School started again on February 15, 2011. This is the beginning of the school year in Nicaragua so the girls are both in a new class. Here is everyone’s take on the start of school.
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| Freddy and Yolanda ready for the first day |
Like everything else, school here has its pros and cons. It has been really wonderful to see how easily Emma and Hannah eased back into the routine of school and to see them having fun with their friends. A lot of their friends left town for the 2 ½ month vacation, spending time in the countryside with relatives, and we did quite a bit of travelling ourselves, so it’s been kind of a happy reunion for all the children. Both Emma and Hannah have really good teachers this year, also. Just from attending the activities on the first day of school, it was obvious that they are both veteran teachers who take their job as educators seriously. They seem to have excellent classroom management skills, which is essential with over 40 children in one classroom.
On the other hand, the national curriculum that the teachers are forced to use is quite disappointing. It’s really focused on repetition and rote memorization; they don’t really seem to encourage critical thinking, creativity, or analytical thinking at all. Being a parent of school age children reinforces for me that perhaps more important than access to education is the quality of the education. That’s why it’s really important to me that the organization I work for, Seeds of Learning, not only finances school construction, but also works to improve the quality of the education being offered, once the school is constructed.
Another challenge for us, now that school is back in session, is trying to get used to the somewhat informal way school is organized. There isn’t sufficient funding for such luxuries as substitute teachers, so whenever a teacher is sick, or has a meeting or a doctor’s appointment, school is cancelled. That’s one thing about a country with 50% unemployment- there’s always someone at home to watch the kids, so schools can just send them home at the drop of a hat. Also, we’ve really been enjoying the beaches here in Nicaragua, and wanted to plan some beach trips in the upcoming months. Therefore, we were happily surprised to actually see the school calendar on the Ministry of Education’s website, and started planning and making reservations (a decidedly non-Nicaraguan way of doing things). Of course, we soon found out that the calendar wasn’t accurate at all. Anyway, the kids are having a great time with their friends, and school is just one part of the adventure this year.
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| Opening day assembly |
My first week of school was really fun. I love school but I do not like waking up early. Our school starts at 7:30. I am in third grade. My teacher is really nice and her name is Yadira. My teacher also has better control of my class than my last teacher. I think that I am going to learn lots of stuff in these six months. My subjects are social studies, natural science, language and literature, civics, mathematics and culture (art, dance and music). We already had a test in social studies and we are going to have one in natural science. Today was really short because there was a meeting and Daddy had to go. The kids in my class this year are different than the kids last year because there are two or more classes in each grade. On the first day I made a new friend named Cindy and I met her standing in line waiting to get into my classroom. Most of my friends from last year are in my class. My friends from last year that are not in my class are a boy named Carlos, a girl named Francis and a girl named Mariel. There is one girl in my class who is named Alejandra and she comes to my house after school every day. We play and eat lunch together. I am going to going to start an art class after school and I will also go to the centro cultural (after school program) twice a week. I am going to have guitar and Spanish lessons on Saturday. Sometimes I also have “daddy school.”
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| Emma waiting for the classroom to open |
My first week of school is really good. I like it a lot. My teacher is Profe Edys. We call her Profe because it is the short name for Profesora. My teacher is nice. She is the wife of Emma’s guitar teacher. I am in first grade. I study vocales (vowels). I study numeros (numbers). I sit next to Noemi and Estephani who always hits me. My best friend is Noemi, Monse, Eduard and that is it. My school is great. The name of school is Fray Bartoleme de las Casas. The flowers at the school are pretty. The ferns here go to sleep when you touch them. At recess we play around for about ten minutes. Sometimes we play crazy and sometimes we play calm. The water at school is unpurified and I cannot drink it. I cannot eat the food the parents bring for our class every day because it is unpurified. My Daddy buys me popcorn instead. My Spanish is doing great. My Daddy and Mommy and Sister say it is great. School is really fun but you have lots of homework in first grade. I do my homework at the centro cultural and sometimes I do it at home.
