Mary Jeanne (my companera in the program) and I arrived late last Wednesday night in Santiago, and were picked up by Father Mike (a gringo who is the Provincial down here) and a couple of Haitian seminarians (Jacquy and Icemick--my new besties). We spent the night at the priest's residence nearby our house and then moved into our home Thursday morning. Thursday was mostly spent sleeping and preparing to leave for a reunión of all of the priests/brothers/seminarians in the Congregation of Holy Cross District of Chile. This was basically an opportunity for Mary Jeanne and myself to meet everyone, and for them to meet us. It was held at a retreat house in the Sanctuary of Saint Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, which is a beautiful and holy place to be. The seminary here is an inernational one which means there are men from Brazil, Haiti, Peru, and Chile all studying to be priests. The only way any of us can communicae with one another is through Spanish.
We then began the week with shadowing Hermano Mateo at Colegio Andacollo (which is where the two of us will be working during our time here) in his English classes and meeting with the Pastoral (campus ministry) staff. I will be teaching English to a fifth grade class and an eighth grade class on Monday mornings, working in Pastoral on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then teaching English again to two groups of fourth graders on Thursday. Friday will be a day for a secondary ministry, which I still have to decide about. Colegio Andacollo is a kindergarten through 12th grade school, it is huge! I very much enjoy recess where I can watch 4 games of soccer be played on the same concrete court by 4 different age groups, all running in different direcetions and yet at the same time able to keep out of each others way-- it is an art!
Today, I had my first teaching experience. I spilt my classes with Hermano Mateo, which means each of us have about 5-7 kids each for 40 minutes and then we switch groups. The kids we teach are supposed to be the most advanced English speakers, and so they split off from the rest of their class during this time. The first group of fourth graders were so so naughty! They were all boys, adorable, and much more interested in talking to me in Spanish about their soccer teams than practicing 'to be' verbs in English. One little boy, Ignacio, told me he will only go by the name Cristiano Ronaldo. :) I spent the majority of the hour and a half laughing and asking myself how in the world I am going to teach these kids anything. The second group were brilliant and are very interested and focused on learning their English. I am excited for all of my groups and getting to know all of the students!
I took some pictures and attached them so you all can see where I am now living:
Our street: Calle Armstrong
Nuestra Casa
The first floor
The dangerous (!) staircase
Second floor hallway and bahroom at the end
My room, it has a window!
Besos y brazos
love this :)
ReplyDelete