Model School

For the past two weeks, we have been teaching “model school” in San Domingos. This is a pretty amazing thing the Peace Corps organizes. They have local kids from the community sign up for “English Classes.” There are about 250-300 students that come to the school everyday for two weeks to learn English. The students range from 7th grade (little or no prior English classes) to the 12th grade (decent English language use).

All of the volunteers participate in model school in some way or another. The TEFL teachers taught for the full two weeks, two class periods per day. The Community Development folks only had to teach model school for 3 days, to get a feel for being in a classroom. Most community development people end up teaching English classes at local community centers, so it is good practice for them. Because I am a teacher trainer, I was asked to teach one class per day and observe and critique other TEFL teachers during the other class period.

I was fortunate enough to get to teach the 12th grade class. There were about 15 girls and 1 guy! They were the most fun class because their English was pretty solid. The other teacher trainer, Jessica, also taught this same class. We split our time between teaching and observing (she would teach while I observed and then we’d switch)! We taught them how to distinguish between adjectives that describe feelings and those that describe physical characteristics. We also worked with them on reading comprehension and writing. Our best lesson was on coordinating conjunctions (but, however, although, etc.). It was a bit difficult at first but once they understood the difference between contrasting words and causal words, we were in business! I also was asked to teach the 8th grade one day just for practice! WOW! I have soooo much respect for anyone who can teach 8th graders. I had about 35 students and they were bouncing off the walls. I had 4 boys who decided they wanted to sit right in front to be close to me! How flattering! They told me “I love you teacher” and “Teacher, you are beautiful.” They were actually the best students in the class, so I wasn’t too mean to them. J Each day I was observed by one of the coordinators, and the feedback I got was all positive and helpful. We are surrounded by some really amazing English teachers, so we have the benefit of learning a lot from them. It’s pretty awesome.

Now for the fun stuff…. On Friday we had a “graduation” ceremony for the model school students. It was the most amazing thing I have done here so far! Each teacher had his or her class pick a song to perform for all of the other students. We practiced with them during the week and on Friday we had a huge party! The Peace Corps hired a DJ and had a great sound system set up outside. The weather was absolutely perfect, so no worries about rain. My friend Nick and I were asked to be the emcees for the event, so we got the crowd all excited and then had each class and teacher perform their song. The young kids did “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” and it was sooo cute. Another one of the 7th grade classes performed “lonely, I’m so lonely” and the other 7th grade class sang “old MacDonald.” They were absolutely adorable. These kids are amazing. They all participated and they all really put a lot of work into their performances. The 8th graders performed a chant and stomp routine, which was really cool. One 9th grade class sang Bob Marley’s “One Love” and the other 9th grade class sang Enrique Iglesis’ “hero”!!! The tenth and eleventh grade classes got together and sang “three little birds” by Bob Marley (he is extremely popular here!). The final performance of the day was Jessica and my class, the 12th grade. Because we had all girls and only 1 guy, we decided to have them sing Aretha Franklin’s RESPECT! It was awesome. We choreographed a little dance with them and had our one guy, Antonio, jump in the middle of the girls during the “sock it to me” part! It was so fun. After the performances we had lanxa (snacks) for the kids and played games. I was in charge of the three-legged race, which was a big hit with the kids! After the games, the DJ played some music and ALL of the kids and teachers danced. Now, imagine a dance in America…. Kids don’t really do much dancing, they just kind of stand around because they are too shy or embarrassed to get in front of other people and dance. NOT IN CAPE VERDE. These kids never stopped dancing. There was not one kid just standing around. They all know how to dance and they all dance very well. It is a major part of their culture here. They have several traditional dance styles that they typically do. I have yet to see a Cape Verdan who cannot dance or is shy about dancing. It’s pretty amazing.

After the graduation (oh, we gave them diplomas too for completing model school) we had a TEFL vs. CD (community development) soccer game. All of the students headed to the soccer field to watch us play! Thankfully my team won! Our students were all cheering for us. They were absolutely adorable. It is awesome to have the experience of teaching these kids because now I feel like I know that many more people in the community. The kids always stop and talk to me so I get to practice my Kriolu and they practice their English with me. It’s pretty cool.

I can honestly say that I have never been so impressed by a community of people. These children came to school during their summer vacation to learn English. The students are so interested in learning and practicing here. I can’t imagine students in America sitting in a classroom every afternoon for two weeks listening to a fairly inexperienced teacher try to learn how to teach TEFL!!! The desire to learn English here is sooo strong. These children soak up everything and are involved and engaged during the process. It’s a great feeling to know that these kids appreciate what we are here to do and that they want us to be here with them.

Alright, this has turned into a really long blog! Sorry. I miss everyone! Please write soon. Txau, ti logu.