Porch teachin'

A while back, maybe in late March, one of the teachers at the high school communicated to me that she was pretty worried about the twelfth graders. The normal school year goes from mid-February to mid-December, but, the twelfth graders take the national graduation exam in September and October. They take it early because they have to then complete a practicum related to their academic focus/specialty. It’s kind of like a high school major, a concept pretty foreign to us Uncle Sammers because almost all U.S. high schools are college preparatory, not technical. Because of the fact that students drop out between tenth grade (when the specialties are chosen) and twelfth grade, some of the specialty groups have only a couple students. So, their small numbers don’t warrant a class just for their specialty, so instead they have a tutorial session with some teacher, which really means that they don’t have class and just turn in a project at the end of the year. So, I communicated with these students, and we arranged for me to teach them during this open block in their schedule. And, a week later, the other twelfth grade section arranged to meet with me on Saturday mornings.

Oh, forgot to mention why the teacher was pretty worried about the twelfth graders. The thing is: these kids didn’t have any English classes for all of February and March because of the Costa Rican teacher placement system. (I think I’ve mentioned that system before.) Oh, and after meeting these kids during our first class, I realized that I was all sorts of worried about them. They explained that in the past year, due to mandatory training for their English teacher, they only received English during the first trimester. And they had little positive to say about the teacher from the year before. I’m not saying these kids have the best study habits or are go-getters studying on their own, but they’re willing to show up on Saturday mornings for an extra class, so I’d say that a big part of the blame for their quite low level of English falls on the lap of the high school-hmm, maybe that’s why the Education Ministry and Peace Corps sent me here.

Well, on to the Peace Corps moment for the brochures. Well, at least the ending. So, it was arranged for me to meet with the Saturday group at the school. In trying to be responsible and all that jazz, I called on Friday and talked to the teacher that said it had been arranged. I pressed the issue that it was a Saturday so no one would be there, so one of the school guards needed to be contacted to open the school and a classroom for me. I was assured that this had been arranged. While not trying to be too much of a jerk (always a struggle) I clarified: ‘so everything’s arranged, all we need to do is show up at nine, there will be someone to open up the gate and a classroom?’ I was told ‘Yeah, it’s all ready.’

Come Saturday morning, I unprofessionally scurry up the street at about 9:01 and am surprised that two students have actually showed up early/on time. They are standing across the street from the gate. Gate’s closed. We chat a bit; I tell them that I was promised someone would come to open up. I also tell them I’m not betting too much dinero on that happening. Some more students show up, some by bike, some have walked from the center of town, some get dropped off by their dads. Gate’s still closed. I call the teacher who assured me that everything was taken care of-you can bet next week's salary those calls/texts don't get answered. We chat some more. I’ve got my track cinch bag with the readings, markers and an eraser; they’ve got notebooks and pencil bags. Gate’s still closed. At about 9:25 we make the decision to head down to my host family’s house. I remembered that my host family has a whiteboard (my host mom used to tutor kids (alongside her own kids) when they lived in San José). So, using the porch furniture, the kitchen chairs, and porch table chairs, with the whiteboard balanced on a chair against the wall, we have our first reading comprehension class on my host family’s porch/car port. My awesome host family (especially host mom) takes it all in stride, happy to have them over and helping me carry chairs out from the kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anyone to snap a picture of me teaching on the porch. But, hey, at least I can say that a lack of a classroom isn’t keeping your tax dollars from getting some kids to read some English.

*Pictures are of students in classrooms (obviously not a Saturday)
**Also, found out what that fruit was and updated my previous post!