Il mio lavoro

[Disclaimer: I realize that probably no one really cares about what I do at work, but since at the end of every trimester as part of my job I’m supposed to write some sort of report/evaluation of everything I’ve done, I figure I’ll just document it here for future reference (and just in case anyone is interested...)]

Thursday wasn’t bad. There were of course more menial tasks (cutting, pasting, making photocopies, and the like), but in the afternoon Laura and I got to work with the children, which was nice, since in theory that is what we were hired to do, haha. Anyway, we worked on conversation with third graders (simple stuff like talking about family and pets, for instance), and then individual students read a short story to us out loud. They definitely do a lot better with comprehension than production, but I suppose that’s natural.

Friday was Laura’s day off, so I didn’t have anyone to chat with during my morning "prep" time. These hours were a bit exasperating, since I don’t really have anything to "prepare" yet. Supposedly by the end of October we’ll finally have a set schedule.

What I don’t really understand is why these things aren’t figured out before the school year starts. The reason we auxiliares are in limbo is because the teachers themselves still don’t have their horarios. From what I gather, a state inspector comes in and has to approve of how the school is operating (like the order in which lessons are being taught, and that kind of thing). Therefore, there are still changes being made, such as switching a science class from fourth period to second period, for example. Again, I’m not exactly clear about why nearly a month into the academic year this is the case, but whatever. So it goes.

Today, in the morning I actually got to work with some second graders. We reviewed colors, so that was fun. Then after coffee break I observed some of the other teachers’ classrooms (so far we’ve just been with Mercedes, the bilingual program coordinator), which is all we’re going to be doing this week apparently. I sat in on a kindergarten period, and it was utter mayhem, but the kids seemed more interested in me than their older counterparts, and they also seemed much more willing to repeat words in English, so that was good. I also attended two second-grade lessons, and it’s so interesting to see the different teaching styles. I was surprised by how mean one professor was with her students -- she yelled at them and threw down their notebooks and pencil cases and whatnot :/ I feel like it doesn’t particularly set a good example, but I suppose I shouldn’t judge. Frankly, I don’t really remember if any of my elementary school teachers were like that. It was so long ago. One other thing I find worthy of note is that the pupils call their maestras by their first names. It seems unusual, but really they’d probably say the same thing about Americans addressing their instructors by Mr. or Mrs. Anyway, that’s all for now!