A Little Bit of Texas Goes Everywhere

The local InterAmerican Academy held a fund raiser – Texas Days! There were Ecuadorian bands doing their best Country Rock, greased pig chases, petting zoos and a Texas Barbeque competition.

Normally, Saturday is a day for me – a time for writing, relaxing or whatever I want to let the stress of the week ease away. This Saturday was a different take – Texas Barbeque! Our school – Colegio Americano, cobbled a barbeque team together to compete. At the competition we gave out samples, and sold our homemade pulled pork and ribs along with hamburgers, all with a side of cole slaw. For competition we competed in one category of chicken and another for pork ribs. It made for a very long day. Aside from six weeks of meetings and several practice sessions, we sat up on Friday night, arrived at 7 a.m. to start Saturday morning and were working through 6 p.m. followed by cleanup. Tired puppies were we.

While we were cooking we thought we did well, and were especially confident in our chicken. We thought we had done a good job on the ribs, too, but we also knew there was going to be a lot of good competition in that category. Still, we thought another team would need to come up with some very good ribs to beat us.

In the end Miller’s Grillers (that’s us) took 1^st Place in Chicken and 2^nd Place in Ribs. We were delighted, but the one irksome fact was that the winners of the Rib competition were a team from the English Consulate. A squad of Limey’s won the Texas Barbeque Rib competition in Ecuador? Sacrilege on so many levels!

All had a good time, some important money was raised for InterAmerican Academy, and we managed to bring some trophies home. Of course, in typical Ecuadorian tradition, something had to be a fly in the ointment. Our 1^st Place trophy said we won the award in the “Chiken” category.

Slammed, Study and being a Geographical Bachelor

Wow, things have gone from crazy to totally nuts!

Partly it is teaching at my school, Colegio Americano. We are set dead in the middle of our second quarter. You's think that things would have settled down into a rhythm, but no. Lots of teachers and clubs and everybody else are having school trips right now. In fact today (Tuesday) I will have only two classes all day, since everybody else are off gallivanting around. That really guts your teaching plans, as you see classroom hours melt away. Also, this is a middle of the South American flu season, so there are a lot of kids out sick right now. I suspect more are staying home than would normally due to Swine Flu concerns.

And then of course the history class I was teaching at nights is over (thank God)! It was a great experience but it was tough to get through with everything else on my plate.

Partly is Lisa left to go to the States for a few weeks, so I am at home holding down the fort with five dogs, three cats, two kittens and a bird. Plus, I had to go through another round of bureacratic nonsense to get a replacement Ecuadorian ID card which I had lost earlier at the same time I lost my passport on my previous trip to the States.

Add to that I am in the middle of taking a Critical Thinking class which is required for the teaching certification program I am working in online. It is not a bad class content wise, but it is quite a bit more "thinking" required than most - strange, hmm?

Plus I am trying to get together for my next trip to the States. I am going to Phoenix and Las Vegas for a week. Partly it is to at least see my wife for a few days during her vacation. Partly it is because I need to pass the APEA - which is the test you have to pass to get your Arizona teaching certificate.

Finally, I am pulling all the paperwork together so I can officially apply for conducting my final practicums. I think this part is so much fun. Not only is it paperwork intensive, but I find the fact that I am a working teacher with over 12 years of experience need to take 9 weeks of student teaching and Practicums in order to get my certificate to be ironic. Understandable on some levels, but dripping with irony nonetheless.

I did take a few hours off during the 4th of July. I went over to Colegio Americano where the American Community was having the typical 4th of July picnic stuff - games - food - music, etc. Good times - and all free too. I don't know who paid for it, it was some sort of a joint venture between the local American Consulate, InterAmerican Academy and Colegio Americano, but free beer, hot dogs and burgers is always a good thing

Surviving

Life has been so crazy. I can't believe it has been three weeks (almost four!) since I added an entry here.

Well, lets see. We are back in school at Colegio Americano after our swine flu vacation, and running amok trying to get caught up on the classes missed due to the school closing. Right after we got back it was our mid-term tests so I was deluged in tests and last minute papers to grade.

Meanwhile Lisa's school, Interamerican, finished out their year and Lisa is enjoying her vacation - NOT! The first couple weeks of her vacation two of our cats, Beth and Vicky, have dropped litters so we are awash with little rat-like things that someday may become cute. Also the male Shih-tsu has a bad case of kidney stones. The dogs and cats being Lisa's little babies, she is a freaked out lady at this point.

We had a great little dinner tonight. One of Lisa's fellow teachers at InterAmerican, Kevin, is moving on to a post teaching Special ed at the International School of Manila. We had lettuce wraps and mushroom-and-onion soup and talked a while. Good times.

