Fin de Semana y la cuarta semana

Check out this gorgeous view of the city! Don´t worry I took more than one, I will try to post them to facebook soon!

This past weekend I went to mass up in the mountain at the church where my host family´s daughter was married. It was a nice church and the ride there was beautiful. After mass my host mom and dad took me to a look out point where you can see over most of the city. It was an incredible view. You can see the mountains surrounding the city and the houses that are painted bright colors stand out even from high up. I will try to post one of the photos so you can see the view.
This week I taught the 5th graders about directions, (N, S, E, W). We played with my inflatable beach ball globe and told them how people give directions in the US. It was an interesting experience to step in and try to teach a class that I did not know at all. I had a few problems with classroom management, and I was surprised the teacher didn´t help me much with keeping them focused. Overall, I think they understood it better after we played with the beach ball.
Last week my 6th graders took my math quiz, some of them clearly did not study for it but when we went over it after I graded them I think most of them got it.
This week I have been spending a lot of time planning next months lessons. Starting next week I take over the class, so I got to put the plans in the official planner that gets read and approved by the primary grades coordinator. It is different to be planning all of my lessons from one book with the timeline of one month to teach the whole thing but I think as a first time teacher it is probably good to have so much structure to teach me time management. I think the plans I have laid out will give us time to get through the book and have some fun extra activities on the side. I am really hoping to do some fun stuff in science class with them, they will be learning about microscopic organisms, depending on what they have in the lab at the school. They will also be watching (hopefully) the Magic School Bus inside Ralphie VHS if the seller ships to Mexico. :) I think the first week will be a little scary but once I get going I think I will have a better idea of how to go with the flow and get through the book and get to the fun review games for their exams in March.
I´ll keep you posted on how it´s going!
More later!
P.S. I get to go see the butterflies on Saturday! I´m so excited! I promise to take lots of pictures!

El Centro, Palomitas, y juntas

One of the many fountains at night, I can´t remember the name of it right now but I thought it was really beautiful, especially with the moon in the background :)

The Callejón de Romance

After my last blog entry my host brother took me for a walk around downtown. It´s very beautiful here at night. There are fountains all over the place here and at night they are gorgeous! He showed me some of the other churches nearby too. One of them is so incredibly detailed, so much gold trim everywhere, it was unlike anything I had ever seen. We walked down a couple of famous calles, streets, too, one used to lead to a church dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and now it leads to the really ornate church. We also walked down this street called the Callejón de Romance, it was really peaceful, very quiet, it didn´t feel like I was downtown at all. I have to admit I was jealous of all the couples that got to walk down there together. :) Don´t worry I took pictures while we were walking around so everyone can see what I´m talking about. I will try to post them on Facebook next week (it takes a while because the internet here is a little slow.)
On Wednesday night I went to the movies, el cine, with my host brother to see Soy Leyenda, I am Legend with Will Smith. Very good movie. It was in English with Spanish subtitles, but some of the movies are in Spanish or translated into Spanish, I think I am going to try to go to one in Spanish next time. Wednesday is the best night to go because you can get in for half price. It was only 75 pesos, about $7.50 for both of us to see a movie, and it´s not even a budget movie theater, so much cheaper than in the US!
Now I have advice for anyone who would be going to the movies here in Mexico. Apparently mixing popcorn, palomitas and water here is a bad idea. For some reason the combination here is a very bad idea and I was very sick on Thursday and I had to miss school. I felt so bad having to call in sick, but my host family took very good care of me and I was feeling better enough to go to school yesterday, Friday. It was only a half day for the students and then the teachers had meetings, juntas or reuniones, in the afternoon. I stayed for the meetings. It was all in Spanish but I understood most of what they said, which I was glad about. The teachers here are not that different from teachers in the US they are concerned about issues like classroom management, discipline, testing, and of course their students. It was interesting to be a part of my first official teachers´ meeting. The students asked about me on Friday too wondering where I was on Thursday.
They invited me to their soccer game yesterday but I didn´t think sitting outside in the sun for so long after being sick was a good idea so I will have to ask them on Monday when their next game is so I can go. I haven´t been to a soccer game in years I think it would be a lot of fun to go see my students play. I´ll have to learn how to cheer in Spanish. :)
I came here to the Center for the first time today by myself because my host brother wasn´t feeling well, but I got here just fine and I know my way home too. I am going to try and come at least 2 or 3 times a week still to email and post blog updates for everyone. Miss you all!

