my classes

It occurred to me that I have not written about my students here in Los Reyes yet. I really like my schedule here; I teach two classes from 8am-10am every morning and then have a break until 4pm. I teach from 4-8pm every night. During my break I usually go to La Unidad to run, sometimes I go to the market as well to pick up some fresh fruits or veggies. Sometimes I pretend I’m Mexican and I take a siesta in the afternoon so I have the energy for my students in the afternoon. Life here is very relaxed and slow paced!
My first class is beginner English with only one semester of English behind them and I have four students from the ages of 14-20. It is a quieter group with two girls and two guys but they participate in the activities and I can’t really hold being quiet at 8am against them. My next class is a little more advanced but I only have two students, a 16 year old girl and a 19 year old guy. The guy, Federico, rarely comes so oftentimes it is just Claudia and I.
When I go back at four, I have a class with three 8 year old girls in it. Up until last week it was just two girls, Ashanty and Aril. They get along very well, both very outgoing and smart. Jocelyn came into the class last week but she is very quiet. It is kind of a struggle to get her to participate and the other two intimidate her. It threw in an odd dynamic to have a shy quiet girl thrown in with two girls with the same personality who had been in the same class for 2 weeks already.
The next class is my young kids. I have seven 4-6 year olds. Five boys and two girls and that class takes a lot of energy! It is one thing to babysit and chase around a bunch of kids but quite another to try to make them sit and learn or even all participate in the same activity. (God Bless you Aunt Sherry!) It has been going very well so far, my Spanish commands are becoming much better! I have only had to remove one of them from the class and make her sit outside as a timeout. It is a fun class, sometimes I’ll say something in Spanish and one of the kids will give me an odd look and then correct my Spanish and tell me how to say it correctly. Who is teaching who? One of the students in the class is a handful; just a total boy and at 5 years old think he knows everything already and loves to get up out of his chair. Thus far he has found the word “Puto” which translates into something similar to bitch written underneath the table, (he of course had to tell the whole class what the table said), has taken gum stuck under the table and put it in his mouth and has also attempted to glue my window shut. He now sits right next to me. I’ve discovered they listen much better to English commands. I can repeat “Siéntete” over and over and over and nobody listens but I say “sit down please!” and they sit and look at me like, “what else is she going to say?” If anything else at least they will know how to say quiet, sit down and listen in English at the end of the semester!
My class at 6pm has five teenagers in it. They are all 13 or 14 years old and are fairly advanced in English. It is a very fun class to teach, all of the students get along really well and all enjoy talking. We laugh a lot in that class. There is only one boy in the class and he at the moment is dating one of the girls so we will see what happens if they break up. They started dating right after Valentine’s Day but I think it is the type of relationship where they say they are dating but don’t really do anything together.
Finally, the last class of the day has a variety of students. I have a 12 and a 13 year old girl, a 19 year old guy and a 24 year old girl. They have only had about a semester of English behind them, although the two young girls still get English class in school so they do a little better. Surprisingly they all get along really well and have a lot of fun.
I have actually seen many of my students out on weekends here in Los Reyes too, Mexican laws are more like suggestions and nobody really notices whether they are followed all the time or not so oftentimes 13-14 year olds are able to get into the clubs. It is very strange to be a few drinks in dancing to Katy Perry’s “I kissed a girl” and see your 13 year old student across the dance floor! Awkward situation to be sure. They always make sure to come over and say hello too! Other than that it has been a good semester so far and I’m enjoying teaching!