Twisted System

I love my kids!!  I have 33 students in my class.  I am teaching History and Geography, which I love; Natural Science, which is turning out to be fun; a section of English, where I teach lower level students....and Visual Arts and Technology, which I don't know how the hell I got into!  I volunteered to teach technology because I was under the impression that it was about computers programs and PowerPoint, Word, etc.  However, to my surprise this class of Technology is about electricity and tools, and gadgets; basically the equivalent of Shop.  Ay Dios Mio! I have no clue, how to go about this one!  Visual Arts is also a doozy for me.  It is like advanced arts and crafts, with a little bit of Geometry; two subjects I was absolutely horrid at!  One of my students asked me what an angle bisector was. I replied, "I do not know at this time. Please ask me again tomorrow."  In History/Geography today, I asked the kids if they knew what the word democracy means.  One girl raised her hand and answered, "I know that it is a very bad thing, and so is the United States."  Omg! This shall be quite interesting.

It is so good to see the kids so eager to learn.  They are very well behaved, yet full of energy.  As for the teachers, they are all great too!  I feel like a part of the faculty already.  As I stated before, they just do things very differently.  This is the first year that the school has a bilingual program.  All of the classes that I teach, which were previously taught in spanish, are now taught in English.  I can only imagine what these professors feel, having to completely change their curriculum.  The teachers in the bilingual program are all pretty good at speaking English, but when it comes to curriculum they haven't a clue; and most of them will simply say that.  That's where I come in!  I ask the teachers what material they want to cover, I add my own touch to it, and roll with it!  It is quite comical how most of the teachers run to me in the morning in a frenzy because they have absolutely no idea what to do in class.  I have found great joy in coming up with random fun ideas to incorporate the curriculum.  I must brag and say, I'm a damn good teacher!

Through conversations with many teachers about the differences between the American and Spanish education systems, I have come to some conclusions.  We need to get on our game in terms of challenging our kids to learn languages!!! I think it is so ridiculous that there is not some type of language requirement in EVERY elementary and high school.  It is a fact that children learn languages more easily at a younger age; so it makes no sense to begin mandating foreign language in high school.  In every single country I have been to, many students have been fluent in at least two languages.  It baffles me why the U.S. still believes that knowing English trumps all; quite the contrary these days.  In Spain, school is only obligatory until the age of 16.  I teach "secondaria," which is high school here, but includes 6th grade to Sophomore year of high school (in U.S. terms).  What we consider Junior and Senior year of high school, is like college-prep/junior college to them.  College is pretty much free!!! Families will pay a max of $1000 for 4 years; compared to our $30,000/year average.  Some private ELEMENTARY schools in the states will charge up to $5000 a semester.....and those kids do NOT come out speaking more than one language. This is absurd!  Are we really that much MORE educated than them because we pay for it?? I think not! Ok, enought said.  I am teaching my child spanish from the womb!.....French and Arabic soon to follow. ;-)