It is coming up to the end of my time in San Juan Pueblo, Honduras. During the last few months I have been involved in teaching at two schools. And have taken part in various festivals in the calendar of San Juan Pueblo. Getting to know my schools and my community better and better has brought me many new friends and students, a new array of challenges, but as well, most importantly, the ability to overcome these.
Weekday morning I teach at the Mercy Christian Academy, the MCA. This job has seen pressure mounting, not least due to the enormous term length but also the need to teach a very large curriculum.
Whilst the MCA is a bilingual school, English textbooks can prove to be quite difficult, especially due to the advanced vocabulary in Science and History classes. But that is a given. What has been a particular challenge to me is that my pupils, the oldest ones in school, are in the middle of puberty. Many times I found myself staggered by the apathy and the behavior some of my teenagers showed. Had I been like that their age? I dare say, maybe!
Within a few weeks of a long term lack of interest, disrespect and continual distraction turned into quite a problem. In one particular instance I had spent a lot of time preparing a science experiment involving fruit, only for a ninth grader to throw the fruit everywhere.
Faced with bad classes I had to consider my options; first, give up and leave. I did not feel like I could do my job here and not everyone is born a teacher. Being away from home for 7 months already, I was done. But my pride and sense of duty made me refrain; second, I could follow the example of the other middle school English teachers. Many taught English in Spanish and were rather nonchalant if a pupil did not understand or wasn’t receptive in class. But that obviously was not the option. I am here to teach English after all.
I took my third option in March. I decided to make my classes as interactive as possible. Reading games, crosswords, mystery objects, PowerPoint presentations, videos, poems and dramas were all marvelously effective in interesting my pupils in Science and History. My first few months of teaching had clearly been modelled on what I had received and most clearly suited my learning style. I am very happy reading a book and answering questions. Auditory and visual, rather than kinaesthetic. However, only by incorporating these methods was I able to teach everyone effectively and change my classes for my pupils’ better and my better.
School life in the MCA continues until the second week of July, but classes are often reduced for rehearsals for the end of school concert. After the end of school there will be a camp! So far in 2016 we have seen successful Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations in March and May respectively. We played games, saw dramas and each year group performed dances and songs. I had the role of moderating a part of the Mother’s Day celebration in Spanish. Scary, yet still a great honour.
My obligations in the MCA end at three in the afternoon. Thereafter Hugh (my partner) and I walk twenty minutes to reach the República de Honduras primary school. There I teach English to years 1 to 3 for an hour each week ever since February. From teenagers to six year olds is quite a large jump. At first, I had no idea about how to teach them, nor even what! English is a very broad topic, especially without a book.
This is when I noticed the need for interactive classes at a basic level. I soon had my pupils there screaming and singing to Old MacDonald, If You’re Happy and You Know It and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Previously, I had tried to teach year one the days of the week in English. Their classroom teacher, pitying me a little no doubt, confided to me that they weren’t even sure what day it was in Spanish, lesser even in English, yet alone what a day even was! How foolish I was!
And though I am by no means a perfect teacher, I am glad to have grown into the role I assumed. I have a lot of affection for all my pupils, even for the moodiest teenagers in my class! It will be a shame to finish this school year in two weeks’ time.
