Peer Correction of the Week

Samuel: But Ms. Vanessa, I didn't do nothing!

Me: You didn't do WHAT?!

Whole Class: ANYTHING!!!




Double negatives will be gone by June.

2nd Quarter Updates

It's already almost time to go home for the holidays! Where's the time gone?

One of my friends and I decided that we wanted phone plans (I've really been missing my data plan), so a couple weekends ago we headed to the mall to get contracts with Tigo. What a process! We needed all sorts of things: residency booklets, social security pay stubs, a water or light bill... We didn't have the bill since the school takes care of all of that for us, so the salesman ended up borrowing a bill from a friend. By the time all was said and done, we had been back and forth to the mall 3 times and spent most of the day waiting. However, I now have a data plan and an 18-month contract ($30/month). Most people here have BlackBerrys, which is what my friend got.

We headed to Costa del Sol for the Thanksgiving holiday and had a really good time. It's nicer and more spacious than Tunco. We had a huge house with a pool and kitchen, and even had the housekeeper cook our meals one day.

I've been doing some soul-searching as far as my classroom management goes. The system I have now (PAT, moving clothes pins up and down, counting wasted time, giving warnings) worked at my school in The States, but it's failing miserably with the kids here. My next-door neighbor and fellow third grade teacher turned me on to ClassDojo.com, and I asked my kids what they thought about changing to a more online behavior-management system. Some of them had even used the website before! Since most of the kids at Escuela Americana have access to a computer at home, it seems like a logical choice for them. I think I'll try it in January and see how it goes.

I am very much looking forward to being in Texas in 17 days! Sharp cheddar and customer service, here I come!

Costa del Sol

I never get tired of the sunsets!

PAT Today

We had a pretty rough couple of weeks, but my kids were so good during PAT (personal activity time) today that I had to take some pictures.

Texas Bingo

Origami

The Artists (and Connor)

iPhone Photo Dump

Here're some pictures of my classroom. And stuff.

Our class library

My little corner of insanity before I got my charola from Office Depot

A particularly nice sunset walking home from school one day

Coloring mandalas in class

There's a lot going on here.

The Writing Process

Huge burger from GBC...ate this on an in-service day.

Random note from my student

This chicken was walking around the bus stop at Tunco.

Good morning from the boys' apartment!

Casey and Matt getting ready for a pirate party

Noviembre

It's November! The rain has turned off like a faucet. Parent conferences went well last month, and we're already nearing another round of progress reports. My class is trucking right along. We've even got centers set up! On Thursday, I shared a little bit about Mexican Día de los Muertos celebrations that we have many of in Texas, and I brought them some sugar skulls to color - they loved them!

We finally got our first day off last Friday for Día de los Difuntos. Some of my friends and I went to Parque Nacional El Imposible (there used to be a pass that was near impossible to cross until they built a bridge). We rented a pickup and somehow managed to miss the correct highway and go in a big triangle instead of a straight line on the way there...the good thing is that El Salvador is so small that it didn't really send us too far out of the way. It was a good idea to get a truck - going anywhere in ES is pretty risky when you're not sure if the roads will be paved or not (they're usually not). We also had a fun surprise when we turned on the CD that was in the stereo: a random mix of 80s and 90s, heavy on the Air Supply.

We stayed here for the weekend, and it was awesome. All the food at the restaurant was made to order from scratch, so it took a while to get fed but was sooo worth it. We usually took a deck of cards with us and just played games while we waited. The day after we got there, we walked about 1/2 a mile to the entrance of the national park and hired a guide for the day (you can pay them whatever you want - there were 4 of us, and we paid $10, which is pretty good). We hiked about 8 km round trip: first up to a mirador to see the tree tops, then alllll the way down to a swimming hole to eat lunch, then back up again to the park entrance. It was a pretty steep hike, but well worth it.

That evening, we ate dinner at the hostel and asked if there was any place to make a campfire. The hostel employee shrugged, looked around our cabin, and pointed to a spot in the dirt among a lot of foliage. Ha! Smoky the Bear would not approve! We made it anyway, and managed to avoid burning down the whole park. Hot dogs, s'mores minus the graham crackers, and quite a lot of beer were consumed.

We woke up to a wonderful, homemade breakfast at the restaurant, took a picture with our awesome truck, and headed home to see Skyfall (IT'S ALREADY OUT DOWN HERE, SUCKAHS). Great weekend! Just two more full weeks of school, then it's time to celebrate Turkey Day Salvadoran style (at the beach).

Y'all go vote tomorrow.

Time Flies

I can't believe it's already the middle of October! This week, I'll complete week ten with my kiddos. I have parent/teacher conferences tomorrow, and we have an in-service on Friday, so I only have them for three days this week.

Many challenges have arisen, but I'm finding ways to solve them. This morning, we had a class meeting about how to use kind words if someone is bothering you. I busted out "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," and I think some of them actually understood what I was getting at.

It's really fun to watch them learn. I've almost corrected away their double negative use. They edited and "published" actual paragraphs, formatted on the computer and everything (it was such a test of patience to get 21 eight- and nine-year-olds to format a paper in Word). They can subtract across zero. They know the difference between incomplete and complete metamorphosis. They understand that a rural area does not mean a poor area.

I'm really trying to encourage more creativity, and I luckily have the freedom to (for the most part) do what I want with unlimited-ish resources. After lunch, we color mandalas to settle down. They created small Blot Books to jot down and illustrate ideas. I need to get some songs going because I have a few who are so auditory. One in particular absolutely MUST be making some kind of noise at all times.

