party!

some of my students. about 10 didn't come to the party.
don't worry, we only put samil in that costume for the pictures. it was HOT.

making mummies.

apparently samil loves apples. he ate three that day.

bobbing for apples

this girl never stops laughing.

pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern

pollito-chicken-gallina-hen

we just finished a month, yes a WHOLE month, of learning school supplies.

i always try to make the first month of class focus on just one unit, simple vocab and maybe one or two grammatical concepts.

but really, if i never hear my students tell me "it is a pencil" again, i'll be happy.
they have their test on monday.
and we'll move on to the human body, the 5 senses and emotions.

a lot more words, a lot more grammar... a lot more fun songs.

and not so much, "is yu eppy ee yu nos eet, CLAP YOUR HANDS".
i love my students. i really do.
but the accent gets old after two days.
i promise.

let's get it started...

due to the recent imaginary storms amalio didn't have work these past three days and i've been able to get our house back in order and really get down to business with my new english project.

unfortunately for the school i'm renting from, their enrollment really went down this year. bad for them, pretty good for me as i'll now have my very own class room that i can lock up, leave things of the walls, decorate as i see fit... and not worry about people getting into everything.

so i've been lesson planning, making worksheets and posters and getting ready for the kids. so far i've only got 18 - but i've got faith that we'll grow and soon i'll be writing about hiring my first teacher! i've also been growing with my adult classes here in the house - my adult groups are packed with 10 students (a lot in my small dining room!) and i've got 8 private students and a couple bilingual school kids.

so, while it's been a busy three days - even with amalio home helping out - it's been productive and i feel really good about what i've accomplished. just a little more to go and i'll be ready for the first real day of classes on monday :)

happy quality friday!

learning center.

if you've been reading lately, you know that at the end of the school year - after a lot of thought and prayer - quit my job at a private school's after-school english program and am jumping head first into my own project.

i'm starting slow - kind of - sharing space with a very low-income private school* to begin what i have the dream of becoming a fullblown community learning center. we'll start this september offering extra-curricular english classes at a very low cost and hopefully by midterms in december be offering tutoring and a homework center.

we did a lot of publicity before i left to come to philly, but i'll have to work hard in august to get everything running smoothly, but i am sure it's going to be worth it.

do i want my own "school"? no. why? because i believe in public education. but i'm not naive either, and i know that public education - everywhere, not just the third world - is in need of some help. my vision is to work in collaboration with the public school and their students to help where they need it. and of course where i'm able and knowledgable (there's nothing worse than an american who thinks they know third-worlders need but really aren't able to offer anything more substantial than what is already offered)

that being said. i need some help.
first and foremost, this little project needs prayer. if this is going to work, i can't do it alone and i know that prayer works.

beyond that, we need some basic school supplies - chalk, whiteboard markers, erasers, flashcards.

one of our joint "projects" with the school is to (free) raffle some school bags full of supplies to kids enrolled in our programs as a way to help offset their beginning of the school costs. we're also going to sell tickets that will benefit the scholarship program (need AND merit based).

here's the plea. i'm looking for some bookbags. preferably new, but gently used is okay too. i need three more. if you're interested in helping with this (or even offering a scholarship for a kid to study english for the year - just $60 USD for the school year) leave me a comment of email me and let me know. i will greatly appreciate it and the families that win will also appreciate it.

thanks!

finally.

after waiting for an hour to talk to my (now) ex-boss... after almost poking my f-in eyeball out with a stick... after samil took all the books and papers out of their places, waved around a plastic bag like it his job... after i heard my brother's stomach rumbling in hunger...

i am officially nolonger employed.

not technically un-employed.
mostly because i still work my ass off.

and starting right after my three week leisure vacation for rich people the USA i will hopefully be the proud owner of my own learning center.

oh, and not only did i get my paycheck, vacation and christmas pay, i got a nice little bonus.
of a lot of money.

which i promptly spent on getting a damn permission slip from my husband and the government for samil to travel. alone.

and by alone i mean with his mother.

leaving.

remember my cleaning spree a few days ago?

my boss came. we talked. and i am more decided than ever that my time is over at the EBG. have you ever had someone talk in circles to you about things that are important? or avoid questions altogether?

amazing. when i began teaching at EBG, i l.o.v.e.d. it. i had never met an owner so dedicated to an educational "business" in santiago. the ones i had worked with were way more concerned about the money than the lessons they were giving.

these owners were phenomenal. anything i needed, i could get. no questions asked. they realized that they weren't educators, not even teachers. and found people to direct their school and paid them well to do it well.

