Back to Work

It´s Monday and I am actually excited to go back to work- The main reason why I decided to pursue social work for three weeks in Costa Rica was so that I could get a taste of the education system in developing countries. I had been forewarned that the discipline we see in American schools is not mirrored in the classrooms of developing countries and this has definitely been my experience so far.

In the school that I work at, each grade has one main teacher (similar to America). Each class has a forty minute period where the English teacher comes in and teaches to the class. This is where I come in. I help the school´s English teacher, Rosemary, with each of her classes. Every morning we go to about 5 classrooms. 5 classrooms, 30 kids each- That means 150 kids in four hours. Indeed the loudness level of each classroom is about 12 out of 10. (Don´t even ask me to measure the chaos at recess) The kids are all extremely loving, smiling and full of hugs but the typical class day is filled with half of them listening and the other half crawling up the walls. I realized recently that I´ve unconsciously nicknamed the school "The Madhouse". Each morning, I have the Eye of the Tiger playing in my head. I tend to have a warrior mentality- I am going to help the kids and work effectively in the chaotic structure. Given the structure of the classrooms, I mainly try to focus on the kids that are a little slower than others.

This past week Rosemary was giving tests all week to the different classrooms. I have to admit that I was nervous to see the results. With all the mayhem and questionable class assignments, I seriously couldn't´t imagine any of the students a) retaining anything b)giving a rat´s a-- if they even had a test.

The results, however, made me eat my words. I graded the tests of one class and found that only three did not pass. In fact, some of the students that were part of the rowdy crowds had some of the best grades. (Now I see why they created GATE- if you don´t challenge those students, then there is potential for them to disrupt the rest of the class out of boredom) I was the MOST surprised however at how much the students cared about having a test! I seriously thought the week was going to be a mild joke. However, all the students were relatively quiet and diligent when trying to answer each question. In fact, once the test was over, they would BEG the teacher to grade the tests right aways to that they could see the results. As I was grading some of the tests, they were swarming me like bees to honey. They cared so much!

This was a valuable lesson for me because it showed how vital cultural understanding is in order to have a successful and sustainable effect on the organizations you work with. This may seem obvious at first but I think you truly get tested when you are in a developing country because the flow of things can be so foreign.

Sure the Costa Rican methods were unconventional but it works in the realm of their culture. Just because the structure is more laid back doesn´t affect the children´s ability - and desire- to learn.


Also- there were a few stories I forgot to mention from my first week at the school. As I mentioned before, the students were able to ask me questions after I introduced myself. There was an adorable little girl who was raising her hand and jumping out of her seat like she was going to burst in 30 seconds if she didn't get to ask her question. Once she was called on, however, she just stood and stared and smiled. Then when the teacher would move on because the little girl wasn´t saying anything, the girl would right away raise her hand vehemently again...then just smile and say nothing. Clearly she was shy and it took about five cycles before she finally asked me the question- which I think it was something to the effect of do you have any siblings? Another little boy raised his hand all excited. His question was "Can you find my twin?" His twin who looked exactly like him was sitting two seats away. I was impressed that even though they have been twins for eight years now the excitement was clearly still there.

Last week, Rosemary asked me to watch the students for 15 minutes after the test. I had terror flashbacks of the week before kind of like a Vietnam war veteran. I was clearly frightened. This time, however, I asked them to draw me items in their notebooks. "Rainbow, tiger, mountain" I knew this would keep them a bit focused and I am so thankful that they did not ask me WHY the hell they were drawing these things. I love first graders.

Today Rosemary had meetings so there was no English class (they dont do subs) so I was able to work at a local orphanage with another volunteer. Many of the the kids are children of prositutes (fyi prostitution is legal here). The children often have the same mom but random dads. And as a Catholic country, many times the women don´t use condoms because the Pope has condemned this (thus buying condoms can often feel shameful so many dont do it).The kids were so sweet to each other. The oldest one was trying to take care of everyone, sometimes a little too agressively but hey it was well intentioned. They were so happy and smiley. The other volunteer said this is just a front and that they are usually terrors.

By the way, yesterday was my first Sunday in town. I noticed there was no one on the streets except for a few young couples. I knew that most people were likely in Church and thus the streets were quiet. I also remembered how our program director mentioned that Sunday was the most popular day in which condoms are sold. Since most Ticos live with their parents until they are married, Sunday they tell their parents that they are going to "church". Oh, but they are not.