5 Cardinal Sins for Montessori Teachers

As the school year comes to a close here in Honduras, I thought I would share these, written all in good fun and with mucho cariño for my colleagues.

1)Getting one’s secret pal something other than exactly what she said she wanted.

2)Failing to sufficiently clean one’s mop.

3)Wearing shoes, shirt, accessories, and eye shadow that do NOT match.

4)Creating material or decorations that are in any way imperfect.

5)Throwing away ANYTHING that may be of some use at some point in some capacity.

Event-tastic

1)Retreat: Last weekend, all the volunteers went on a retiro to Santa Lucía, a charming little town a half hour outside of Tegucigalpa. We stayed in a lovely little hotel, all the girls bunking in two different rooms and the boys in another. The first night, the retreat organizers made us a lovely dinner and we played Ranch Cranium, whose specific clues were written by current and former volunteers. I laughed so hard I cried full on crocodile tears at Leila’s Pictionary rendition of my tattoo. I’ll just say no one guessed and leave it at that. The next day, we headed out on a hike, and yet again, I surprised everyone by being in the first group to arrive at the top. I now kind of get the “top of the mountain” feeling the boys were talking about and the desire to achieve it. It’s almost like I’m growing as a person or something. ;) We did some fun activities and reflection up at the top until it got really windy and cold! At dinner that night, we all voted for certain volunteers in different categories of “Most Likely to…” I won “Most Likely to Know All the Pequeños Names by December.” I was also nominated for “Most Likely to Stay at NPH Honduras Forever” (sorry, Mom and G’Ma). That day, I learned that I have had a big impact on Max as a teacher and that Leila thinks my superhero power would be coercion of counter-forces (disciplining the other side into giving up). As our closing activity Sunday morning, we did a “blind” activity. Everyone sits in a circle with their eyes closed. The leader picks three people at random and gives a description (i.e. someone who is a hard worker); those people then go and touch or squeeze the shoulder of the person who fits that description for them. You continue until everyone’s had a turn. It was through this activity that I found out that people admire me, enjoy seeing me with the kids, and think I’m “really freaking cool.” Some delusional person also thinks I’m humble. But seriously, there is something about having something lovely thought about you and being touched in appreciation and friendship that makes you feel really special. The retreat overall helped me renew some friendships and relationships that are really important to me. So yeah. Me llega.

2)Graduation: This night was among the happiest I can remember. Several months ago, Bryan asked me to be his godmother for his 9th grade graduation from talleres. I was absolutely thrilled. Well, I found out later that his sponsor from the States decided she was also going to come. I asked Bryan how he felt, and he said he wanted us both. I wasn’t too thrilled about sharing (I completely recognize my own selfishness), but it turned out just lovely. I got all decked out in a little black dress I bought at a secondhand store in Tegus and some fabulous heels. Bryan and Saravia were the MCs, and they did a fabulous job. When it came time for Bryan’s name to be called, he came and retrieved the two of us, and we escorted him up to get his diploma, shake hands with the directors, and take a picture. I was so tickled when it came time to announce the honor roll (Bryan was first in his class), and he came and asked just me to escort him up to the front. I have to give it to the kid; he’s got my number, and he knew exactly what to do to make me feel special. Pretty impressive for a 16 year-old boy, especially considering it was his special day. Afterwards, we had dinner, and Bryan, being the gentleman he is, brought us our chairs and our dinners. We did gifts and then there was a short dance afterwards. I took some amazing pictures; my Pilares (almost all are graduating) looked so beautiful, and I felt like such a mom and really a madrina to them all.

