The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

I know how it feels to be the stranger in a foreign land. I speak Spanish but it is so very hard to understand people when they are talking. We speak our native language so rapidly, using idioms and words that are recognized by native speakers, but that one doesn't learn from a book. We don't realize how difficult it is for non-English speakers to understand us. It is the same here, of course. They speak so fast!! Sometimes I think I am improving in my comprehension and then I realize that I have no idea what they are talking about! The school has provided a translator for the (endless!) teacher meetings that I have been attending and that helps.

The school has 2 other teachers from the USA: one from Conneticut and one from Michigan. They are both very young women, having graduated only 1 year ago. They both lived in Mexico last year, one in Guadalajara and the other here in PV. She taught at the Colegio Mexico Americano last year too.

The school is a bilingual school. All students from preschool thru high school learn in English as well as in Spanish, so there are a lot of English-speaking teachers at the school. Several of them are new to the school this year, having moved here from Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Tepic. The English teachers will be teaching grammar, spelling, vocabulary and reading/literature. The Spanish teachers teach Math, Spanish, Social Studies, and all the other classes the students have. Each student has PE (Gym) class, Music, computer class, and swimming class. The school has a beautiful Olympic size swimming pool and the kids learn to swim.

This is the 6th year for the Colegio Mexico Americano (CMA). It began with 35 kindergarten students; year 2 they had 160 students; year 3 there were 182; year 4 increased to 660; last year there were 1130 and this year they are anticipating an enrollment of 1200-1300 students. Each year they are adding grades to the school. The students are registering for school now and are getting their uniforms and books. Each day that I am at the school, I see children, carrying their new things, and a big smile on their faces. They seem happy to be there.

The school tuition is lower (by a lot) than any other private bilingual school in PV. They are reaching out to the middle/lower socio-economic class of families here in PV. For example, if a parent can help the school in any way, their child is on scholarship. The man who air-conditioned all the classrooms has 4 children attending the school on scholarship. Hooray for him!! Give his kids a scholarship for life!!! You just can't realize how important the AC is down here. I am so very, very happy that my classroom will be airconditioned.

They are building 10 (I think) new classrooms to be ready for school when it begins on Monday, August 20th. I can't believe that they will actually be ready by then, but we'll see!

I will be teaching the 2nd and the 4th grades--half day with the 2nd and half day with the 4th. I got the textbook for the 4th grades already and it is one that I used my last year at Tadmore with one of my 4th grade classes, so it is familiar to me. I don't know about the 2nd grade text yet.

By the way, in case you haven't figured it out yet, "Maestra" means "teacher" in Spanish and all the students call every teacher "Maestra" or "Maestro" if it is a male teacher. It seems to be an important title here in Mexico. We'll see if it makes the students behave better in class!

Remember: speak s-l-o-w-l-y when you talk to an Hispanic person who is trying so hard to understand.

Hasta luego.