Teaching

Just in case everyone thinks I do nothing else but eat I will share some of my teaching experiences. I have been in a variety of schools, both public and private, primary and secondary. I enjoy my days in Munduno, where I am usually in the Grade One class. I am able to help the teacher with their reading and writing-it's about my level!! There are twenty five children in the class, they have little desks and sit in a group. there certainly isn't a lot of room as the classrooms are quite small. Most of the time there is whole class teaching, with the children showing different levels of achievement within this. The faster finishing sometimes have another activity to complete while the teacher helps those who are slower. The children are very friendly and try to chat.

I have given a number of talks about New Zealand, in Spanish so that is quite a challenge!! The children enjoy hearing about NZ, although most of them find it a challenge to eat Marmite!! They can't understand the Kiwi tastes. Yesterday I talked to a school (public) where many of the children are from the country and board at this school during the week. They had to take notes on my talk and many asked good questions afterwards.

Today I was at the secondary part of the private school and spent a couple of periods in a Spanish Grammar class and a couple of periods in a Biology class. The teachers work hard here as they have few resources and have to photocopy a lot. There is a lot of emphasis on memorising and passing exams but the levels of achievement seem to be very good. This is a bi lingual school so many of the children are here for the whole day, lessons in Spanish in the morning, then in English in the afternoon. Yesterday, I was in the English literature class where the equivalent of Year 11 were reading and discussing Lambs to the Slaughter. Most speak English quite well, although their accents are quite stilted and they needs lots more practice at speaking it. However, I wish my Spanish was as good as their English!!

I know I have learnt a lot of Spanish since being here but it would take a lot more time to become fluent. Trying to remember all the verbs and the different tenses is really a challenge. It is a complex language but I have gained confidence in speaking about certain things. When getting the taxi home the other night I was able to have a reasonable conversation with the taxi driver, telling him about New Zealand and why I was here. Little steps!! The problem is that I want to take big steps and then get a bit frustrated. When one is the learner it is quite a different experience to being the teacher. No doubt, it is a good experience to be on the other side of the fence!!