Nerves

Mayra Sub-

secretaria,

Chris Consul, 

Roberto principal, 

Laura superstar English teacher

So Prof Roberto was bien nervioso (very nervous) Wednesday.  He got all worked up.  He ended the day by saying that the visitors would probably be there around 8 and we should all be there and ready.  I knew from the Consul(Chris)'s secretary's email that it would be 8:30-10:30.  I also knew that if he were being shuttled around by Mexican folk that it would likely be a bit later.  Not wanting to disappoint, however, I set my alarm for 6am and prepared my nerves (they were fine).

I got up Thursday morning and tried to be cute.  The faculty had decided to all wear the more formal "uniform" we have- a blue and white striped button up collared shirt.  As I was leaving Wednesday, Sandra asked me if I would be dressed in uniform or if I'd be "guapa."  I asked her what she thought and she said to drop the uniform and dress to impress.

Considering the climate, I went for madras.  For once, I was wearing 3/4 sleeves in Culiacán!  I walked out of the house for the bus and was COLD.  Remember please that everything is relative.  Apparently there was a cold front coming through.  I will go ahead and say that by the end of the school day I was sweating...  Some cold front.

I was excited, though, to feel cold in the morning!

I got to school about 7:55 and signed in, not knowing what else to do.  Sandra got there a few minutes later and started busying himself with the bulletin board decorations (there is only one for the whole school).  

They had asked a 5th grade dad to create a handwritten banner in calligraphy (more or less) wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Sandra added some poinsettia decor and it was done.

I busied myself watching.  There were some girls playing a rope game that intrigued me.  The elastic gets higher and higher.  You have to jump and land with both feet on the elastic.  When you mess up (only one foot), you're out.  The girls wanted me to play-and I will- but I had on a straight skirt.  Straight skirts are NOT meant for jumping over elastic!

I went back to the computer room and stood in the doorway (instead of outside) so I could see what was going on yet remain warm.  I fixed a hot green tea (I bought some mango green tea bags a few weeks ago and now I'm putting them to use) and observed.  Up walked Maribel and Ana Luisa.  They signed in and greeted me (kisses) and sat down with me in the computer room.  I told them how nervous everyone was.  Maribel commented on the change in the school.  She could tell that it was cleaner, etc.  These "upper level" visits are far too infrequent in my mind.  If there was more of this, the schools here would look good and be on task more often.

Since they were early, I decided to pull out my family photo album I had brought for teaching purposes.  Neither of them had seen it, so I went through it page by page with them.  Then I showed Ana Luisa my Lockeland yearbook.  Maribel had seen it.  It's an impressive book to anyone (in any country) because the teachers who work on the yearbook put a lot of time and effort into it.  Ana Luisa and Maribel, however, can really appreciate it because they have both taught in the US, so they know what schools look like there.

Little by little, people started showing up.  First, it was three women from our zona escolar (basically our geographic area).  They are supervisors and are the women who had come a few weeks ago for some sort of assessments and put my teaching schedule in all sorts of chaos.  Later came the supervisor for the entire zona (this is the one who liked my legs- poor old blind man!).  Finally in walked Consul Chris and Rocio (the English big boss who taught at my school when my 6th graders were in 1st grade).  We all sat and chatted for a bit while others filtered in.  Mayra Cota (director of scholarships for Mexican teachers and Ana Luisa's supervisor) came and sat while we were talking.  Chris offered two books and some posters to out school and we continued the chat we had started on Monday at the SEP.  We got a call from the other Mayra (the subsecretaria) saying she was stuck in traffic but on her way and if we wanted to start without her we could.

This is where they all turned to me and said, "What now?"  Maria Elena, Chris's secretary in Guadalajara is the one who had called me.  I kept thinking about the conversation I had had with her.  The one where she said, "No, Laura, you shouldn't do anything special.  He just wants to meet you and see your school."  

Having had visitors on a weekly basis at Lockeland there for awhile, I wasn't nervous.  That didn't change the fact, though that I hadn't prepared anything!

I asked them what they would prefer.  Did they want to see a few lessons or did they just want to see what the classrooms were like, etc?  Lessons won by a landslide.

Ever quick on my feet, I explained that 1st grade had just had a test, but I could review with them.  I wanted them to see the difference in 1st grade and 6th grade.  Since we had been working on Jingle Bells in 5th grade, I thought we should join them, too.  I grabbed enough teaching things for 1st grade to be impressive.  I had explained already that 1st grade is mostly about vocabulary acquisition and repeating, so we started by reviewing with the toy and color flashcards that I have.  They smoked it!  Everyone participated and looked jovial.  The beginning of class had been impressive, too.  I only spoke English (which I rarely do with them) and asked them to leave their English books in their school bags (vocabulary from unit 2, but the opposite of what they usually do when I enter the room).  They all obliged.  I even had several kids saying, "I understood what you said."

After the review I was regretting that I had not brought the CD player and CD since these kids love to sing.  I did, however, still have a trick up my sleeve.  I grabbed my Brown Bear book and began reviewing the colors with them and practicing the animal names.  We read the book and they "helped" with the colors and squealed with delight on the "teacher" and "children" pages.  

They were precious, well behaved and impressive.  I couldn't've asked for anything more.  (Well, I could have later in the day, but I'll get to that in a minute.)  Apparently, in the middle of my teaching, Mayra (subsecreatria) had snuck in.  After I finished, she asked the kids if they liked English, if they liked their teacher, if they could understand me, etc.  They were really cute.  Then she went on to encourage them.  She's a chatty one that Mayra.  During her speech, in came two 6th graders who had memorized a welcome to the group.  They welcomed and thanked them.  Mayra then spoke some more.  She asked Vanessa if she had studied English in a program outside of school.  Her answer was no.  I was glad I had chosen Vanessa for that purpose.  Guillermins (6th grade) had suggested Johana, who lived in the US until 4th grade.  I said I would prefer to have someone who had not had that kind of experience.  Turns out my instinct was right.

We leave 1st grade and I'm about to explode I'm so excited and proud.  "Off to 6th grade" someone says from the back, and I let them know that we'll be visiting 5th grade for a Christmas song.

Piece of cake.  After the song, however, it felt like they wanted more, so I asked them some typical conversation questions.  They answered them; they raised their hands; they were impressive as well.  I even heard some of the adults saying, "look at them raise their hands!"  We moved on.

6th grade.

Oh, 6th grade.

They're so aware of all the eyes around them and were so nervous.  They hardly answered a SINGLE QUESTION.  I was ready to kill them!  But the observers were understanding.  Since I didn't have an official lesson prepared, it was my fault.  But wingin' it had worked with the other two!  I suffered through 6th grade and our guests all met back up in the computer room for some chat and cookies.  The consul had to leave to catch his plane, so Rocio took him to the airport.  The rest of us (including all our classroom teachers) stayed and put in requests to Mayra and listened to her go on and on (and on) about lots of different things in the education world.  I began to check out; she talked that much!

Since I started this post on Thursday and it is now Tuesday, it's pieced together pretty terribly.  I apologize.  But I will sum it up this way: it was a GREAT day and fun to schmooze.  I felt in my element "winging" my lessons, and I was very proud of the kids.

I was going to try to upload one of my videos, but I just think all my footage from that day is too big!