Alumnos traviesos (mischievious students)

El Catedral Rosa, it´s huge and beautiful (I´ll post pictures of the inside on facebook soon)Palacio del gobierno, see the mural on the wall? There are 3 huge murals like that in the building.

Well my weekend didn´t go exactly as planned, we ended up not going to the Cathedral Saturday night because my host family thought it was too cold and that it might rain, but we went to mass there Sunday morning it is a beautiful church one of only three Cathedrals left in Mexico. Then after mass we went across the street to the Palacio del Gobierno where the Morelia government is housed, there are beautiful murals there by an artist named Alfredo Zalce, who is very famous here. I think I will have to read a little more about him and look up his work it´s very good. Then i went back to my house to eat lunch and watch football. I got to teach my family about American football, my host mom said that Packer game could give a person a heart attack. I agree, I was so sad about the loss and then I went into school on Monday and my students had the nerve to come up to me and taunt "Green Bay lost go Giants!" and they want the Patriots to win the Superbowl... It was really funny though that they remembered that Green Bay was my team.
School is going well. I talked with my cooperating teacher and coordinator and I will be starting to teach more in February when their book switches. I will be helping with the planning and then teaching the whole day to both classes. I´m excited for the chance to do that. They are a starting to get better about listening when I tell them to quiet down. I still get some funny looks though when I use my teacher voice on them. :) Today I was working alot with the students on the Spelling activity I made for them and on math, I teach math all the time already now. They have a quiz in math tomorrow and I got to write it. I think they will do well on it. I am getting the book for next months lessons this week so I can start planning for next month. They have trimester exams in March so I will get to plan lots of fun review games for them to help them remember the material from the last few books for the exams.
The weather was so hot today! When I went out to recess at 1pm it was at least 75 degrees outside. I was warm in a short sleeve shirt and pants. I hope that those of you in freezing Wisconsin feel a little warmer when you read this!
Random interesting fact for you about the people here. Everyone tends to talk with their hands, they explain things by making the shape of it with their hands or gesturing which I must say has made me feel at home since I tend to talk with my hands all the time. Not to mention it can help if I don´t understand a word to watch their hand gestures. :)
More to come later this week. I´ll let you know how the test goes and plans for the weekend. ¡Hasta viernes!

La segunda semana

I can´t believe week two is over already it has gone by so fast. I had a good week with my students. They are forcing me to practice my Spanish because they insist on talking to me in Spanish outside of questions they ask during class. Some of the students got in a lot of trouble this week with the teachers and were suspended for a day for lying to the principal. Fortunately, most of them apologized to the teachers today when they returned for their behavior, when I told my host mom about what happened she said it was a good learning experience for me to see what students are capable of and how the school handled it, and I agree, it definitely taught me what the students are capable of. I have also learned that sitting in the back or observing while another teacher teaches can teach you alot about what to look for when you are in front of the classroom. I have seen more mischief from the back of the room in the last two weeks than some teachers notice in a month from the front. I definitely know which students to keep an eye on for note passing and for attempts at cheating. It also helps that I remember all the tricks my friends and I used to pull to pass notes in class, I remember one where you fold it up really small and tuck in the clip of pen and act like you are lending the pen to your friend, I haven´t seen that one yet, but these students aren´t as subtle, they like to just throw the note across the room. They are good kids though, some of them asked me if I want to go to bowling with them next Friday after school. I don´t know if I will be going but it was very nice of them to ask. They are always curious if I have a game for them too which tells me they are enjoying them. I have already pretty much taken over teaching math for my teacher and they seem to be getting it, which is definitely a good thing.
I have some fun things planned for the weekend, tomorrow my host family is taking me to see the lighting of the Cathedral which I´m told includes fireworks and music on Saturdays. On Sunday my host brother is going to take me to see some of the historical sites downtown, el centro. My teacher Miss Monica also tells me that there are trolley tours of the city and leyendas, legends that you can take tours of to learn about Morelian legends, and that is something I would love to hear. I will post pictures and tell all about my weekend on Monday or Tuesday.
I also made plans today to start taking salsa dancing lessons, and a jewelry making class. I´m so excited! El Baile, dance is very traditional for Mexico and other Latin American Countries, and I can´t wait to make my own traditional jewelry, and most of you know what a sucker I am for gorgeous earrings and necklaces, and to have made them myself in the traditional style will be great.
Things are going great at the school. The last few days I have been in the teachers lounge a little more and have been listening to the conversation and I am glad that I am actually understanding most of it. Hopefully soon I will feel confident enough to put my two cents in. Today they were talking about how the 6th graders are learning about puberty and reproduction in their Spanish class, and I sure am glad that I am not teaching that subject with these students, the questions they could come up with would probably make me blush. I think perhaps I will wait on teaching Middle school until I have a few more years between my age and that of my students because right now it would be like teaching it to a sibling or a cousin, and professionally speaking I don´t think I´m ready to teach that subject.
The teachers are really nice though and I hope to get to know them better as time goes on, they all seem to get along with each other very well which I think is important for a school to have teachers that get along and can work well together. I finally met the principal yesterday, I haven´t really seen him around the school, but maybe now that I know who he is I will see him more often. I´m sure I will see him next Friday when the kids have a half a day and the teachers stay to have meetings about what will be happening in the next months curriculum. It will be my first official teacher meeting! How exciting! (and no that´s not sarcasm at least not this time, future meetings maybe but the first one will actually be exciting :) )
Overall my stay so far has been great and I can´t believe how fast it´s going. I am so lucky to be here to work with the students at Varmond and to get to know so many wonderful people and such a beautiful city. More next week. Hasta luego!

