaotic and my lesson was slightly too challenging for them, but we all survived. I decided to break the class into two groups for the next week though. It's a slightly longer time commitment for me, but easier to handle and more beneficial for the students since I can't actually be in two places at once. 

This morning was the second time I met with them and about a third of the students disappeared. I think this may have been related to the chaotic nature of the first lesson and the fact that the material was too hard. oh well! It actually worked out really well because I had one class of 11 students and one class of 10 students, the perfect number for a language class. I also had a much better idea of their level this time, so the lesson was much more effective.  

I really liked both groups. There is a large range of ages and backgrounds, from students who just finished high school to some retired ladies who are filling their days by learning new things. Of the 21 students, only 4 are men. typical. I am very hopeful about this class. I think it's going to be a great experience for me, and hopefully for the students too! In some ways I think it's a bit more challenging to teach beginners, but I also find it highly entertaining. I also like how it's so much easier to see their progress. 

In other news, I finally had my observations for my SIT internship this week. Wagner Veillard from Brazil came down for three days to observe my classes, offer feedback and talk shop. It was great to have him here, a little touch of Brattleboro in Argentina! We got along well and had a lot of great discussions. He definitely gave me a lot to think about, some of which I am still processing, so I think I will have to save that for another post. For now I will go enjoy the new spring sunshine!

New Beginnings

I could say it's been a really busy summer and that's why I haven't posted for three months, but it's actually been winter all this time. I had some lovely wintertime visitors from various far away continents, but now I am back in MdP and getting into the swing of teaching again. Now that it's a new semester, I have a new group of students and I am freshly 26, I think it's time I start blogging again. I mostly need to do it for my own personal reflection, but you're welcome to enjoy my thoughts too, Mom!

Towards the end of last semester I found myself kind of getting in a slump. I had developed a sort of recipe for my conversation classes and wasn't really trying anything new and exciting. We had a really great Fulbright Regional Enhancement seminar in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was a great time to compare notes with the other Fulbrighters and realize that many of them were in very similar situations and experiencing the same frustrations. I left the seminar with a new sense of energy and inspiration for my classes.

Unfortunately, when I got back to the UNMDP, the humanities building was under a "tomada," meaning it was being occupied by about 10 students who were unhappy with their economics grades from three years ago. Therefore, that meant all classes in the humanities building were basically cancelled for the rest of the semester. Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either. As far as I know, economics definitely isn't a humanity! After the tomada, I was on a month-long vacation, which was great, but I kind of forgot about all my great new ideas for teaching. oops.

Now the semester has begun, and I am starting to feel excited about what's ahead. This semester I will be leading two short-story discussion groups as an extra opportunity for students in a literature class I am assisting in. I had my first two groups yesterday and a lot of students actually showed up, so that was great! It's kind of fun to teach something other than just straight-up ESL too. The teacher is offering students extra credit if they attend six sessions throughout the semester, so I think that will do wonders for attendance.

I am also working with some higher level students this semester who seem a lot more eager about my classes. I think because they have been studying at the university for a while, they can see the value in classes with a native speaker a lot more than the first-year students I worked with last semester. I will be doing a conversation-based class with them, and also working a bit on public speaking (hilarious, I know). My class on Monday had 16 students and I have gotten a lot of emails from the students so far in response and even thanking me. So polite! They seem very enthusiastic about it, which also makes me more inspired.

Speaking of emails, I have made it a habit to give out my email address to most classes I go to. I substitute teach for a lot of classes at the lab, so I am always meeting new groups of students. Because of this, I have been getting a wide array of interesting emails and requests. For example, "Teacher, do you prepare me for TOEFL test? I want take in 2 month." There are also some with random questions about the US, a lot about studying/working in the US, and some with subject headings like, "Help," asking me to edit things. They are certainly keeping me on my toes.

And speaking of being on my toes, on Friday is my first lesson for beginners. These are level one students at the lab; some are false beginners, and some legitimately have no experience with English. I will be working with scenarios and role plays mostly, to help them prepare for their oral tests. It will be offered as a free class for any level one student at the lab, of which there are well over 100. Right now there are 46 students signed up for it and I have a classroom that fits 30. I am hoping in true Argentine fashion, half of them don't show up, or I don't really know how that's going to work! One suggestion was that I could use two rooms and just float between them after I give directions to everyone. So we shall see what happens. I promise not to wait three months before posting about the outcome.

Trilingual Day

Today I had a very exciting language adventure! I was sitting in the staffroom working on a lesson plan when one of my students came in and told me that there was a "Danish woman" in the hallway who wanted to meet me. She said that the woman's parents were Danish, but she was born here in Argentina. I guess she had seen my name on my conversation workshop poster and asked someone about me, thinking perhaps I was a Dane. I got all excited and ran right out.

At first I spoke to her in Spanish because that seemed the most natural and she was with a couple other Argentinian people. But then we started talking about Denmark, and she said København in a very Danish accent and I was like, "Ooooh, kan du tale dansk?" Turns out yes, she can tale dansk- and much better than I can. After we burned through the extent of my Danish skills it morphed into this kind of crazy Spanish, Danish, English mix of a conversation. She appears to be really good at all of them. jealous! Her English skills were like that of most Danes. I had quite the overload of languages for a few minutes there because then some of my students and various teachers walked by and spoke to me in a mix of Spanish and English. I accidentally responded to an hola with a very Danish-y "hej!"
 
The lady told me that there was actually a "Danish population" here in Argentina and they have different events and stuff going on, so I might just need to investigate that more closely. I got her email and phone number so hopefully we can get together to practice my dansk or something. Maybe I will surprise Rolf by being totally fluent when he comes. oops- surprise ruined!