3)Quinceaños: In Latin America, the 15th birthday is a really important event. It is celebrated with pomp and circumstance with a party called a quinceaños. Here at the Ranch, everyone who turns 15 that year celebrates theirs together. It’s a huge event; the school auditorium is decked out by the staff, and the sewing workshop makes all the dresses. This year’s color was gold. Hallan, who I dance with in Danza Moderna and is Saravia’s cousin, recruited me to choreograph a dance for all the quinceañeros, so I’ve literally been spending every free moment rehearsing them. As of Wednesday, I hadn’t been asked to be a madrina. In some ways, I was relieved because I’m so broke this month and didn’t have money for another present anyway; but another part of me was wishing I had the whole madrina hat trick (talleres graduation, general graduation, and quinceaños). Well, at graduation Wednesday night, Hallan told me his grandma wouldn’t be able to make it on Friday, and asked me to step in. I was sad for him, but thrilled to do this for a kid I absolutely adore. So Friday, all the quinceañeros showed up at the gate to San Vicente for pictures looking like a million bucks. Each one entered the church for a special mass (given by Father Phil, the head of NPHI) with a madrina or padrino on their arm. They were each presented with a rose from Stefan (National Director), a crucifix from Pati (House Director), and a kiss of blessing from Reinhart (former ND and head of NPHI Family Services). After mass, all the padrinos and quinceañeros loaded the bus to get taken to the school (really the royal treatment). It was at this point that the only mar on my night occurred; Hallan somehow managed to delete all my photos on my camera. Fortunately, I had just uploaded the graduation ones to my computer, so I only lost the pics before mass, and those I can mostly get from other volunteers. We got to school just in time to get rained on and soaked! All the tables were set up with centerpieces, and we were served a lovely dinner with real lemonade. Stefan gave the brindis, and we toasted with sparkling cider (the kids were fooled into thinking it was champagne!). They had two huge cakes, and we all sang “Las Mañanitas.” The rest of the Ranch came down to the school at that point, and we were announced as couples and made our grand entrance on the red carpet. Following that, we all danced a waltz with our quinceañeros; lucky for me, Hallan is a superb dancer and we make quite the couple! The kids then performed their routine with me sitting in the front giving hints about which steps came next, just like Miss Patty did for me when I was a five year-old topsy-turvy flower. It was followed by the classic Ranch junior high-style dance. Hallan was completely charming all evening and told me a zillion times how much he loved me. I am so glad I got to participate in this and be there for him. I know it wouldn’t have been the same as a spectator, and I’m so glad I will have this memory.

Just Another Awesome Night in Hogar

This is why I’m here. This is why I’m here. This is why I’m here. I LOVE my hogar. I adore my tías and my girls. I rushed home from last weekend’s retreat (more on that in a future blog) to get back to the Ranch and spent my evening off on Sunday hanging out with my hogar just because I wanted to. We had talked at the retreat about the appropriateness of asking kids to tell their life stories. I felt that as volunteers, we should let the kids approach us. On Sunday, two of the girls shared with me. One of them had just returned from a family visit. She came back with a photo of her mother’s funeral. She was only two when her mom died in childbirth, losing the baby too. Later, at the evening bonfire, I sat next to another girl who had asked me advice. It led to her telling me how she lost her parents. Just 5 years ago, the whole family was in a car accident. The kids and mother were thrown from the car in time to see the car explode. Her mom died a week later in the hospital. This young lady is such an amazing, resilient person; I held her hand, cried alongside her, and told her how proud her mom would be of her. I was so touched that she trusted me enough to tell me that I’m even reluctant to post this, but it just completely embodies why I’m here. Hogar is my absolute favorite place on the Ranch to be. Whether Saravia is telling me how much she likes that I now speak “puro catracho” or Sheila measuring my waist to make sure I’m getting fatter or crawling into bed with Magda to whisper secrets, this place just does something to me…and it’s magic.

Adventures in La Tigra

Yesterday, on Saturday morning of our descanso weekend, Pete, Bryan, and I set off for La Tigra National Park. We left the hotel in Tegus early and arrived at 7:30 for an 8:00 bus that never came. Fortunately, a group of Honduran teenagers came to our rescue and told us that another bus would come at 10:00. So we started our journey just 2 and a half hours late. No big deal. We arrived in the quaint town of San Juancito around 11:30 and stopped at a little comedor for lunch. The hike up to the hostel is long, steep, arduous, and generally godawful. So we decided to spend the 220 lempiras to have the owner come down and get us and take us up. Unfortunately, his truck wouldn’t start. So we had no choice but to scale this mountain. It was easily one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in terms of physical exertion. Pete gallantly offered to carry my backpack for me, but it was a point of pride for me. An hour and a half later, we arrived sweat-soaked but with a grand feeling of accomplishment. We stopped in time to unload, appreciate the view from our room, and take a victory picture (see above) before we set off for a hike in the park. We took a path up to a waterfall, and it was absolutely picturesque. It’s much colder in La Tigra than the Ranch, and it was completely freezing. So naturally, Pete decided to get in the water at the base of the falls. I knew Bryan would do it too if I got in, so I did. Then the boys dunked themselves completely, and not to be outdone, I followed suit. We headed back down, teeth chattering, and ran into our friends from the bus. Waiting for us at the hostel was a delicious dinner of Indian curry with garbanzo beans, rice, and some kind of fried potato deliciousness prepared by our delightful German proprietors. After hiking for at least 10 miles (most of that uphill), it wasn’t hard to fall asleep. This morning, we had fresh squeezed mango juice, coffee, toast, and a lovely spread of toppings from tomatoes to cream cheese to homemade orange and berry jams. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard as when Bryan mistook the cut up butter slabs for pieces of cheese just as he took his first bite. Heading down was much easier than up, as one might expect, and we were back in Tegus by 1:30. I have to say, we made a great team, and I had a wonderful time. Can’t wait to take Quinn, Krista, and Corey there in April!

