Today
was our first day in the schools. I was placed at La Isla Bonita Primary
School. La Isla Bonita is Spanish for "the beautiful island." It is a
relatively small school with students aging from five to thirteen, so it would
be like a K-8 school in the U.S. I was excited to be placed at Isla Bonita
because it is one of the few schools that actually had some sort of Physical
Education. And apparently, they just had another group of American teachers
from Iowa come last month and one of them taught PE to all of the classes.
I am hoping to slip right in and continue whatever kind of schedule that
teacher set up.
This
week is supposed to be primarily an observation week. We are supposed to be
meeting our partner teachers, our students, and figuring out the daily routine
in our schools. Well, there is no PE teacher at Isla Bonita, or at any of the
schools here for that matter, so there was no one for me to observe. From what
I can gather, at Isla Bonita the regular classroom teacher teaches physical
education and all they really do is some sort of calisthenics. So instead, I
was put in a Standard III class. Standard III would be 4th grade in
America. Regardless, I was excited to meet the kids and see what a school day
is like for a child here in San Pedro.
The morning was very interesting to say the least. We
arrived at the school around 8, and the first bell rang at 8:15. When the bell
sounded, all of the students went out into the playground area and got in lines
with their classes for the morning assembly. The assembly started with the
Lord’s Prayer, then the Assistant Principal made some announcements, followed
by the students singing what I am assuming was the National Anthem of Belize.
Next, the Assistant Principal introduced us and then everyone went into the
classrooms to start the day. I went with the Standard III teacher, Ms. Blanca,
to her room on the second floor. Much to my relief, the classroom was
air-conditioned, but because they don’t leave it on overnight, the tiny room
was smoldering hot for the first couple hours. There were ten students in the
class and the first hour was a Language Arts lesson on adverbs. It was so
different than school in the states. Kids were up and moving out of their
seats, talking out, and it did not seem to bother Ms. Blanca one bit. If the
students were talking loud, she would simply raise her volume and yell over
them. I don’t see how she does it; I would go insane. But I will say this,
while those kids were talking, they were also working. There was no overhead or
worksheets, so Ms. Blanca would write things on the board for them to copy and
they would copy it into their notebooks as they were having loud conversations
with each other. It was very interesting to watch. After Language Arts, a bell
rang for break. Isla Bonita’s schedule is so different that anything I’ve ever
seen back home. They basically have class for an hour, have a 30 minute break,
have class again for around an hour, followed by an hour for lunch, then
another hour of class, then break again, then one more hour of class, and then
they go home. I really like all of the breaks. I think the kids pay better attention when they get breaks. After
morning break was Social Studies, where I learned a lot about the history of
Belize and how they gained their independence. Then we went to lunch. We have
an hour for lunch and we can leave campus, so Susannah, another UNCW student also working at Isla Bonita,
and I rode into town for some food. We found a delicious sandwich shop that was
air-conditioned! I couldn’t have been happier. I got a roast beef Panini with
some tasty sweet peppers on it. Then my day took an unexpected left turn…
On my way back into school, I ran into Ms. Blanca who
appeared to be leaving. She then informs me that she is not feeling well and needs to
go home. She asks if I can watch the class, which I of course say I will. She
says that she’s left work for them and that the students should know what to do. So I go up to the
classroom where all of the students are already in their seats waiting on me, but
they are not working on anything. On Ms. Blanca’s desk she has written out some
math problems for me to write on the board and have the class solve. They were
problems on converting units of mass, like ounces, pounds, tons, etc. I am
assuming that this is something the students already know how to do, but sadly
I was wrong. Before I can even finish writing the first problem on the
board, hands are shooting up into the air and students are calling for me to
come help them. Really I was the one who needed help! I hadn’t done any of that
stuff in years! Luckily, I caught a glimpse of one student’s work that had the
correct answer and I was able to figure out how he found the answer. It was just
long division. My first day in the schools here in Belize I taught a 4th
grade math lesson on long division and converting units of mass. I had the students come up and write their
answers on the board and then we went over all of the problems as a class. I am
very proud to say that it wasn’t a complete disaster. I even finished with 15
minutes to spare before afternoon break. I had the students do two more problems
that I made up, and then, to my surprise, they wanted to learn about me. I told them a little
about myself and how I would hopefully be teaching their PE class from now on. Shortly after that, the bell rang for break so they ran outside. When
they returned, they were suppose to do D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) so I
had them read for a while and then we played heads up, seven up until the bell
rang to go home.
It seemed like the students really enjoyed having me as
their teacher. When they were leaving, everyone wanted to know if I would be back
tomorrow. I’m so proud of myself for being able to step up and try teaching something
so far outside of my comfort zone. I mean I’ve taught in a classroom setting
literally less than ten times and never in my life have I taught math. I am use
to a gym and balls and games, not desks and chalkboards. Anyways, I did speak with
the principal today about taking over the PE classes and she seemed happy to let
me do it. I am hoping that I can begin teaching PE as early as tomorrow. I went
around to all of the classes to find out when they have PE scheduled and the
Standard II class has PE tomorrow in the afternoon from 2 to 3. So far I really like the students
here and I am excited to actually teach some PE.
What a first day! I’m sure
it is one I won’t soon forget!
So far I have taught three PE classes at Isla Bonita. Since there is no gym and the playground area next to the school only has a tiny open space, I have to take the kids out to a park on the beach. It sounds great, having PE on the beach, but it has also brought on new challenges that I have had to overcome. My first obstacle is getting the kids out to the park. The beach is only a block from the school, but the park is much further down the beach. It takes us about 20 minutes to get there. I have been using that time as a warm-up and have had the kids practice different locomotor movements and other things to keep them entertained. I even taught the Infant I (Kindergarten) students a song with motions to sing as we walked. But the students here are not use to walking in lines, so keeping them together and out of trouble has been a struggle. Also, we walk right by many of the student's homes on our way to the park and they all want to go home when we pass their house. One of my students in the first class I taught actually lived right next to the park. As soon as we got there, he ran straight into his house. I had no idea what to do! I yelled at him not to leave and to come back. but he was gone before I could even finish my sentence. Luckily, he came right back, apparently he was just getting water. But it's little things like that that make teaching here difficult. The children are given so much freedom to do as they please that it makes organizing and controlling them very hard. Another challenge has been planning lessons that I can do with absolutely no equipment. I would love to do fun games and sports with the kids but it's tough when I literally have one flat soccer ball to use. Thus far, I have played tag games with the Infant I and Standard II (3rd Grade), and I played soccer with Standard III (4th grade). And most of my lessons have been me thinking of things to do on the fly. When I taught Standard III, they came outside with one flat soccer ball, so right then and there I decided to play soccer. But at the park, our play space is a cement basketball court about 20 feet from the water. I didn't have any goals and I had to constantly make sure the ball didn't go in the water or out into the street. To make goals, two kids took their shoes off and used them to mark goals. Then, on top of all of that, the park is not in a quiet, secluded area. We are surrounded by families at the beach, other children at the park, and golf carts and bikes are constantly passing by. Talk about distracting! As if it weren't already hard enough to keep the kids focused on what we are doing I also have to deal with all of the distractions. I have only taught three lessons and I have already had to completely change up my teaching style and step far outside of my comfort zone. It has also made me rethink what is most important in a PE class. Back in the US, I was much more concerned with teaching specific skills and assessment, but here I have come to the conclusion that just getting the kids moving and, even more importantly, understanding why they need to exercise should be my main goal. The students here do not know that they need to exercise and eat healthy so I am trying my hardest to instill that in them without the cute, fun games I play in the States. It won't be easy, but I'll be trying my best to make it work.
