back to school

Back to school, back to school. Harkening back to my high school days, I woke up at a miserable 6:45am. My school teacher family also has to get up at such an ungodly hour (dios mios!) so we had breakfast and caught up on the morning’s news, thanks to CNNnnnCHIlay. Remembering to avoid a mouthful of powdered milk, I didn’t lick my spoon clean of Nescafe this morning.

I drove the two blocks to school (seriously) with Sylvia who introduced me to the teachers at Simon Escobar (?). Lots of Spanish jokes went right over my head as I continued with my “smile and si” routine. My first class with my teacher, Faviola, was 8A, which has a rowdy reputation. I had to present myself to the class first. I had a PowerPoint prepared to show where I was from, who my family was, etc. The class was dead silent during my presentation, staring at me warily. Obviously my Miley Cyrus jokes did not go over well. The class, in turn, introduced themselves. Every single one of them, apparently, is thirteen and likes reggeton. For the remainder of the class, they got progressively more rambunctious – three had to be sent to the principal who subsequently came into the room. Her furious Spanish overwhelmed me but I think she was saying that if they didn’t behave, their mothers would be called, and they wouldn’t get to work with me, which I’m sure would be devastating to these kids. Joking (or “yoking!”). They left happily, however, and all screamed “BYE!” to me. Hopefully Miss Margarita will be a hit with 8A.

Each class is a didactic hour, so two periods equates an hour and a half. After a break of coffee, cake, and sandwiches, we headed back upstairs to 3A. The third graders were extremely excited to hear about California and Mickey Mouse, when they weren’t busy playing with their toy cars. They sang several songs for me and then worked on coloring.

The third class of the day was 1A. 1A travels with an extra teacher because they are MUY LOCO. The forty first graders cannot sit still for more than two seconds, but they are adorable. They also have perfect pitch and love to sing. It was a tiring day, but I’m excited to go back tomorrow!