La segunda semana en Nicoya!!....more of week 2 :)

My second week in Nicoya has been great. Over the weekend we traveled to Samara Beach with Karla. We had a great time, had a chance to relax after our first week of school and seen a beautiful sunset! As the week ended at San Ambrosio I seen an improvment in my student´s behavior and teaching is becoming easier and not so exhausting. They have continued to improve this week also and I feel that we have got a lot of things accomplished. I introduced my third graders to their pen pals from Green Valley School. They were very excited to get to know my other students from the United States. We worked this week on the letters to send back to Green Valley and so far the progress is good. I really been tested with the language barrier through this experience. I found myself speaking more and more Spanish (with the help of a Spanish/English Dictionary).


Samara Sunset

This week I went on a field trip to Costa Rica capital city, San Jose with my 31 fourth graders. The trip made for a long day but we had a great time. We visited the Museum of Natural History, the Post Office, Gold Museum, and the InBIOParque. The kids had a wonderful time and we got to see a different part of Costa Rica. I also worked with my fourth graders on a presentation that we will do for the school next week. We learned about preposistions and then played a prepositional game outside. after the game we wrote a prepositional poem as a class about a day at the beach. There were a few struggles during this activity but it turned out to be a success. The students were almost confused because they got out of their seats and down on the floor for us to talk and then we went outside and played. The students are so used to sitting in their seats and copying what is wrote on the board that they didn´t know what to do. It was nice to show them something different.


My fourth grade class at the INBIOPARQUE!


Pictionaries the fourth grade made on ai words.

I was able to experience a San Ambrosio tradition put on by the highschool seniors. The only problem was that it was at 1:00 a.m. on a school night. In Nicoya highschool seniors go around to their professors homes and ceranade them with a thank you song! They start this journey at 12:30 a.m.and were at Karla´s house, right outside our bedroom window at 1!!! It was a beautiful yet loud performance, just way too early for me! This has been a tradition for many years, Karla remembers doing the same thing when she was a senior!

My second week in Nicoya went very well and I am excited to finish out the school year and visit this beautiful place called Costa Rica!!!

Week Two in Nicoya!

So school is off to a good start this week..had a good Monday but still working!!! Tomorrow we have a field trip in San Jose with the 4th grade class..sp pretty excited about that! We are going to the Natural History Museum and the Gold Museum! We took a trip to the beach this weekend with Karla and had an awesome time. The weather was great with an occasional Costa Rica rain every now and again..but Dani and I got a little sun..I myself got a little too much on my back..but oh well!!! Hope everyone is doing well at home..

Dani and I arrived in Nicoya safely on October 31st to 82 degree weather. I was a beautiful day but very hot, too hot for the pants that I had wore from Charlotte’s airport. But we collected our bags and found Karla’s smiling face waiting for us outside. The ride to Karla’s house from Liberia took a little over an hour but was absolutely beautiful.

The first thing I noticed to be different from the United States, is the way Costa Ricans’ drive. It made me a little nervous because they drive fast and move in and out of traffic, passing whenever they want. But we made to Karla’s just in time for the rain to start pouring. We took our first visit into town with Karla Saturday afternoon, after the rain. It was very different to see so many people walking and riding bikes. Town was very crowded that day and Karla knew almost everyone that we passed. We went to her favorite café, Cafeteria D’ Melon for some refreshing drinks. Dani and I also ventured around the town visiting the park and some stores while Karla decorated a Christmas tree in a business owned by one of her close friends. Sunday we went to my first Catholic church service, it was interesting even though it was all in Spanish and I was not sure what they were saying. But the service was very different from the Baptist church service that I am used to.

Monday was our first day at San Ambrosio. I have been teaching English there all week and things are going well so far. The way things are done at San Ambrosio is very different from the schools in the United States and will be a big challenge. There is not really any classroom management or procedures practiced, which is making instruction difficult. I am working on creating ways in which students can participate in hands-on activities rather than just listening to lecture and copying notes. I am trying to learn the language and attempt to practice it when I can. At school though I am teaching in English and the students are trying to work with me but the language barrier is also complicating things. It is very hard to get the students to participate in class, I think because they are afraid that they will say something wrong. I am going to continue to work with these students and I am excited to see the changes that may occur in them during my stay here.