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.

Big Judge

A picture came back from the recent Senior Project event at InterAmerican Academy. This was taken while the three judges on my board were listening to the presentation of one of the applicants for Honors. I am the massive gringo on the right. Next to me in the background is Victoria Gallegos, a member of the school board. On the left is Dr. Piadad Saloman, the school medic.

The presentations were wonderful. One student described her several weeks of volunteering at a children's hospital emergency room - including one doctor having her put in stitches on a child's lacerated arm (?!?!?!?!?!) Another designed and made her own clothing line. A third went through the experience of putting a modeling portfolio together. Excellent projects and wonderful presentations.

Substituting

Lisa woke up sick today. In fact, when she called in she found that seven faculty members were out sick. So I got drug out of my bed early to sub for Lisa's classes. Hey! I'm supposed to be on vacation!

So I am now at InterAmerican Academy on a prep period doing a quick blog update. I teach five English Literature classes today, which is a nice change of pace from the Business and Social Studies I do. It is always fun to me to brush the dust off some old classics and discuss them with students. Right now, Lisa's classes are covering the following books (in class period order):

10th Grade - "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
11th Grade - "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
12 Grade AP English - "One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
8th Grade - "Hiroshima"
9th Grade - "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane

So fun teaching, but I had to get up sooooo early today!

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.

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!