In other news, my favorite student quote of the day: We were talking about swimming in the ocean and she said she doesn't like it because she can't see without her glasses and is worried she would lose her contact lenses. Another student suggested she wear goggles. She looked horrified and said, "No! That's ridiculous!" I was very impressed with her use of the word ridiculous. 

Teen Day

This morning I had a serious flashback to my days at I.E.S. Nuestra Senora de la Cabeza. I gave presentations to two groups of students about "Life in the USA." I think it went pretty well. I was expecting there to be about 20 or 30 students, but it turned out to be way more. The first group had about 50 and the second group was closer to 75! There weren't even enough chairs and some students had to sit on the floor. Surprisingly, I didn't feel nervous at all. I think I am a lot more comfortable and confident in front of the classroom than I was two years ago. 

I started off with a powerpoint slideshow with pictures of the US and told them about culture and traditions and what not. Their favorite slide seemed to be the one featuring Halloween costumes; I didn't even tell them I had hand-made my own m&m costume! 

I was surprised that they actually had facilities to project a powerpoint presentation at the school. From what I have observed so far, that is definitely not the norm here. The classrooms at the university (in the humanities building at least) don't have computers or any other technology, just chalkboards. They do have portable CD players you can use if you want to do a listening activity, but so far I have only seen professors using tapes. I don't really mind in general, because I think it's still easy to plan fun, interactive lessons without technology, but it might be nice to show a youtube clip or something occasionally. Perhaps I could just bring my own laptop some day since my classes tend to be rather small.

So, back to my adventure at an Argentinian high school! After my presentation, I opened it up to questions from the students. They had come up with some questions for me beforehand. I think their teachers may have helped them, because I basically got asked the exact same questions both hours. Some were rather entertaining. Here's a sampling for your enjoyment:

1. Why are you here?

2. What do you think of Obama?

3. Do you have a boyfriend?

3. Can you dance cumbia?

4. What do you think about Osama bin Laden's death?

5. Is it easy to become at actor in the US?

6. What do you think about Obama's Nobel Peace Prize?

7. Were you a cheerleader?

There were some other good ones as well, that I can't remember right now. I think I did a pretty good job answering the questions objectively and clearly on behalf of all Americans. haha. The students were attentive for the most part and lots of them were rather smiley. I think they were pretty excited to have me there. When they left there were lots of very friendly goodbyes and even one "I love you." In the hallways between classes different students saw me and said hi and got all giggly and excited when I responded to them. I think now I know how Justin Beiber feels everyday. 

Recap

Well, I think I just need to start blogging if this is ever going to happen! It seems a little overwhelming because I feel like now that I've waited so long I need to recap the last eight weeks of my Argentinian adventure. Not only would that be too much for me to handle, but I also don't want to overwhelm all my "fans" with a ridiculously long post. I guess I will just do a quick recap! 

I am in Mar del Plata, Argentina teaching English through the Fulbright program. I work at a public university, as well as at a language lab affiliated with it. I really like teaching. phew! The degree will not be worthless! My duties here consist of leading weekly conversation workshops for university students, co-teaching an English class for adults in the community, assisting in listening and reading classes at the university, and assisting in a Spanish for foreigners class. I have to say, I don't really miss teaching adolescents! I like teaching adults better because not only are they more eager and willing to learn, but I also don't have to worry about discipline and I can plan lessons on more exciting and interesting topics.  

This week I will be reverting back to my old ways a bit though; I am going to a local high school to tell some students about the US. I have heard some horror stories about the high schools here, so hopefully it goes okay. I'm sure it will be fine because I will be a novelty for them. And if I could handle Spanish teens, I'm sure Argentinian teens aren't that different. 

My conversation workshops have been pretty fun. Attendance varies from about 4 to 12 students. They aren't required to come, so it's hard to motivate them. I have a few very loyal students who show up every time. The classes are pretty relaxed and give students more time to practice speaking. I have been trying to tell them how important it is to come, but I don't really know what else to do to motivate more of them to show up. If I were them, I would come! I mean, they have an oral section on their final exams and most of their classes have about 40 students in them, so they don't get very much time to practice speaking. They also don't have a class specifically focused on speaking, so it's a good opportunity. So, students if you are reading this: come! So far the topics I have done with them have been getting to know you activities and expressing opinions, dealing with roommates, traveling, and relationships. We do a lot of role-playing and pair and small group discussions. I try to choose topics that will get students excited and give them something to talk about. They seem to enjoy it; so far there has only been one case of tears! :) 

The other sort of interesting situation related to my job is assisting the in the Spanish class. When I first got here, I asked around about if there was a class I could take, but they said my level was too high so I could assist in it instead (I'm still not so sure how accurate that is...). So now I help out in the class. There are about 10 students at very mixed levels. Most students are somewhere around an intermediate level, but there is one Russian man who is a complete beginner. So, now I spend all my time working with him. It's been an adventure because his Spanish is really basic, and he only knows a couple words in English. Seeing as how I don't know any Russian, it makes for some fun times! I like working with him though because I know he won't be able to ask me anything I don't know in Spanish, so I don't feel nervous. 

Well, that's a bit about my job. Kind of boring to start off with I guess, but you'll just have to wait for next time where I'll get more into life in Argentina: the joys of empanadas, reggaeton, and of communicating with my landlady Betty. 

Chau! (the Argentian version of ciao)

Hello world!

Here is the release of my long awaited blog. You can all breathe a sigh of relief! More to come later. xoxo