In July we are both going to the States. Lisa will be using her vacation time to buy some clothes and blow off steam. i will meet her for a few days in Phoenix since I have a mandatory test I have to take for my teaching certification.

This is all fun, of course. I still have my full slate of classes at Colegio Americano, plus I am teaching a High-Level IB program so I am doing some tutoring on Saturdays to help some of the students get ready for the IB Exams in Novemeber, I am also teaching a history class at night at Blue Hill College, and finally I am still working on my Internet/Distance Learning program to get my Social Studies teaching certificate. It is nice to have so much free time.

BTW, that was sarcasm in that last statement, for those not sure.

Details on Swine Flu - School Closing

Now that the chaos has settled down, and I’ve had a good night’s sleep, here is a more detailed recollection of the Swine Flu outbreak at my school:

The day started knowing it would be chaos anyway. It was student council elections, which is pretty much an all day affair here at Colegio Americano. The schedule was supposed to be:

Period 1 – Normal Class
Period 2-3 – Assembly at the stadium to “present the candidates”
1st Recess – Normal
Period 4-5 – Normal Class
Lunch Recess – Prepare for chaos
Period 6-7 – Student elections.

Of course, here, student elections are more like a big run up to a massive soccer game here, with even more pageantry, but I digress.

The first thing that happened was there was no power to the secondary school, then there was, then there wasn’t. Since my room has few windows and is poorly ventilated without the electrically powered A/C-Fan unit, we switched from inside to me giving a lecture outside for my marketing class. First period finally over, it was off to the stadium.

Elections in Ecuador are quite different than what we do in the states. In the states, we vote for individual candidate who just happens to be a member of a political party. In Ecuador, you vote for a political party. You vote, and the members of the political party you vote for get office. So for our elections there were two competing slates – “Lista A” with their blue and white colors matching those of the Guayas state flag, and Lista B matching the yellow, red and blue of the Ecuador State flag (kind of like one being in the colors of the American flag while the other is in the colors of the flag of Texas, as an example).

First we start with some boring speeches by school officials about what we were going to do, and listening to stern advisements to all to behave in a “dignified and disciplined manner.” Then the student speeches started and the party began. With the student introductions there were horns blowing and confetti flying, with students singing and dancing to pounding drums in celebration after every speech and announcements of one of “their” candidates.

Great times, and I fully expect to regain my hearing in 2-3 weeks.

Finally, the candidates were sat down in chairs while school administrators asked each candidate a series of questions – two in Spanish and Two in English – with more singing, chanting and pounding drums made at every answer.

Then two final speeches from administrators about how the elections would proceed – and then there was a delay.
In fact, there was a delay that stretched on for quite a while.

With the whole stadium becoming restless, the principal finally came out to announce that members of the state’s health department were on the campus. One student who had just returned from a trip to Miami had just been diagnosed with Swine Flu, which officially was known as virus N1H1, and because of this classes would be suspended for eight days. And all hell broke loose.

The kids were cheering as if Ecuador had just scored the winning goal to win the World Cup Championship. This attitude changed fairly quickly, though, as Health Department officials removed the infected student’s course from the stadium to undergo examinations at the infirmary. Even more so as the minutes dragged on, and information was meted out piecemeal. This was not a vacation. Students would need to stay at home and not go to crowded public areas: no sporting events or extracurricular activities, no malls, restaurants, parties or movie theaters. Realizing what they had been hearing about the Swine Flu outbreak in the news, many students dived into their backpacks to pull out the breathing masks they used in chemistry. Others wrapped cloths over their faces. Some cried in fear. Many times I was asked, “Mr. Evans, are you worried?” and I would patiently explained why I wasn’t that worried, but that the restrictions were extremely necessary to follow to prevent a wider contamination.

Finally we were told that buses were arriving to take the children home, but that no one would be able to leave unless they first had been given an official notification that was being jointly made by the Health Department, Department of Education and the school. All of the students were dismissed to their 5th hour classes to await the notifications.

By this time a number of the students had checked their Blackberries to see that the school closing had already made the news on the local paper El Universo.

Finally the official notifications came. The students were sent off. There was a final meeting of teachers and staff, mostly saying that the same restrictions applying for the students applied to us as well. Classes would restart on May 25.

And home I went.

Busy and tired

Today was hectic but fun. After a rollicking day teaching my normal set of classes at Colegio Americano, I had a short break before teaching my Technical English class with my group of pilots. It was also the first night of teaching American History at Blue Hill College. One surprise is that I have a couple of friendly faces in my college night class. Two students who were seniors last year, including one who was an IB Diploma recipient in my business class, are taking my history class. Good times.

