Saturday 8 September 2012

Teaching in La Hoya




Teaching in La Hoya

I’ve only just begun teaching this week but I’m already enjoying it. It’s hard work but the kids here are so enthusiastic and so happy to be learning English that I can’t help but be enthused as well.

My first lesson was what could probably be termed a nearly-avoided disaster. I had my first English class with the very large and very rowdy Seventh grade class, who became excited to the point of distraction when I tried to get them to play a simple name game with me. The game quickly descended into chaos, and I was forced to draw the game (and the class) to an early close. Some quick editing to my lessons plans and my second class, with Fifth grade, went significantly better, as I now understood how to control the class.  Class with the fourth graders is probably the most interesting, since Fourth grade is the first year of English tuition. They’re very excited to be learning English but really struggle with every word.

I think I probably enjoyed teaching the fifth graders the most. They know enough English to manage the material but it’s still new enough that they’re enthused and excited.

I’m really jealous of my partner Becky, who teaches art. Art is taught to all the grades here in La Hoya, so Becky has the first and second graders, who are so small and adorable.  I did have the chance to substitute for one of the pre-school teachers on Friday. Daisy, the main pre-school teacher, and myself, worked with the pre-school together and I was forced to confiscate a dead lizard from a student. Teachers I know back home are busy confiscating phones and video games, while I find myself confiscating dead lizards from pre-schoolers!

At the close of my first week of teaching, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year. Discipline is difficult to enforce but kids here are incredibly enthusiastic and really desperate to learn. I have high hopes for the forthcoming year and hope to be able to regale you with some success stories as time passes!

Saturday 1 September 2012

La Hoya



Beginnings of my life here



My new home is a small village in the Southwest of the Dominican Republic called La Hoya. The nearest town is the small city of Barahona, the regional capital. La Hoya is about twenty minutes away from Barahona by car and ten away from the nearest village, Habinero.

La Hoya has a population of just under 500, several churches, a handful of colmados (local corner stores that sell anything from paper to groceries) and a central ‘parque’ that is more just an open area with some pavement and a few trees. COPA has built both a health clinic and an elementary school in La Hoya. Primary education in the DR is from pre-school (pre-escolar) to eighth grade (octavo), so there are ten different grades in attendance at COPA’s school in La Hoya. School runs in two shifts: a morning shift from 8 until 12 and an afternoon shift, from 2 to 5. Only grades four through eight have English classes and I see each grade twice a week for 45 minute lessons. However, I haven’t seen any of my classes yet! School started on Wednesday the 22nd but English and Art classes don’t start until next week, so my partner and I have been keeping busy planning our lessons and helping the other teachers. We’ve also been exploring La Hoya and getting to know the people here.

Part of our exploring has involved trying Dominican food! From what I’ve experienced so far, Dominican food is filling, tasty and there’s a lot of it. Dominican portions are larger than any I’ve experienced, even in the US, and Dominicans love their food!

My favourite so far is a totally new food to me, tostones. I had difficulty explaining that in English, there is only one word for banana and we only eat one type! Here there are at least six different types of plaintain or banana, all of which can be made into tostones. Banana or plaintain is cut into sections, fried, flattened into a small pattie and fried again. The result is a savoury dish, sort of like potato chips, only hot and slightly chewier.

Dominican spaghetti is incredibly filling; I’ve rarely been able to get through a whole portion but it’s very delicious. Made with tomato sauce, condensed milk, vegetables and copious garlic, it’s a staple food here. Another staple is rice and beans, usually mixed in what Dominicans call “morro”. COPA took us out for a Dominican meal at La Hoya’s only restaurant, Daisy’s, where I had my first taste of morro. Like all Dominican food, it fills you up quickly!

I only have internet once a week, but I will try and keep this blog as updated as possible. If you wish to contact by email, I can be reached at bethanyg93@hotmail.com. If you’d like to write to me here in La Hoya, my address is:

Escuela de COPA c/o Bethany Garry
La Hoya
Apartado 42
Barahona
The Dominican Republic

Look forward to my next blog post, which will be about my first experiences as a teacher here!