Bichos in my bed

Tuesday, September 21
10:30 pm

    I'm scratching' the dickens out of my bug-bitten foot/legs/arms right now… I'm pretty certain that there are invisible bugs that crawl into my bed at night….iiiickkkch.  The bugs have actually not bothered me until the past few days…they must be making sure I get a fair share of quality time with them before I leave for Kerela on Monday. 
    Yesterday was my first day teaching!  And today my second!  We have gone to two different schools, both filled with uniformed, pig-tailed, enthusiastic, giggling little girls.  We were told to prepare for classes with about 30 students… so I waltzed on into the classroom with my hand-drawn flashcards and worksheets, a little nervous but very excited.  Well, there were actually 60 students in the cramped, sweaty classroom, so we had to fly by the seat of our pants a bit.  I taught a young learners lesson about school supplies and LOVED IT!  The girls seemed to really enjoy the class and I felt completely in my element….a great start to a week full of practice teaching!
    Today we went to a different school with slightly less than satisfactory conditions.  Today's lesson was called a basic lesson, and it a bit more difficult than a young learners lesson.  We are required for the course to do 1 young learners, 2 basic, 1 reading, and 1 listening practice lessons.  The problem with this is that we may not be presented with students at an appropriate level to effectively complete the lesson.  This happened to me today.  So us six teachers roll into this one-room thats about the size of 2 volleyball courts give or take.  The room is divided into 3 sections by two 7 foot partitions….the ceilings are like 20 feet high.  Its boiling hot, the walls and ceiling look like they may give at any time, but the wooden benches and tables within each section are filled with beaming little faces framed in pigtail braids and bows, ear to ear eager smiles, and perfect postures immaculately clad in turquoise jumpers.  We were told that all these sixth grade girls are from the local slums, and have had very limited English experience.   While I was very nervous about teaching this much harder lesson, I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face!
    I went ahead first in the far left hand section with my lesson on "scary things" (we are assigned our topics) and gave all I had.  Keep in mind that there are 3 teachers teaching and 3 classes repeating within one large echoing room, solely divided by a wannabe wall that didn't make it more than a third of the way to the ceiling.  Anyways, it was an experience for sure.  I stumbled a bit with the order of things but got into the swing of it and probably had WAY too much fun acting out each flashcard with the students.  "I am scared of spiders….. I shoo them away!" "I am scared of ghosts!"  "Ahh a shark!"….. anyways….my observer said "has a wealth of expression" and "puts students at ease" for my evaluation.  So I feel great about it!  Despite the fact that it was more difficult to teach this lesson, I really think the girls might go home and tell their parents "I am scared of snakes!"  I hope so anyway :-)
    Tomorrow is another basic lesson and my topic is movies.  I still need to finish all my flashcards depicting romance, comedy, Bollywood, action, etc.
    Haha, and as I sign off I'll have you know…WHISTLA'S HERE!  earplugs anyone?