Day 7

Today is day seven and I've finally created some sort of a schedule for how I will spend my time here in the schools. I thought I would just be at Isla Bonita, but because there aren't enough classes there to keep me busy all day, I'm bouncing around to three different schools on the island: Isla Bonita, New Horizons Primary School, and San Pedro High School. On Mondays, I will be at New Horizons all day. On Tuesdays, I will be at New Horizons in the morning and Isla Bonita in the afternoon. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I will be at the high school in the morning and Isla Bonita in the afternoon.

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.

On a much lighter note, last night Dr. Catapano and I went on a night dive in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve! It was definitely one of the coolest and most amazing experiences of my entire life. It's a whole different world down there at night and you see things you don't see during the day. The coral and lobsters are feeding and the fish are sleeping! Around 6, we rode a boat out to the reserve just as the sun was starting to set. We got out there, got all of our gear ready, and then had to wait for the sun to go down. It was my first ever night dive and trip to Hol Chan so I had no idea what I was in for. Hol Chan is not very deep, but it is extremely populated with marine life because it is a reserve. It is the only spot on the whole coast of San Pedro that they are actively preserving. We saw several giant, beautiful parrot fish sleeping in the reef, three loggerhead turtles, a nurse shark, lots of huge (I'm talking four and 5 feet across) southern sting-rays, three monterey eels, lobsters, crabs, a sea cucumber, anemones, an octopus and much more! I think the octopus was my favorite. As we watched him move about the reef, he changed several different colors! When we first spotted him, he was a bright white and slightly pink, then he turned pinker and sort of blue, then when we left him he was completely brown! It was fascinating to watch. Here is an awesome photo Dr. C snapped of the little guy:

Since Kelli didn't get to go with us (she is on a trip to the mainland with her class) I think we are going to go again when she comes back! I'm so excited to go again! I want to see an eagle ray and a bull shark! I love diving here, I'm trying to go as much as possible.