Bloggets (Not!): Guatemala: Day 3

Snippets* from the past few days:

Traveled to Chimaltenango to check out living spaces.  Picture this: Toyota van, white.  Driver with baby in his lap; baby has full control of cell phone.  Passengers: Two little boys stand next to the window, letting the wind tussle their hair.  One third grader quietly sitting.  Two university boys home for break, excited about going to the mall.  Two teenage girls anticipating their first drama/choir rehearsal at church.  Three teachers who are curious about one of the homes I'm visiting and so have decided to come along.  And me, up there in the front bench seat, next to the window.  I'm pretty sure we could be a children's book somewhere--maybe a counting one?

And the houses?  Looked decent.  I'm not committing yet because there are a couple more places to check out.  The first is with a family with three boys and one ferocious street dog-turned-pet.  The second, which I didn't know I was visiting until we had an hour to kill and one of the teachers knows the lady, is more like a boarding house for international volunteers.  The advantage to both:  they are in the middle of a city with a few teachers I know relatively close by.

As for the rest of that hour to kill, Miss Zucy invited me to her in-laws' restaurant where she made a beeline for the back kitchen.  There, they made me dinner, which was delicious.  Eggs with salsa, black beans, corn tortillas with cheese between them (quesadilla style, only smaller), and coffee.  It was also the first meal I've eaten with a Guatemalan family in their home.  Grandparents at opposite ends of the table, Miss Zucy across from me and later her husband to my left, two of her four children flanking her.  A large, wood-burning stove sat in the corner; a huge bowl of beans and a basket of eggs sat on the middle counter; a window for customers to order and pay took up a portion of the left wall.  Conversation was good.  Mind you, it was all in Spanish, and mine is not strong.  Periodically I would say something, and they would laugh and repeat it as if no one had heard me the first time.  Maybe one day I'll learn why they were laughing. Regardless, it felt really good to be with them.  Their hospitality is much appreciated.

The school days have been good as well.  Today I continued observing, though I worked more on talking with the students and trying to get them to explain to me in English what they were learning as well as review some concepts with the kids.  This is helping me roughly place where their English levels are.  I've enjoyed talking with the English teachers, too, to get their take on what they think could be improved about the curriculum. My goodness, I feel like those scary FBI Agent-esque walk-through people. I don't think I'm scary, though.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my e-mails requesting information and advice.  I'm looking at relying on the SIOP model to guide the way I plan and my suggestions for the other teachers.  I'm thinking of pulling a bit from Kylene Beers and other reading and writing greats for some vocab lesson ideas.  I also looked at the TESOL website today to try to find some ESL standards, which they have.  I'm thinking of writing them to receive permission to use their standards as standards for the school since I'm not sure the English program currently has specific standards.  I need to check into this tomorrow.

Thanks, too, for your continued prayers.  Wisdom and ideas for this new curriculum are much needed right now.  Also, Pam wants me to revamp and rearrange the schedule as necessary.  This is probably what I feel least uncertain about given that I have never worked with scheduling and feel that making changes like this is a huge responsibility.  Please pray, too, for housing and a car.  How do I decide which living situation is best?

Much love,
E.

*P.S.--I will have to try bloggets another day since this is an epic fail at being concise.