First Day Teaching My New Class

Though I've been in Costa Rica nearly six weeks, a majority of those six weeks were spend taking the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course through the Center For Teacher Development (CFTD) and sitting the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT).  In the course I taught a few classes as part of my training, and during the past two weeks I have taught some tutorios (class make-up tutoring).  However, my (own) technical English classes will be starting next week, and my high school Saturday morning program started yesterday!




I was so nervous I left my place at 5:30AM to be sure I was on time (I sat outside the classroom for nearly an hour, which didn't help my anxiety).  Fortunately, I managed to get from Heredia (where I live) to Alajuela (where the high school is, and unfortunately about 25 kilometers away) in less than an hour and a half.  I think I'll leave at around 6:10AM next week; that's still pretty early for a Saturday morning.


The Class


The students are absolutely wonderful, which makes up for the entire lack of media in the classroom.  There weren't even white board pens or erasers.  It was by some miracle that I bought dry-erase pens and had them in my pencil case (everyone in Costa Rica uses pencil cases... and fanny packs).


Though every student save one showed up exactly 10 minutes late (Tico time), they were entirely engaged from 8AM-noon.  I nearly forgot about their break in the middle of the class, and not a single student reminded me.  My other teachers were right about the high school students; their brains are like wet sponges. They were forming greater understanding as I watched.


The Bad




In addition to having neither markers, erasers, projectors, electronics, or A/C, I had created a lesson plan for the wrong section, in the wrong book.  Fortunately, I had time to scramble (while we did introductions and discussed what the students learned during their last English block (with a fellow Politecnico professor).  I quickly flipped through one of the students' textbooks as soon as the panic wore off.  There was a section in their textbook called "Our Planet" which corresponded pretty well to my lesson planned around "Experiencing Nature and Talking about the Environment."  Saved!  I wasn't able to do the same grammar focus or activities from the book, but I was able to use many of my other activities.


Highlights of my first day with my own class

• I realize I can be as goofy as I want (and I think it helps increase motivation and decrease negative affect/anxiety) because nobody that knows me is watching.
• The incredible attitude, understanding, and maturity of my little high schoolers.
• THEY'RE LITTLE.  I know that if I was teaching high school seniors in the US there would be more than a few of them towering over me.  My students are anywhere from 5 foot 6 to about 4 feet tall.  It was in no way confusing who was the teacher.  In the future I can shave before class.
• The expression "fake it 'til you make it" really does hold up.  I had students out of their seats at the end of class because they were so engaged, and many did the typical Tico move of thanking me afterwards.
• TWO ACTIVITIES in particular:
• In order to create our symantic map on nature (Symantic map = web of related words around a common theme) I broke the class into three groups and gave them 5 minutes to make lists of words pertaining to the topic.  Then I called up a representatives from each team to read off their lists one at a time.  The awesome part: I had them compete "Boggle Style" with their lists.  I strongly suggest this activity; I think I'll add it to Politecnico's "Resource Library" (in quotes because their currently isn't anything in the library).
• One of the things we're supposed to incorporate into every class is an opportunity for extended speech production.  Our goal is also to maximize student talk time.  To do this, I gave each group of students a jar of play-dough and the instructions "I was out (somewhere in nature), when I found a (make something out of your play-dough)."  As a group, the students were to make an object, describe how they found it in the forest/ocean/beach/sky/desert/snow, and what happened next.  I asked them to use the class discussion as inspiration, and the result was hilarious.  One group told a story about killing a spider in a cave (very artistic spider), another found a ukulele-playing alien in the forest, another was abducted by an alien, and the fourth found a skeleton sun-tanning on the beach.  Everyone had a lot of fun, and I am confident the students learned something.

Moving Forward

I'm going to search Politecnico to find the right book and secure myself a copy.  It is really hard to teach grammar and writing, on the fly, as a new professor.  I definitely need to focus on grammar and other quantifiable aspects of language moving forward.

I spend the last five minutes of class getting feedback from the students about the current class and what they'd like to see more off in the future.  The responses shocked me.  The students candidly admitted that they needed more work on pronunciation and grammar, though they also acknowledged (correctly) that they always want more vocabulary.  Another thing that surprised me was how they all understood the importance of language production and requested that we do more presentations.  They rock!

As crazy as it sounds, I may request to continue teaching high school classes after this rotation.  They meet Saturday morning, but down here in Costa Rica I'm not really crazy about staying out late or drinking.  The buses even stop picking people up after a certain hour.

