So, what is it I do, exactly?

So, according to reader feedback, it seems like some of you hard-working, taxpaying Americans (or my relatives) want to know what it is I do everyday. Now, I have tried to make it clear that work in the Peace Corps is different from many other jobs-because much of our job is planning activities, identifying potential activities, and carrying out these activities that will benefit the education, health, or development in the communities we work in. The TEFL program I work in is a little more narrowly focused than some other programs, so I’m able to give you interested readers (so excited I have readers!) a pretty good list of what I do every day. Before, I begin, I will note, that the part of my day dealing with the normal high school has been much less consistent than my community classes and work at the night school. Well, full disclosure, we are halfway through the first trimester of the school year-and I was also here for more than a month before school started-and I did not get a working schedule organized with the teachers until last week.

So, on to what I do with my time (not blog-as has been sadly obvious). Three times a week I show up at a building run by the community development association and teach English classes for anyone that wants to come from the community. On Sunday and Tuesday evenings I teach a beginner class, where we started with almost nothing-but most of them have some English knowledge or exposure. Many of the students are younger high schoolers (7th-9th graders) and then there are also some people who have dropped out of high school and are maybe looking to go back at some point-or do the Costa Rican GED-equivalent. There are also a few elementary students-I didn’t want little kids-so they’re all fifth or sixth graders and also some people in their twenties or thirties, who have various jobs-that don’t really require English-so this may just be for personal enrichment-something to do, I can’t say for sure. On Monday nights, my class is more of an intermediate level-I work lots on getting the students to say the things they know how to read and write. Syntax is also a big focus in this class; it’s fun because I have been able to get to know the students better (because they can respond to personal information questions-and because my host sister, host mom, and host sister’s best friend come).

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, I work at the night school. I am always there at 17:00, to meet with the English teachers. We practice speaking (I ask them complicated questions to help improve certain skills); I look over their lesson plans, worksheets, or homework if the want; I pronounce words they have doubts about; explain things they have come across and don’t understand; and help them with their homework from their classes (some of them are finishing up bachelor’s/master’s degrees). As indicated, sometimes the bus is running late, sometimes their husband or wife doesn’t come home with the car until a bit later, sometimes they have to take care of their kids because the their husband is late home from work, as well as various other reasons why they may show up late or not at all. But, I am always there to help-and they usually we come and I think it’s very productive and is sustainable (yes!). After this, on these three nights, I’ll stay from 18:00 until 21:00 or maybe 22:00 (when night school is over) helping out in the classrooms. This involves observing as they teach, answering any quick questions they have, floating and helping the students when they are working, co-teaching (both of us up at the board), or taking turns teaching with the teacher. While this is less sustainable and is kind of me doing their job, it is also a great way for me to give examples of other teaching and classroom management methods.

Now that the nights are explained, on to the less organized days. I don’t mind getting up early, but I am in the habit of and enjoy staying up late to finish tasks or read. So, I generally don’t end up getting up too early. Because I haven’t yet had a schedule, I usually dropped by the high school, and would try to find one of the English teachers that was there, and would drop in his or her class, helping with whatever they wanted. This has involved everything listed above, and I even encouraged a few teachers to involve activities/learning games into what they were teaching. Sometimes (like during exam week+) I just go to the teachers’ lounge and hang out with the English teachers, sometimes helping them with grammar, pronunciation or usage questions; sometimes talking about trouble with their spouse or colleagues. I’ve tried to do this at least for the morning or afternoon every day. In the past, and in the future, I keep at minimum one afternoon and one morning to myself-to do lesson planning for my community classes-and the two other classes I teach.

I have added two classes to my schedule in the past three weeks, both of which I teach on my own. I am teaching reading comprehension to each of the twelfth grade classes. As I wandered around the school and chatted with teachers and students, I came to find out that the twelfth graders needed lots of help with their English. Well, in reality, there is lots of room for improvement at all levels at the high school, but the twelfth graders’ need is more pressing. Due to problems with the teacher placement system (or maybe the system is the problem) neither of the twelfth grade classes had an English teacher until last week (mid-term of the first trimester). They also end the year early, in September instead of December, in order to carry out a two-month practicum. But that means that they take the national graduation exam in September. Two of the English teachers and many of the students made clear to me that they were in need of additional help preparing for the test. So, with the help of one of the teachers (he helps pick topics, give me some sample readings) I am teaching one section on Friday mornings-all morning. And the other group on Saturday mornings. It’s lots of fun, probably the thing I enjoy most-as they are mature, pretty smart kids-and lots have great senses of humor. Additionally, because they are the students that have remained in school throughout high school; so there is a lot of camaraderie within the group. This makes it easy to joke with them-as they already joke amongst themselves. So, it’s more work-but it’s enjoyable. It wasn’t something I had planned to do, but was a problem I identified and am working on solving, exactly what this job is supposed to be about.