Crazy School

Well, I'm all sworn-in as a volunteer, and I have the pictures to prove it. But it's true, I am now a real volunteer. I have moved into my new host family's house in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental and yesterday was the first day of school. Some crazy things about school here:

The first day, (and hopefully this will change) the parents of the first graders stood outside the classroom all day. Students would just get up and go outside to talk to mom or mom would come in and give them a snack. Nobody really seemed to mind.

People can walk around selling things. They even come in the classrooms while class is going on. I got offered quite a lot of pearl necklaces. The snack selling people are okay, they aren't too pushy, and I might actually want to buy a snack. But necklaces?

My principal told me he would set up an office for me and get me a desk, but it didn't sound like it would happen anytime soon. This morning I sat down at the communal table in the main office to do my work. That afternoon, one of the teachers told me they had a desk all set up for me in the library, with an electric fan even! That's great for me, because it gives me a lot of freedom to come and go.

I've been observing classes, mostly first grade for now. Mostly I'm learning how they teach, what the schedule is like, etc. But it is so depressing watching class. As I watch, I really WANT to go back to the states and teach. Everything is depressing. The way they teach, by writing something on the board and all the kids repeat it together, over and over. The supplies. There is nothing for the teacher to work with but the chalkboard. No worksheets, manipulatives, overhead, text books, classroom books, maps, nothing. Also it's so hot. And the kids sit at their desks all day, there is no activity that doesn't take place at the desk. It's just sad to watch, and I know it's not a problem I can help with. The most I can hope to do is introduce the teachers to some teaching methods that will get the kids out of their seats once in a while, and maybe encourage them to read on their own. Also the class sizes are around 35-40 kids.

So I've spent a lot of time working on problems in my head. How do we teach reading without books? How do we teach more effective ways of reading without any materials? And so on.

The schedule, when I saw it on paper, looked brutal. Classes from 7:30-12. An hour break, then class again from 1-4:30. WOW. well...it's not so tough. 11-12 is listed as 'remedial activities' and 'prep time' which means lunch break. so a 2 hour lunch. 9:30 is 'recess' which means morning snack and usually lasts a half hour or so. The afternoon classes generally end around 4, with of course another snack time around 2:30. And even much of the time not spent eating isn't always filled with learning. Time management was one of the things my principal asked me to help the teachers with. But that is so much a part of the culture, I'm not sure I even want to try and change it. And I mean, a 2 hour lunch? Who can argue with that?

One thing I'm not supposed to do is teach a class on my own. It's not sustainable. I can teach demo classes that the teachers watch, and I hope to do plenty of those. But already 3 teachers have asked me when I will come teach their class. It's hard to explain why I won't do that.

I've also been working in the library. I found two shelves, about 30 books or so, that aren't textbooks. They are mostly adult books, some self-help books, some novels, all pretty old. I started looking through them and found that about 20 of them came from the Denver Public Library!! I can't believe it! Someone at Cadiz West II elementary, Philippines, had a connection with DPL before I got here. What are the odds? Maybe DPL will be able to help me again, especially since I was once a volunteer for the read aloud program, not to mention the hundreds of dollars I've donated to them in library fines. We'll see.

That's the school update for now. Things settled down a little on the second day, and I think on Thursday there will be a staff meeting to formally introduce me to the teachers.