One bit of news that made me really happy: I received an email from Ashford University - the college with the Distance Learning Program I am using to obtain my teaching certificate - to tell me it is time to start doing the final paperwork towards graduation. Yahoo-ee! It has been a long hall, but the light is getting ever bigger at the end of the tunnel.

1st Day!

Hurray! First Day is here and a whole year of hopes and dreams are ready.






One of my students, Santiago Franco, says a few opening remarks to the assembled Colegio Americano.





The first official act for 1st Period is a "momento civico" - a school Assembly outside in the central plaza of the school. this is a photo of the 4th and 3rd Courses (the equivalent of 10th and 9th Grades in the US).









Of course, it all starts as faculty and staff arrive and "clock-in."

So it is April 1, 2009, and a new school year has officially started! More pictures and more stories to come!

American School of Guayaquil

At the suggestion of a few of my friends, I am going to start posting some reviews of international schools around the globe. I’ll start with the school where I currently teach.

Colegio Americano de Guayaquil


This picture is some international teachers at Colegio Americano, circa 2008

General Description:

The American School of Guayaquil is a K-12, bilingual IB school with 1500 students. It is located in the city of Guayaquil (Pacific Ocean port), Ecuador. It follows the IBO World School program. The campus itself is a lush spread of acreage, widely shaded by trees, and populated by several dozen large, fierce looking iguanas (don’t worry, they are vegetarians)! It is run by its own school board, and actually has numerous activities. It has a separately operated Pre-K facility, Primary School, Secondary School, and it’s own Blue Hill College, essentially a small, private business college that holds night classes on campus and that works in concert with several international universities.

The facilities are a bit of a dichotomy. The primary school, Pre-K to 6th Course (the equivalent of 6th Grade in the US) is housed in modern buildings with excellent facilities (the picture above was taken in the Primary School area). The secondary school, Courses 1st-6th (equivalent of 7th-12th Grade US) are in much older buildings. Classrooms are fairly spare. While there are five large computer labs and a well-stocked library, there are no computers in classrooms. There is free WiFi that covers most of the campus and there are three computers in the teacher’s lounge for use, so technologically Colegio Americano lags many upper international schools in this regard.

Academics:

Academics are in Spanish and English, depending on the program the students are in and the nationality/ability of the teacher. The school follows a broad IBO International Baccalaureate degree program for all secondary students, with international degrees available for English Literature, Social Studies, History, Accounting, Economics, Business Studies, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Geography and others. Classes generally range in size from 25-35 students.

There are lots of extracurricular events, and teachers are expected to work several evening and Saturday functions without extra pay.

Students:

Students are generally from upper middle-class to upper class families. Most (about 97% are Ecuadorian with a few from other countries (Canada, South Korea and China, mostly).

Teachers:

Salaries for international hire teachers start at $16,000-$20,000/year depending on area of expertise and experience. The highest salaries tend to go to English Literature teachers. The salary is very high compared to what locals make, but it depends on how you live. Imported products are extremely high, but if you live mainly on local economy it is very cheap. Teachers can save about $700/month of their salary quite easily, $1000 or more if they are at the upper end of the pay scale or are a teaching couple.

Benefits include most of the standard items you expect for international schools including annual flights to home of record, 400$/Month housing allowance, assistance in finding housing, international health insurance (Clements), annual round-trip transportation, $450 excess baggage allowance, international courier service for letters, Spanish lessons (40 hours, basic Spanish), 3 staff polo shirts (optional).
Qualifications: Bachelor's, teaching certificate, appropriate experience and bi-cultural adaptability. Colegio Americano is not accredited under any international, US, UK or Canadian organizations, so they do sometimes consider uncertified teachers who have some teaching experience. You don’t need any Spanish, but a little helps. Being fairly competent in conversational Spanish is a huge help.

Guayaquil:

Guayaquil tends to be a love it/hate it type of place. It is Ecuador’s major port city, so it is heavily business oriented. At around 2 million people, it is also much larger than many think when they sign on. There are numerous Western-style Malls and a plethora of chain stores and restaurants like Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, Victoria’s Secret and many others. Right next to them might be a little hole-in-the-wall café that serves almuerzo (lunch) of soup, meat, vegetable, rice and a fruit juice for around $1.50 a person or less.

Gualaquil by itself has limited attractions. The shore-side Malecon 2000 is the main feature of the city, having 2.6 kilometers along the main estuary of shops, gardens, museums and Imax theaters. There are a wide range of concerts and special events that follow a typical latino taste. However one of the best parts of Guayaquil is its location. It is a short bus ride to the Pacific beaches of Las Playas, Salinas, and Ecuador’s famed Ruta del Sol. It is the main departure point to fly to the Galapagos Islands and it is conveniently placed to use as a springboard for trips to the Amazon Rain forest (Oriente) or the old Spanish Colonial cities of the Andes, Cuenca and Riobamba.