Tiendas, Animales, y Estudiantes

This past weekend was great. On Saturday I went to the mall with my host brother and he showed me around the area a little what stores were around there. We also went to the Galeria de Zapatos, also known as shoe heaven, the whole building is full of shoe stores and jewelry. I resisted the urge to buy new shoes because I need to save my money but the jewelry store was having a sale so I bought a few necklaces, don´t worry though I only spent 75 pesos or about 7 American dollars. Much to my dismay though when I looked at the necklaces again when I got home I saw they were made in China! I intend to buy some authentic Mexican jewelry before I leave though. Then on Sunday after mass at the church where my host mom´s brother is the priest, my host brother and I went to the Benito Juarez Zoo. It was really fun, it´s not too big so we were able to walk through most of the zoo. The reptile house was under repair though, and the line for the aquarium was 40 people deep. I got to buy some postcards to add to my collection though, and I got to wear sunblock in January so all in all it was a good day. Usually on nights when I have extra time Vico and my host mom and I watch movies, either on tv or DVD´s. When we watch DVD´s the put the English language on for me and subtitles in Spanish for them, but on tv they are usually all in spanish, but I can pretty much understand what is happening, and watching the subtitles is helping me remember some vocabulary that I had forgotten.

I taught math class yesterday for 6B and we learned how to divide fractions, and played a game. The teacher said even she understood it better after I taught it. :) The students really enjoyed the game and they always ask when we are going to play another one. I taught 6A math today too but we didn´t have time for the game, so we will play it tomorrow, I´ll let you konw how it goes. I have been talking with my teacher about game ideas for the students and what we can do so that they are not always working out of their books. I think I am going to introduce them to School House Rock and the Magic School, some of my favorites from when I was a kid.

The system they use here is called the AMCO program its a billingual program used in California because the Hispanic population there is so high. It has the kids learning in Spanish half the day and in English the other half. I am working in the English classroom, but I will also probably teach a class or two in Spanish since Sr. Roberto said it was ok. I am going to wait a little while for that though until my vocabulary is stronger. The students work out of unit books that have all the subjects and they change every month. It is a very structured learning system, and a little limiting for fun activities but my cooperating teacher said we can see what we can do to make room for more activities and games that aren´t straight out of the book. I think it gets boring if all you do all day is worksheets and book activities and these kids are active so the games and other activities will help. I am very excited to start getting more involved in the class. I have learned all the names of my students in both classes and they gave me funny looks the other day when I had to tell them to get working because they couldn´t believe I knew their names.

They are starting to get used to having me in the classroom though, because today I went to observe in a 5th grade classroom and missed part of the classtime with the 6th graders and when I saw them at recess they came up to me asking where I was and if I was coming back to class after recess, I guess they missed me :), definitely a good feeling. They are great kids, most of them troublemakers, but I tend to have a soft spot for troublemakers so I think we will continue to get along just fine.

