English Maestra: Photos of the School # 1

Here it is: the Colegio Mexico Americano school where I teach! It is a private bilingual school, with classes from preschool through high school. All students study in both English and Spanish--yes, even the preschoolers!

As you walk up to the school, you see the administration building straight ahead with the offices of the secretaries, principals and coordinators. To the right you see, what I call "the gathering area". It is actually a small store where you can buy soft drinks, coffee, pan dulce (sweet rolls), and tacos. The middle school and high school students gather there in the morning and afternoon and during their lunch break. Teachers can sit here when they have a break.

There is a teachers' lounge (inside!) but it upstairs in the high school area and very far away from the elementary and preschool areas of the school. I went to the teachers' lounge one time since school started. The room had 1 computer and it was full of student lockers waiting to be installed. I haven't bothered to go back. Most of the elementary teachers sit here in the gathering area or in the dining room (which you will see in the next blog) when they have a break.

The only breaks the teachers have is when the students have "specials". They have music, artistica, (This is not art. I am not really sure exactly what it is even though I have observed the teacher on several occasions.) swimming, caracter (character class), gym, computer class and pensamiento class---and I have no idea what this class is! A very nice teacher comes in and teaches them in Spanish for 45 minutes and the children seem to like it so....whatever! This gives me a chance to grade notebooks or prepare lesson plans, or whatever needs to be done.

These are some of the students in the "gathering area" and just beyond you see the gate. This gate is closed and locked at a certain time in the morning so if a child is late to school, the parent has to bring him into the administration area and check him in. Since the Mexicans are notoriously late, this is a discipline for the parents as well as for the child. There have been parents who said they cannot enroll their child in the school because they can't get him to school on time. Most of the schools here have the same rule---a good one I think!

Just across from the gathering area is the side of the administration building! Yes, it is outside facing a garden area! And yes, when it rains and the wind blows, sometimes water gets in there!

This is where the three secretaries sit. The white doors behind the computer, and along the wall, are the offices of the principals and coordinators. The woman sitting is a parent waiting to talk to someone. Behind her is the garden area you saw in the previous picture.