Like much of South America the police are largely corrupt and ineffective, and like most large cities there are a fairly large amount of property crimes against tourists and foreigners. However, if you are security conscious and aware you should have little problem. As an example, I have been in Ecuador three years and have never been the victim of a crime. Of course, I am a very big guy who keeps an eye on things. My wife, who is not nearly as aware as I am, has been pick pocketed three times during the same time.

Overall, Colegio Americano is a good place to cut your teeth in international teaching, or to use as a springboard to travel throughout South America.

International Day

My school, Colegio Americano, is truly not an international school in the strictest sense. It is, however, the type off the vast majority of "international schools" out in the world, the type that offer an English language medium curriculum to local students. Lisa's school on the other hand, InterAmerican Academy, is a true international school in that the students are primarily from the international community of Guayaquil. While Colegio Americano is about 98% Ecuadorian, InterAmerican is about 40% Americans, 40% other nationals and the remaining approximately 20% being students of local Ecuadorian families.

One great thing they do is have a great celebration every year on a Saturday, International Day, where they celebrate the diversity of their community. People show up in traditional dress, set up booths where they show off typical art and sell food from their countries. meanwhile there are lots of activities for children such as making Chinese paper crafts, Korean jump rope and many other things.

The food most in demand came from the Korean and Indian booths, with the booths of Ecuador and the USA following close behind. Lisa's 8th grade students had an activity where they had the smaller kids coloring in flags of their favorite countries. It was a sizzling hot day, but there was lots of fun times for all.

Running Around

Friday and I needed to get around and get a few things done. One of the great things about living overseas is that many places have much better transportation options than you typically have in the United States. Of course, "better" does depend on your point of view! If your idea of good is clean, quiet and comfortable, maybe not so much. Cheap and convenient? Then definitely so!

I left home around 2pm and walked the three short blocks to the bus stop (known as a parada here) and caught Linea 54 which goes to right in front of my school. I flagged down an ancient bus painted blue and white and paid my $0.25. The bus is grimy, noisy, with plastic seats that are filled. I am one of about a dozen that are standing as we huff down the road, driver laying on the horn at every opportunity. Fifteen minutes later I slither through the mass in the aisle and hop out of the bus. At Colegio Americano I drop of some documents to the HR department.

Then I’m back out to the street to hail a passing cab. It is an old Lada, about 18 years old and you can only open the passenger door from the inside. It is a fairly quick trip to Mall del Sol, a fairly modern, Western-style enclosed mall. The trip in the taxi costs $2.50. I do our weekly shopping at MegaMaxi – kind of an Ecuadorian equivalent of a SuperWalmart. Shop, and then grab another taxi home at another $3.00.

When school is in, my work provides an expreso which offers free rides to and from work. For most employees in Ecuador, where the minimum wage runs about $175 a month, this is an important benefit. Imagine working for $175 a month and you had to spend $25 on getting around?

Tomorrow I get to spend more time at Lisa’s school, they are having an international culture day and her 8th Graders are responsible for something or other. I’m coming along to lend whatever support and heavy lifting I can.

The Smell of Paint is in the Air!

Had to stop by the school today. During my recent trip to The States I lost my passport and had to go through horrible hoops to get an emergency replacement so I could travel back to Ecuador. Now here in Ecuador, most of my paperwork for the bank, my teaching position and my visa is in the old passport so I have been running around getting things updated, and today my first stop was Colegio Americano. Stupid me, I accidentally brought my WIFE's passport, not mine, so it was a wasted trip and I'll have to go back again tomorrow.

However, in South America school is getting ready to start a new year - the vacation goes from February to March, unlike North America where it typically goes June-July - and the maintenance crew is going whole hog. Lockers are getting sanded, repaired and painted. New signs are up. Doors are getting a fresh coat of paint and it appears that the exteriors of the classrooms are going to have a fresh coat slapped on. March 23rd teachers are back and April 1 students return. What a wonderful April Fool's Day!

After that I did some shopping, then headed over to my wife's school, InterAmerican Academy. They are a true international school operating on the North American schedule so they are just closing out their 3rd quarter. They had got together a teacher's vs. the school's basketball team and they needed a few extra bodies. Of course, I was the oldest and least in shape of everyone on the court but I had fun and got through it without lasting injury. (InterAmerican Academy Sharks 38, Guests 26).

Then it was home to work on an online class I am taking on phonics reading instruction. Next week my wife is asking me in to teach a seminar to some of her classes on research for research papers. Hey! I'm supposed to be on vacation!