So much has happened--Time to catch up

I'll start this entry off with an apology (mostly to myself, as I'm writing this blog for myself).  The past two weeks have been very busy, and I'm still dealing with a bit of transplant shock.  That said, I've had time to blog and just didn't.  Here's what I've done:


Karina's Birthday Party:


Karina, Lalo, and I drove out to a fancy discoteca to meet up with some of their other friends to celebrate Karina's birthday. She turned twenty-something again, we had a few non-Tico beers (the Costa Rican beer is really bad, and not much cheaper).  We stayed until around 2am, and thanks to my up-at-6am schedule, the physical lifestyle here, and the fact that people actually dance here, I was so exhausted I was falling asleep.  It was great seeing Lalo and Karina, and going out with some Ticos for a night on the town.


Tamara's Birthday Party:

Two birthday parties in one weekend.  Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.

Tamara, Tia Flori's granddaughter, had her birthday party this weekend.  And, shockingly, she was spot-on with her invitation list.  There were at least a hundred people at the party, as well as horses, dogs, cats, birds, and even a donkey.  The family had rented a very nice finca outside of San Jose with the option of swimming, playing soccer, having a barbeque, socializing, and lounging by the bar.  As promised, there was a clown (a very bad clown I might add), a ton of great Tico food, and more relatives than most Americans could imagine.

I played soccer, took a wonderful soak in the pool, filled up on chorizo, carne de res, gallo pinto, arroz con vegetales, unos hotdogs con queso, and a very bizarre dessert best described as marshmallows dipped in colored, condensed milk.  Marcos and I (after tearing it up on the soccer pitch), fled the party as soon as the sky started to fall (and the clown started to bomb).  Still, it was one of the best days I've had here in the rich coast.

TEFL Certification


I am now officially certified (and also licensed) to teach English here in Costa Rica.  My report card was good enough (all top marks or near enough to be considered presentable), which I am proud of given my limited experience and knowledge of teaching or studying the English language.  I should also point out that I scored in the top band in every single section of the Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT), a test used by Costa Rica and many other countries as a means of qualifying, evaluating, and categorizing English language instructors.  There wasn't much to study for the exam, as I felt confident in nearly every section after taking a practice test a few days before sitting the exam.  While we were allowed a full day to prepare for the test, and the test itself is nearly four hours, much of the time allotted wasn't necessary.  If you take a TEFL course from a reputable and achievement-oriented teacher training institute, you should have no trouble scoring top marks on your TKT.  Moreover, your performance is considered "acceptable" if you score in either of the top two bands in every section. No sweat, mae.


Going out with the teachers

After finishing the TEFL course, it seemed like the perfect thing to do was get together with the other students/teachers and eat, drink, and relax.  Our instructor (Sara) hosted us at her new apartment (it seems we're all relatively new to Costa Rica).  I brought Karina (she took me out with her friends and let me use my Spanish, I felt like it was only fair to bring her to an English-dominated affair).  Karina and I brought some drinks and a pack-load of delicious cheese or cheese and meat rice-filled tacos.  Because of their awesome size and deliciousness, we started calling them pocket tacos.

The potluck was delicious and interesting, the students, administrators, and teachers in attendance were all interesting, and the mood was light.  It was a great way to end our TEFL training experience.  I hope to see my classmates and instructors (and their boyfriends/girlfriends/fiancées) again soon.

I think the highlight of the night for me was heading to the only open bar within walking distance and finding it full of beautiful, interesting, happening Ticos.  There was no cover, everything was affordable, and there was an open pool table when we arrived.  We played 9-ball, cutthroat, 8-ball, and had a great time getting to known each other in a more relaxed setting. Deli's guy Justin was a ton of fun, though I imagine his night started to drag when he had to (with limited Spanish) get himself and Deli home at 3am.

The highlight for a large group of bar-goers was certainly shocking the Gringos.  Little did we know, we'd happened upon a bar full of lesbians.  I have to tip my hat to Costa Rica.  In a part of the world dominated by Catholic decrees, Machismo attitude, and homophobia, Costa Rica seems to be a gay-friendly zone.  Female-female couples were making out and dancing throughout the bar.  Surprisingly, I think it made us more comfortable.  Our group was mostly girls, and they had no problems dancing together Tico style.

Deli's highlight must have come the next morning, when she woke up with a grand wine hangover and discovered delicious pocket-tacos in her purse.  Some people thought we were joking, but Justin and I were all about the concept of pocketing the tacos and snaking on them throughout the night.  Brilliant.  Thank you Karina for making them.  It was super-cool that I showed up at your place to head to Sara's and you were putting the finishing touches on something delicious to share.


Moving to Heredia

While my homestay was a great and memorable experience, it was more than time to move out.  I left the Monday evening after the end of my TEFL certification.  It is miserable to not have all of your creature comforts when living temporarily in a foreign country, but moving is a hell of a lot easier.  I hailed a taxi and negotiated an $18 fare (I was worried about keeping all of my stuff with me and getting between bus stops, not to mention the cost of the taxis on both ends of the trip).  I feel the price was right, and I was able to get from San Jose to my new place in Heredia in less than 40 minutes.

