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!

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 22^nd 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!

Hurricane Isaac

Hurricane Isaac came over the southern Dominican Republic on Friday evening and caused some damage in nearby villages. La Hoya and Copa were very lucky, apart from some felled trees and a great deal of water, there was no damage and school was able to start again on Tuesday. There's still some worries about possible flooding but the rain seems to have passed and we seem safe for now.

Aside from the excitement of a hurricane, Becky and I have been enjoying sampling Dominican food and exploring the village of La Hoya. Everyone has been very welcoming and my Spanish is fast improving with constant use.

To everyone who is reading this or has been linked here recently, I apologise profusely for the lack of long posts! Hurricane Isaac has disrupted all rhymes of normal life, so we're still getting back into the swing of things. I hope having power back after Isaac means I will be able to make some substantial posts!

Hope to talk to everyone soon,
Bethany

Early Days!

My First Week:

I dont have much time on the internet here, so I will try and be consise. Forgive any misspellings, this keyboard was nto designed for english.

It´s been a surreal couple of days. Everything is so different here, so I have been taking my time adjusting. I have discovered that I really like Dominican food and yesterday Silvia, who is the librarian at the COPA school, and her neighbour Keniya, came by our house to make dinner with us and show us how to cook Dominican spaghetti and tostones, which are friend plaintain or banana. I love tostones!


I am still getting used to the heat, although it is not too terrible because there is usually a breeze. Becky and I have been on a few short walks but we usually come back needing to take a shower right away! We´ve been lucky so far with the power outages and have gotten used to taknig advantage of power while we have it.

My Spanish is a little rusty after the IB exams but I´ve been using it every day now and I keep learning new words. Sometimes it´s hard to communicate but people here are very patient with new volunteers and have so far been impressed with the Spanish I do know, so I´m pretty happy with how I am progressing.

Since I´m almost out of time, I must dash. Don´t forget to check out my flickr under ptbrg to see pictures!

Training: The Start Of The Journey

Training: 18th - 22nd of July, 2012

I depart for the Dominican Republic on the 11th of August! In about two weeks, I and my board a plane in Aberdeen and by the end of the day will be in Santo Domingo, the capital of the D.R. After that, we board a bus to Barahona, and then are driven to La Hoya, the village we will call home for the next twelve months!

I met my partner Becky about a week ago, at training on the Isle of Coll. She'll be teaching Art while I teach English at a primary school in La Hoya. Coll feels more and more familiar everytime I go back. Selection a year ago was fun and a crazy whirlwind of excitement and the hope for adventure. Training was more serious, a time to meet my partner and learn about the work I'd be doing. I learned a lot and had a great time with Becky, which I hope bodes well for our year together.

I'm massively excited about my year overseas, although I would be lying to say I wasn't terrified as well. One of the parts I'm most looking forward to is teaching, especially the younger children.

I'll be updating this blog regularly with my news and stories from the Dominican Republic and my travels. I'll be uploading pictures to my flickr account ptbrg and there's already some from training.

I'm really excited and hope to stay in touch with everyone!

(Project Trust waves goodbye to us from the pier!)