This is what I was told by a Honduran woman I teach English to. I was going over opposites with my group and one of the cards said "Fat, Thin". Sonia said "You are fat and I'm thin". I just laughed because I didn't know what else to do. Later Michelle told all of them that it's not polite to point out someone's size in the States, whether the person may be fat or skinny. That's not the case in Honduras though. Many people will describe someone as gordito/gordita which means "fat one" or flaco/flaca which just means skinny. They don't see that as being impolite at all. So, it's hysterical that some of you were commenting on me looking thin that same day. Oh, and when I was in La Ceiba one of our cab drivers asked me if I was going to have a baby. Needless to say I am definitely not thin, especially to Hondurans I suppose. Maybe by next June :).
I started teaching English to a group of Honduran adults last week. Although I was a little weary about it, I've found myself really enjoying it. I have four students in my group: Sonia, Yadira, Joe (Joseph), and a boy named Fernando. Michelle, Carrie, Anne, Lacey, Jeff, Andrew, and I all teach. Since Jeff, Andrew, and I don't know much Spanish we are in a group together with people who speak more English so we can actually communicate. The other girls work with the very low English speakers. It's suppose to be an intercambio thing where we teach them English and they teach us Spanish. Unfortunately so far it's been more us teaching English. We meet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights from 5-7. This Monday I'm going to make sure I am learning some Spanish as well. Lord knows I need it!
My schedule has become so busy here as I knew it inevitably would. I can't seem to escape being busy no matter where life takes me. I guess I secretly enjoy it somewhat...
I start tutoring some of my students next week on Monday's and Tuesday's from 2:30-3:30, then I have intercambio Monday's-Wednesday's. On Thursday nights we have our OAF reflection meetings and now once a month I will have a two hour meeting with all of my students parents. Friday nights we get a group together to play soccer. On Saturday's I am going to start having Spanish lessons with Wendy one on one. After that I am going to start guitar lessons. There is a Japanese volunteer here who plays guitar and will give me some really cheap lessons. I'm starting to get really excited about it :)! Sunday's I go to mass in the mornings and volunteer at the orphanage after. So, my plate is very full but I love everything I'm doing! I would be bored if I just came home every night and sat in my house. I enjoy meeting the people of Honduras, making friends, and learning new things daily!!
This first week back to school has been a crazy one for sure. It was almost like starting school for the first time all over again. The students had a full week off from classes so it took a lot of patience to get them back on track. I have some very aggressive children in my class. When you add that in with 28 little bodies of 5 and 6 year olds, no comprehension of English, and an attention span of 10 minutes it creates some definitely behavior problems. I had a little boy punch one of his classmates in the stomach during P.E.. He was put on red for that offense, but then came back into the classroom and stabbed a little girl in the eye with his pencil, YIKES!!! He was then sent to the consejera and had his parents called. Boy oh boy do I have my hands full! I'm doing a lot of lesson planning this weekend and thinking of more ways I can make my class more hands on. If the kids are interested in what their doing there aren't as many behavior issues. I'm thinking of making a rap to sing when we need to transition to Math, a little jingle for English, and a chant for Science. I'll let you know what I come up with.
Here are some cute/funny things my kids said this week:
***Katherine who always has a smile and I love so much will come up to me and say "Miss King, my name is Guillermo esta hablando or my name is Idellyne molestarme". She's learned to say my name is...so she doesn't understand that she should just say "Guillermo or Idellyne". HAHA, it just cracks me up when she says that. I tell her to just say the name and she's getting better, but she still says it that way sometimes. Oh, and someone was not "molesting" her in class. The word molestar in Spanish means to bother.
***On Thursday the kids journal entry was to write about what they're scared of and what they get shy about. Ninety-five percent of my students can't actually write anything on their own yet, so these entries usually just consist of pictures. I'm trying to get them to at least write one word though, even if it is in Spanish. After they complete their entry for the day we have calendar time. I always make them discuss what they drew a picture of so they can practice their English. They were telling me different things and then Nelson says "Cow Meeeesss (that's what they call me)". I looked at him strangely and said "A cow? The animals that says moooo?" He shook his head with a look of terror on his face. It took everything in me not to laugh. It seemed so silly that he was scared of cows, but I guess numerous people who live here have been trampled, because they've accidently gotten in between a cow and it's calf. Who knew cows could be so dangerous? I guess I have a lot to learn.
***After giving my afternoon class a 15 minute lecture on not hitting, kicking, pushing, yelling, and being respectful I asked them if they understood what I had just said. One little girl shook her head yes and raised her hand to tell me. When I called on her she said "No Talking". OMG!!!! I wanted to laugh and bang my head against the wall at the same time. I'm constantly telling them to stop talking, so now at lot of them will say "no talking" to each other. That made it funny, but they obviously didn't understand a word I said and that did not make me a happy camper.
My days are filled with chaos, but teaching gives me so much joy! Sometimes as I'm helping one of my tater tots I look around the classroom and just smile at how cute they are. All of them are amazing little people who have so much potential. I feel blessed to be a small part of their journey to self discovery.
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do" - Helen Keller
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