just recently the school hired a new "administrator" who is a complete penny-pincher. our copies are counted and if we go over the limit, forget about it. a problem for me since my students don't have text-books. and are 5. lots of coloring pages. lots of cutouts. we used to be paid holidays, eventhough we're paid by the hour. imagine the shock of missing 6 hours of work in march because of holy week and it not being in our checks.

so, we talked to the owner and she talked in circles. the institute isn't making money. it's disorganized. it's in evaluation. they're analyzing the situation. are you going to pay us for the two bs holidays we were forced to take this month?

the institute isn't making money. it's disorganized. it's in evaluation. bla bla bla.
and to top it off, i just found out it's against the law for them to not pay us holidays. even if we're paid by the hour.

so, i'm jumping in feet first and hoping that this little business endeavor of mine works out. and successfully. it'll be a hard summer of promoting and advertising -- and that's only if the school i'm talking to accepts my offer.

keeping my fingers crossed.

finished plan.

my business plan is finished.

and i have a meeting with the owner of the school i want to use for the institute on monday.

we are all really excited about the prospects. the owners seem really into it, they just want to see my proposal to see if financially it makes sense for them.

to every thing a season

i've written some about what.i.do. here in santiago. basically, i teach english. i love my job, i really do. but everyday i can't help but think there is no advancement for english teachers here. maybe that sounds drastic - like being a teacher is not fulfilling... it is. but there really are very few ways to move up.

i teach in a little institute that annexed off of a pretty popular private school. the school is great. the teachers are well paid (and therefore happy), well educated and overall enthusiastic about teaching. the school is organized with vice principals, coordinators, gym teachers, art teachers and computer teachers - a rare find in a middle-class school. the owners are fantastic. i.love.them. a big - ok, HUGE - part of the reason that i'm still there is becasue the owners are that great. i'm allowed to do whatever i want in my class, organize activities and anything. they throw extra money my way occasionally - especially when i'm not expecting it.

the problem? the institute is not organized. the coordination is pretty inexperienced and in order to keep things running, i usually have to take the reins. horrible? no. just not ideal. theoretically, the coordination should be my job. it was offered to me. but i was pregnant and didn't know what i'd be doing. theoretically i could take the job in june. and move up. but then what?

i'm working on my business plan. but its a big jump. with no net. right now we make enough money to pay our bills. we put money away for samil and try, really hard, every month to put at least 5% of our money in the bank. my job at the institute guarantees the water, electricity, apartment maintenance and telephone being paid every month. and while i have 30-some students in my house, that money isn't always sure. i get new students, lose old students... people sometimes can't pay. tons of things.

i need to make a decision soon enough to give my little job notice. am i going to go at my own institute full-time or do i need to keep my two-day-a-week gig? deep in my heart i know that i need to go at it full-force, follow my dream. everything points to "yes". but it's a little nerve-wracking to give up my only steady, sure, source of income.

what do you think? to jump right in? or take baby steps?

a new adventure?

since i left my "full-time" job in december of 2006, i have been teaching english as a foreign language in my house. its something that i enjoy, i can choose my students and i make my own rules. i had some issues with bilingual schooling - the biggest being that their were no consequences for the students, and the administration would always take the side of parents instead of teachers. it is a sad situation for me that education here is looked on as a lucrative, money-making business. instead of offering quality education, they offer fancy things to draw the (mostly) under-educated "middle-class". a school with computers, or an art program will get more "wealthy" students than a school without them... and it doesn't matter if the computers work, or if the kids learn how to use them. and art, well that's just a joke. bilingual schools are the most expensive - offering english to kids whose parents don't speak the language. the problem? here, in santiago, at least, there aren't enough qualified teachers who really own english. its one thing to speak english, its another to teach science and math in english. so, most bilingual schools have teachers who have no teaching experience, no teaching degree, and, usually, poor english. when i tutored kids afterschool, i would read the 1st and 2nd graders notebooks - you know, where the teachers write the homework to save time - and there were mistakes that not even an english speaking kindergartener would make. i guess i'm a quality snob. and i think education is important. especially in a developing country. i really believe that education is the only thing that can raise a poor family out of the trenches. that said. i have been teaching at home - setting my own prices, making my own program and doing my own thing. but, we've since outgrown the small space of my dining room and we've been receiving a ton of calls for class. right after easter break i will be taking my business plan to 3 local schools in a plan to rent their space in order to grow our little english program. we have a big long term dream, and this would be just a little step in the big scheme of things, but we never thought i'd have to move out of the house so soon. i'm excited and nervous - and writing the plan... completely in spanish. a big challenge. next week my parents and sister are here and then we'll see where we go with this. i hope you all have a great end of the week! (my return key is stuck... sorry about the lack of paragraphs)