Useful Ranch Phrases and Their Meanings, as Interpreted by Yours Truly

Phrase followed by definition

Cheque. Ok.
Vaya pues. Alrighty then.
Nada que ver. Nothing to do with it/Whatever.
¿Qué pedo? What’s going on? (Note: pedo also means fart. One can imagine my confusion at the beginning.)
¿Qué onda, mara?/¿Qué hongos, banda? What’s up, peeps?
¡Qué barbaridad! What barbarity! (Just going to leave that one as it is.)
Macizo. Awesome.
¡Qué big fresa! It’s so cool!
Es tan easy. It’s so easy. (You probably figured that out on your own.)
Me da colera. It makes me so angry…that it gives me cholera.
¡Nambre! No, man!
¡Puchica vos! Darn you!
Sí, ¿va? I know, right?
Ya. Done/Enough/Knock it off.
Hacer relajo. Cause a ruckus.
Hacer caso. To pay attention or listen to or generally give you the time of day (usually in reference to a child who is not doing it).

Why I Hate Honduran National Exams

1)The proctor assumes I am not an equal to the Honduran teachers.

2)She only brings 16 tests for our 19 children, so we just don’t test 3 of them.

3)Some of the kids get parts of the reading test (text, questions, multiple choice options) read to them. Sort of defeats the purpose of a reading test.

4)Even when you set the expectations very clearly, the kids still shout out the answers. They don’t stop until you totally lose your patience and yell at them.

5)The kids ask you if their answers are correct no matter how many times you tell them you can’t say because it’s a test.

6)My students are so dependent. They ask questions when the directions have already been given and refuse to simply put their own common sense to work.

7)They get help when they don’t understand (or don’t want to try to understand) – but not from me, mind you. I’m all about helping when I’m teaching, but an assessment is supposed to measure what a child can do on his or her own. On these tests, they were given clues and had questions explained to them. After all the rules for WASL and MSP, I just couldn’t deal with it.

8)I have to suck it up because this is not my country and this is not my culture. There are some things I cannot change.

I just don’t understand the complete lack of logical and reasoning amongst my students. And I don’t know how they end up that way. Montessori teaches them to be independent; they work at their own level and choose their own activities. I am grateful for the fact that the tests were easy and that our expectations in the classroom and what the students are doing are above the national level. But I would love to get some more of the constructivist philosophy into the classroom, and I think Montessori is conducive to that. I’ve been talking to Momo, and we think I’m going to move up to second grade next year (in February – the school year is different here) because the group is so difficult. But we’d also like to start a gifted and talented program; a few days a week, I’d be pulling out kids for enrichment, and that’s really exciting to me. I can’t change the way a whole country thinks about education, nor do I think that’s my place, but I can maybe help a small group of children to be more analytical thinkers. We’ll see.

Birthdays Pilares-Style

Every Saturday morning of my work weekend, I join my girls in some kind of work around the Ranch. God bless Tía Delmy because she understands my loathing for chapearing (using a machete to cut down grass) and has pretty much said I never have to do it again. At worst, I have to rake the chopped monte. Fortunately, yesterday I went with 4 of my girls to the kitchen to make bread. This involves putting ridiculous amounts of fattening ingredients into the mother of all KitchenAid mixers and attempting to prevent your girls from losing their fingers. Also mandatory are mini-flour fights and making fun of your volunteer for not knowing how to make perfectly round balls of dough. But the best part is what we do with the leftover dough. Yesterday was María Girón’s birthday, so I fashioned a bread-cake out of dough (a pizza-like circle with her first initial in the middle and little pelotas all around the edges). I also made a little house, hearts, and a kitty face. Deysi made a little man whose arm and head were later secretly eaten by two culprits who shall remain nameless (ahem, Kimmie and Saravia). We then put our 14 trays of rolls and one tray of treats (doused liberally with sugar) into a huge ancient oven that looks like something out of an old Welsh village (she said from experience). I came back from mass early to celebrate with my bread-making friends and the birthday girl. Ensue hilarity. We made fresco with two kinds of Zuko (Honduran KoolAid) and all drank out of the same used Pepsi bottle (small wonder we all get sick, huh?) and took lots of photos and videos with my camera (I wish I could upload them from here, but you’ll have to wait until January – we made a special one for you, Mom). My tía was so tickled with how well it had gone that she wants me to do it every time we have panadería duty. We worked really fast and even the girls who complain about it had a good time. She even told me I could leave early because I’d worked so hard that day. Nice! I didn’t leave early, naturally, as that would be out of character for me. But it was nice to be appreciated for something that really didn’t feel like work at all.