Start of a new year at Escuela Yeshua

Classes started a week ago at Escuela Evangelica Yeshua. There are some changes this year from last year to the school which I’ll outline for you below. Since I don’t have a whole lot to say today I’ll leave you with some pictures instead.

1.) This year the school has added a 7th grade. Due to a lack of finances, 8th and 9th grades will hopefully be added next year. There will then be an expansion into an as yet unknown building nearby or possibly the addition of a second floor to the current building. In any event, I am teaching 7th grade English in addition to grades 1-6. Three of my students are from last year while the other five are all new. They replace five students from last year who have left for other schools. The 7th grade classroom is in what was last year more of a hallway for the school. This means that to reach two of the classrooms one has to pass in between the students and the blackboard. Can you tell we’re running out of space here?

 2.) This year, we have three new teachers to replace two who left last year and Profesora Ondina, who has opted not to teach this year (after being burned out last year by her 32 1st graders!) Profe Eddison teaches 6th grade, Profesora Danna teaches 3rd grade, and Profesora Wuendy teaches Prepa/Kinder/Pre-Kinder. So far all have been a good fit for our school.

3) Some of you can probably recognize the subject of one of my posts last year in the picture just above this: Brandon! (in the blue t-shirt) The first day of classes he came running into school, just as full of energy as last year. Writing partway through the 6th day of classes, I’ve only seen him in Direccion (basically the principal’s office) once. If this were last year, he would have been in there at least once more in the same time period. Yesterday in class I had to confiscate a toy from him as well as another toy from Victor. Victor went back to work while Brandon began one of his loud, dramatic crying fits. But thankfully he soon went back to work on the sheet I had assigned the class.

 4.) As I said above, some of the students from 6th grade last year have left the school. Some others from other grades have left as well. However, we have had an approximately equal number of new students, with every grade but one having some new kids. So far, there don’t seem to be any major troublemakers amongst them, while some of them at least seem so far like nice kids.

In other news, it was cold here for a little over a week, starting only a few days after I arrived. Granted, cold here has a much different meaning that from where I’m from. Still, having to adjust from temperatures in the upper 80’s down to temperatures in the mid-to-low fifties during the early mornings and evenings here was difficult for me. I must admit I felt kind of silly not liking this weather, having come from weather a bit colder than that when I left Vermont.

Classes so far have  been all review of what they did last year. Unlike the beginning of last year, I know what we went over last year. Some days and classes are good and go well, others not so well. Overall, I feel a lot more confident and in control of the situation this time around.

As I’ve said to some of you in person, there probably won’t be as much on this blog as there was last year. This is simply due to the fact that much of what I wrote of last year that was of interest could more or less be repeated again this year. But if anything more unusual or interesting happens, I’ll be sure to post about it here.