un poquito mas de la primera semana

Well I finished my first week at the school today and I will have a little more responsibility in the classroom next week. I get to teach math class on Monday because the teacher doesn´t like it very much. :) The students were amazed today that I knew their names, since I had to yell at a few of them to hurry up on the way to art class. It´s been hard to switch between the languages, english with the students and spanish with the teachers and my family, but I´m getting better at it. I still have a lot of vocabulary to remember, I think that perhaps my dictionary and I will be spending some quality time together this weekend. The students are great though, some are troublemakers but they are all nice kids. I am very excited to be working with them.
Some of the 5th graders today asked if I get to come to their class to teach too, which I think I might be able to at least go and observe. The kids had a free dress day today and could bring their toys from Christmas and los Reyes Magos. Alot of them brought Ipods and cellphones and tried to sneak them during class, they were pretty surprised when I called them out on using it. Alot of the boys also brought skateboards and were riding them down the hill at school, I really thought one of them was going to crack their head open but it was really funny. My family has been really helpful too teaching me how to use the Combi´s and how to walk to the nearby mall and el cine (movie theater).
I am very lucky to be here and to be learning from the teachers, my family and the students, they are all very generous with their time and help. One of the teachers has even offered to take me to the nearby city of Zamora one weekend to see the sights, which I´m very excited about.
This first week was great and I´m very excited to see what will happen over the next nine weeks. It was great to hear some of the students say today "you only get to stay for 10 weeks?" I think maybe my choppy spanish is growing on them. :)

La primera semana

La casa The view from my bedroom window, see the mountain on the left?

Wow I can´t believe that I am really in Mexico. Es loco ¿no? It is so beautiful here, I could never have imagined what it looks like. My host family is wonderful. I have a mom named Coco, a dad named Vico, and host brother also named Vico. My host family also has a son who is married and has a young daughter who is hilarious, and a daughter who is also married and pregnant. I got to meet them on Sunday for the feast of Los Reyes Magos, to eat el rosco de los reyes. (its the feast of the Three Kings, and Rosco is a type of bread) If you find a muñeca, a plastic doll, in your slice of bread you host a party in March for the family. The culture here is wonderful, the food is great and I´ve tried lots of new things already. We eat breakfast, a late lunch, around 3 which is the biggest meal of the day and then a small dinner around 8:30 at night.
The city is beautiful it´s surrounded by mountains and the buildings downtown are very colonial. The school i´m working at is very modern though and you have to drive up a mountain to get to it. There are so many houses in the mountains and the valley. Everyone here is so nice. You always say hello, goodbye, have a nice day when you are coming and going, the people are so much more personable here than in the U.S. There are alot of businesses here that are the same as the U.S which really surprised me. I know there are McDonald´s everywhere but there are KFC´s and Office Depot and Sam´s Club and lots of other restaurants that are the same, but there are lots of places that I´ve never seen before too. Even some of the movies are the same, I can go see Alvin and the Chipmunks in spanish at the cine if I want to. The houses here are very close together and painted in a variety of colors. The house I live in is bright orange. (I will try to attach a photo so you can see it)
Driving here is very peligroso, dangerous, there are not the same kind of rules here as there are for driving in the U.S. Cars cut in front of each other and there are not many stop signs so cars just go when they want to sometimes. I don´t think I would want to learn how to drive here, not to mention many of the cars are manual and I definitely do not want to learn how to drive stick shift. Alot of people walk or take the Combi´s, mini buses, to get places. The roads here are very confusing too. I think that even after my 10 weeks here, I could still get lost sometimes.
Varmond is wonderful, the teachers are very nice and the students are great. I am very excited to work with the 6th graders. I am told they are a challenge but I think it will be a very good experience. I am going to work in their English class teaching them in English but I speak spanish with them outside of class too. I also got to observe and will probably teach a few lessons in Spanish too. In the spanish class they took a spelling test and I´m pretty sure that I would not have done very well on that test! I´m sure the students would find it very funny that their teacher would not do well on the same spelling pretest that they are taking. They are wonderful students though; they call me "teacher" or "Miss Katie". It was great to see a familiar technique used in their English classes, the teacher, Miss Monica, introduced the students to KWL charts on Tuesday and I was so excited to know that they will know how to use this tool already when I work with them. I will also be going on a field trip with the students to Mexico City in Feburary to a museum. It will be a chance to see the city and to practice being a chaperone!
I carpool to school with a family, and one of the students is in my class. Everyone here is very generous and helpful, and very understanding that I am an "extranjero" a foreigner. I am very excited to work with the students and help them with their english and to practice my spanish. I am going to try to be very involved with the school, and do things outside of normal school hours with them. I am also going to try and take some classes at the Centro Cultural de Lenguas (CCL). I hope to take salsa dancing lessons and a jewelry making class.
So far this experience has been great and I am so excited to continue working in the school and learning all that I can about Mexico and it´s culture.