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| Hannah's class |
Like most parents, we were relieved when school started after nearly three months of vacation. We had many adventures during our break but since there are no summer camps in San Ramon we were together 24-7. Emma and Hannah are both thriving at school and participate more than ever. Their Spanish has improved dramatically during the past two months. Much of their language development is probably part of a natural progression. However they had a week of Spanish school in early January and again in early February which was certainly helpful. It also seems that taking a break from Spanish for a few weeks while we were in the USA actually improved their language skills.
The beginning of the school year sets off a flurry of activity for staff and parents as we all work together to get the school and educational programs up and running. We have been very happy to help where we can. Emma’s class in San Francisco held a school supplies drive and donated over 100lbs of materials. When we left Nicaragua for the USA we had two small duffle bags and when we returned we had four giant suitcases each weighing exactly 50lbs! We divided the supplies between the administration, Emma’s class and Hannah’s class. Like the USA, schools here are underfunded and teachers end up scrambling for the materials the need. Thanks to the generosity and hard work of Emma’s classmates in the USA they do not have to worry as much this year.
People must have heard about our donation as I was subsequently elected President of Hannah’s class. Actually, I was forced into it by a very vocal grandmother who started pointing at me during a parent meeting and shouting that I should be President. I was the only man in the meeting and she claimed that as such it was my responsibility to be President. I tried to deflect her with feminist and then nationalist arguments but she just ignored me. I then offered to be Treasurer and said I would take good care of their money. My nemesis said something to the effect that she would rather I take care of their bodies than their money. I turned bright red as the 30 Mom’s giggled at her joke. She then shouted, “all in favor of the gringo raise your hand” and the deed was done. Grandma had totally punked me. I am not sure how this will work as I can only understand half of what is said in these meetings. Fortunately the teacher is a friend of ours and promised to help me out.
Speaking of meetings, this is the time of year for many parent meetings and they are indeed challenging for me. First of all, I am still not good at figuring out Nicaraguan time. If I show up on-time the meeting starts one hour late. If I show up an hour late the meeting is delayed by two hours. However there are times when everyone seems to show up on time and I end up walking in conspicuously late. When the meetings do start they tend to be pretty tedious. For example, the school provides food for lunch but parents need to prepare it. Each child’s parents must prepare a meal for the entire class every 40 days or so. Rather than sending around a calendar there is usually a 1 hour discussion on who will prepare the food on what day. Parents are also supposed to help clean the classroom and donate toilet paper and a few other items the children need. At every meeting there is another one hour discussion about who will do or donate what and how it is not fair we should have to work for free. I guess meetings in the USA are not much different but I tend to pick things apart since I am observing everything through my own cultural bias. On the upside, the meetings are usually pretty funny. Nicaraguans are very good humored and are clearly not hampered by the political correctness of schools in San Francisco. I cannot understand many of the jokes but people are always laughing.
I am probably whining about the meetings because I now have 3 classes to deal with. Hannah is in class 1A (first grade, section A) and Emma is in 3B. Apparently I am also responsible for attending meetings for class 1C. We are helping two of the children who live across the street with school. Osnan (8) and Cindy (6) are both attending first grade in the afternoon (Emma and Hannah are in the morning session). Their Mom is working in another part of the country and their Grandmother is caring for them and could not be bothered with worrying about school as they barely get by as it is. We made sure the kids have all the school supplies they need and I registered them for class. According to their teacher since I registered them I am responsible for them. This means attending meetings and preparing the class meal. I now have to attend 3 class meetings a month, the semi-monthly class presidents’ meeting and must prepare 4 class meals every 40 days or so. Despite all the meetings I am very happy to have the time to help out at the school and participate in the girls’ education. I never had the time in the USA and this has been a real blessing.
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| Hannah, Osnan and Emma |
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| Surf's up dude |
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