Los Estudiantes

I promise, this is my last intro post.  I just need to get all the basics down so we will all be on the same page when I tell you a story.

I am a teacher, guys.  Do you realize that?  Like, I have legitimate students that are mine, and I am their teacher.  I seriously think it’s the coolest thing ever.  Remember how I told you about the “We’re teaching kids today” comment?  Well, that is honestly how I feel every single day.  Today, I woke up and thought to myself, “I am living in Mexico right now.  I am going to go to class and teach my kids some English awesomeness.  This is for real.”

I have two classes, each containing children between 7 and 11 years old.   Please meet my afternoon class of six:

Madison.  She is the daughter of the ILP Director for Mexico.  Her mom is from California, so as you can guess, she knows English very well, although it is still apparent that it is her second language.  She is very obedient and quiet, but she has a little attitude, which is not actually a bad thing, so don’t worry.  She always does her work, and she doesn’t distract the other students.

Then we have Pablo.  He is a good student, but he won’t stop counting down the minutes until he can leave, because he usually has to leave early.  He does his work.  I don’t know what to do about that kid.  He is the oldest in the class and he is always bored, but he isn’t good enough at English to move up.  Plus there’s not really an older class to move him to.  I just don’t know.  He’s a good kid, though, so it’s okay that he can’t move up.

Then we have Fermín.  He is so cute.  He’s just this skinny, rowdy little boy, but he wants to learn.  He was definitely my trouble-maker in the beginning.  He would not stop talking and walking around and poking everyone, and I was about to go insane, but things have been straightened out and now he listens very well. 

Carly is next.  I’m pretty sure she hates me.  Oh well.  She cracks me up because she is bigger than all the boys so she will just throw them around.   I love it.  She’s probably my hardest student, as she is ALWAYS trying to push the boundaries.  Oh man, I have a lot to do with that girl.

Then we have Alex.  He is one cute kid.  He is so smart, and he always wants to show that he is so obedient.  As soon as I say, “Okay everybody, fold your arms,” he shuts his mouth, folds his arms, and stares straight ahead, without even breathing.  It’s hilarious.  He is also crazy and likes to have fun, so sometimes I have to bring him back to attention.  But he doesn’t make me work too hard, so I’m grateful for that.

Last is Ricky.  He is so funny.  He always tells the longest stories that are so boring for the class, but funny to me because I like listening to him.  He is always trying to draw in his notebook, or play with a pencil, or do anything he can to not pay attention, so I have to repeat things like fifty times for him.  And he ALWAYS wants to play Sardines.  No Ricky, I don’t care what your last teacher did, Sardines involves absolutely no speaking, which pretty much goes against everything we strive to do here at ILP.  So no.  That’s what I have to say to that. 

That’s all of my afternoon class.  They are really a good class, and I love teaching them.  But obviously it’s very, very hard, and everyday I don’t know what to expect.  Sometimes they are perfect little angels and I am so so happy, and other times they are absolutely insane and I want to scream.  And then we have days like yesterday that are somewhat angelic, somewhat scream inducing. 

Then I have my evening class of three (but we may be adding more this week, which I am not looking forward to):

First there is Jesús.  He is a fabulous student.  He always puts his hat or hands or whatever he can find in front of his mouth and then talks really quietly, so I have to stop that in the beginning, but from then on he is great.  He never fights or argues with other students.  He has the cutest laugh and he is very smart.  Even though he would never admit it, I’m pretty sure he really wants to learn, and loves when he gets a new concept. 

Then there is Sara.  She is so quiet.  I was teaching them about the word “noise” and I had them bang on the desk and scream as loud as they could, but she couldn’t do it.  She prefers to make the quiet noises.  It’s quite adorable.  And the good thing is that she’s not afraid to talk!  She just talks quietly.  Isn’t that perfect?  On one of the days last week, she was the only one that came, and we just talked and talked and didn’t have a hard time at all filling up the whole class.  Actually we did have like 7 minutes at the end, so we ate a piece of candy, but first we had to talk about every single detail of it.  For seven minutes.  What kid can resist a piece of candy in front of them that we are talking about, for seven minutes?!  Sara can.

Finally we have Rico.  He is my little teddy bear student:  all playful and round and cuddly and funny, and I just love him.  He knows English very well and I have no idea why.  One of the days last week, he was the only one who came to class, so I just let him talk and talk and he told me every detail of every Fast and Furious movie.  It was so funny.  Then Sara came 30 minutes later, so we actually had to have a real lesson.  In the lesson, I was teaching them about words that are spelled the same forwards and backwards, like “mom” and “wow” and whatnot.  Then I showed them the word “racecar” and Rico flipped.  “RACECAR?!?!? It’s like The Fast and the Furious!!!!”  It was awesome.

And that’s my evening class!  As you could probably tell, the evening is the best.  That class just always goes better.  I feel like I can be more myself with them.  Like, I can be fun and we can have fun, but there is still structure.  Also, I get a lot of talking from the students (which is what we want, because they are learning English after all) and I feel like we just learn a lot.  With my afternoon class, I have to be more strict and boring and nazi-ish and it’s definitely not as fun. 

See, that is one of the huge differences between being a babysitter and a teacher that I don’t like.  Every kid I have ever babysat loves me beyond reason.  Because really, I am such a fun and awesome babysitter; how could they resist?  Teaching, however, is a totally different story.  It is not all fun and games.  I actually have an agenda that includes things even I, the teacher, think are boring.  And thus I am having my first experience with children actually not liking me (WHAT???) and that is not cool.

Plus, teaching is so not natural.  Babysitting is.  Teaching?  No.  Definitely not.  But I think I just need practice.  It took me like two months to figure out Jamba and that was smoothie making.  These are real children I am dealing with.  Real lives I am affecting.  So it’s okay if I can’t be perfect at it on the first day, or the first week, or the fourth week, okay?  Okay.

Moral of the story:  Even though it’s ridiculously hard, and these children are crazy, and I am being forced out of my bubble on a daily basis…this whole thing is so worth it.  I honestly do wake up every single day and think, “Wow.  I am teaching English to kids in Mexico today.”  And then I really do it.  It’s amazing!