My new place is perfect.  I have a beautiful, large, hardwood room.  The floor, ceiling, door, and floor-to-ceiling dressers are all solid wood, as are the stairs and everything else on the second floor.  The entire second floor is mine, as my two roommates (Ariana and Reyna) live downstairs.  There is a full bathroom on the second floor (with pretty good water pressure and heat), a landing large enough for a full-sized futon pad, and most notably a beautiful open terrace with two wood/leather rocking chairs.  The terrace is a beautiful beige/orange, and has a beautiful corner panorama of downtown San Jose.

(My bedroom.  Ignore the TV/electronics, those belong to the previous Gringo roommate who's moving out because his Golden Retriever puppy is too big for the place.  Note the fact that I'm sleeping on a Tico mattress on the floor.  It almost makes me miss my children's loft back home.)

We have a (functional) kitchen, a nice dining room table, some wooden furniture with cushions towards the entrance of the house, a downstairs bathroom, a laundry room with a Tico washing machine, a square, cement "backyard," and a wonderful corner lot that allows for a fenced-in garden, enough parking for four Tico cars and plenty of motos, and a Super less than 100 yards away for any grocery needs.

The best part about living here in Heredia may be...

...the modestly cooler weather compared to San Jose...

...one of the largest Universities in Costa Rica as a center of the culture of the city (and a quarter-mile from my house)...

...the fact that the average person you meet in Heredia is down to Earth, well educated, incredibly accepting, and eco-conscious...

...I'm still only a 30 minute bus ride from San Jose centro and a $2-3 bus ride to both coasts...

...my roommates and a quarter of the inhabitants of Heredia are musicians.  In fact, the central parque here in Heredia has a music temple.  Very cool...

...from my new house I can walk to/from a supermarket that sells everything I could need, downtown Heredia, a beautiful coffee plantation, buses directly to San Jose and directly to Politenico (assuming I work there)...

...rent is affordable ($200/month) as are utilities...

...having two roommates who are happy to show me the ropes and teach me how to cook and do laundry for myself the Tico way...

...we have two hammocks already.  One is hung in our wrought-iron garage near my new garden, I am looking into getting the other one hung on the second floor...

That's all I have energy for tonight.  I have interviews for teaching positions tomorrow.  Wish me luck; I'm hoping at least one of them is nothing more than a formality.

Warmest Regards and Pura Vida,

Zach

A Weekend In Puntarenas

With everyone here in Costa Rica taking the day off on Monday for La Negrita (La Virgen de Los Angeles), we students had a three-day weekend.  I took the opportunity to head to the beach.  Though teachers and students in my program warned me that Puntarenas was ugly, passed over, and nothing like what it was a decade ago, I decided to head there all the same.  The way I saw it, Puntarenas was a three hour (four dollar!) bus ride away, and the easiest place to go without making plans.

I loved the point, and I loved the beach.  I would highly recommend Puntarenas to any traveler looking for:

      1. A budget adventure
      2. A relatively gringo-free zone
      3. A beach and a pair of piers full of Ticos doing what Ticos like to do.

Highlights of my trip:

-Arriving in a thunderstorm, persevering through three "hostels" to find one for under $10/night with a private room, and then immediately ditching my stuff and running for an hour and a half on the beach, all the while being blown around by gale winds and doused with torrential rain.

-Eating ceviche and saltines after that first run and realizing that, if you're hungry enough, ceviche is a delicious dish of diced fish steak cooked in lemon juice.  Of course, you could also say that ceviche is raw seafood served in an acrid juice...

-Going to the aquarium/rehabilitation center and seeing a number of pelicans not-fit-to-fly living out their days in comfort, realizing that the pelican that I saw flirting with death while running the night before was likely in this group.*

-Failing to order the correct dessert and having a pink, cola flavored shaved ice/chocolate and vanilla ice cream/vanilla syrup/dry condensed milk sundae at a Dos Pinos.  It was one of the best, albeit weirdest, things I have tasted while traveling.

-Reading, writing, and thinking in my chest-like room in the hostel while propping my legs and head up against the walls and watching geckos scurry across the roof.


*While I know this Seaquarium supports conservation efforts in the region, it is not worth your time or money.  I was offended that they recently doubled the price, for foreigners only.  Moreover, there is not much to see or do in the park.  I am an ecology enthusiast and I could only pass 45 minutes inside the park.
One exception: If you're traveling with children under the age of 12, there is a pool, tons of things to climb on, photo ops, and other children-oriented activities.  Also, children under 12 are free.

And with that I'm off to bed.  The trip was wonderful but exhausting, and I'm catching up on sleep and TESOL studies.  This next week I'll be: Finding an apartment/room in San Jose, taking care of getting my funds to Costa Rica (it's been a bear), and attempting to drop in on the apartment of someone else from Politecnico for a birthday part.  My thoughts are fading and I'm ready for sleep.

Pura Vida,

Z