I also decided to take on the extra challenge of starting a master's degree. The school flies in professors from Framingham in Massachusetts, and we also get a scholarship for the program. I'm really glad I started it, as I've already completed one of the nine required courses (Curriculum Theory and Practice). Each course goes for two weeks, 3:30-6:30 during the week and 8:00-4:00 on Saturdays. It's a lot, but it's doable. In the fall of 2014, I'll complete a master's of International Teaching. Sweet.

El Salvador is still wonderful. I like my friends, I like my job. I don't have to do laundry or clean.There are bugs everywhere, including a new colony of ants in our kitchen, but oh well. Rainy season is almost over, and it's going to be endless, perfect weather.

We are going to Costa del Sol for Thanksgiving.

I will try to update more often.

Cumplimos un mes!

I've made it through two weeks of school with my 20 kiddos; week three starts tomorrow. They're really interesting, smart kids, and I'm having a blast getting to know them. I'm also really enjoying the 1.5 hour planning period I have in the middle of the day while they're at Spanish. It's just unreal and totally unheard of in the States.

We also celebrated our one-month of living in ES last Thursday. In honor of this milestone, I've decided to list some things to remember while in El Salvador:

1. Always carry an umbrella.
2. Check your cup for ants before reusing it.
3. Agree on the price of every taxi ride before getting into the car (this is always negotiable).
4. 2 pupusas are probably enough.
5. It's okay not to refrigerate eggs, but you should wash the shells.
6. If an invitation says 5:00, no one will show up until at least 6:30.
7. Might as well get a beer...it's the same price as water.
8. Never underestimate the amount of time it's going to take to get somewhere on a road that's not paved, no matter how short the distance.

More on school soon!

A Very Productive Day

Today was long. We started with breakfast an hour earlier than usual, then had a presentation about our salaries and taxes (we have to pay into the Salvadoran pension program). It's nice how much the school does to figure out the best way to get us tax-free income.

After that, we met with our department heads and got keys to our rooms! Very exciting. Our principal and vice principal took the four of us foreign elementary hires to lunch at El Circulo Deportivo Internacional, a country club type thing in our area. We all felt pretty classy, I think.

Then, we had to go back and deal with banking stuff, get our debit cards, and sign a bunch of forms. We had a brief Spanish/culture class then bussed to a home store called Divesa and got some stuff for the condo. After that, we went grocery shopping and got our cell phones! I'm happy to report that my unlocked iPhone now runs successfully on Tigo. Hooray!

The guy in the store quoted me prices of $.30 per minute for local calls, $.09 for a local text, $.15 for a text to a US cell, and $10 per GB of data. I don't know how quickly I'll use this up, but I got a pay-as-you-go plan, so I'll figure it out and report back.

Buenas!

In which I use a lot of italics...

Today Megan and I got up and ran on the track (pictured) before breakfast. What a view!

 In the morning, we had a meeting with the director after breakfast, got our fingerprints scanned to get into the complex (we have a fingerprint scanner security system...it makes me feel like James Bond), and went shopping again. Megan and I unpacked our kitchen things, so the downstairs is looking much nicer. For dinner, over 20 of us went to a pupusería and had a great meal. I had two beers and two pupusas + curtido for $7, including tax and tip. Amazing. There was even live music!

A note about our living sitch - My school has us living in a complejo (complex) with only teachers. I'm really enjoying this perk of being here, especially since we only pay a small utility fee to stay. Megan and I live in a condo with our bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs, plus a patio, dining room, living room, and kitchen downstairs. There's a beautiful pool, not to mention maintenance workers to take care of anything we need. We'll meet our maids on Friday morning.

The complejo is guarded 24/7 by vigilantes and is in a really nice area of San Salvador. We don't ever lock our door. It's kind of giving us a false sense of security as far as walking around and exploring. When we go into the city this week, I imagine it'll be quite a bit different. No jewelry, no valuables, etc. Can't take the public transportation due to the risk of gang violence.

The other new elementary teachers and I (there are four of us) have been discussing renting a car to travel around during the Agostinas (August holidays) coming up. I got an international driving permit at AAA before I came, but apparently our US driver licenses work fine here. Someone on the welcoming committee told us that it's only about $25/day to rent a car. We're thinking of doing the Ruta de Café. We'll see where the week brings us!

Settling In

First of all, I am having the best time. The weather is awesome, San Salvador is awesome, and my school is AWESOME. I'm helping some of the new teachers with Spanish, and I feel important.

Today we woke up and had breakfast together at one of the condos, then we went to get our residency cards. This involved our passports, a $1.25 fee, waiting in line for a long time, and signing a paper. It was nice to have the Escuela Americana people there to guide us.

Then, we signed stuff to open our bank accounts (CitiBank), got our settling in allowance, and went shopping for some basics at Wal Mart (haha). Wal Mart here is weird - there are like people standing on every aisle trying to sell you things...? I don't get it. My roommate and I got stuff like clothes hampers, trash cans, hangers, a coffee maker, etc...stuff that the condo didn't come with. She had already bought a kitchen set from a departing teacher, so we are pretty set. I'm excited to go grocery shopping! Produce! Yes!

Tomorrow we are getting finger-printed for our complex, more shopping, meetings, etc. Meg and I are going to explore the track in the morning before breakfast. Hooray!

This is our condo!

Arrival!

I have arrived in San Salvador! My housemate Megan and I are unpacking...we've already killed a roach.

We have a lime tree in the backyard. :)

Big day tomorrow - grocery shopping, bank stuff, etc. Looking forward to seeing San Salvador in the sunlight. 

UNI Fair - Reference Post

Alright, it's been over a week, so I suppose I should post about the fair. I'll try to keep it relatively short, but I have so many experiences and so much advice to share!

Thursday: Everyone arrived in Waterloo; no one got any sleep because we were all so nervous. There was a gal in my hotel whose reservation was lost, so we ended up rooming together (really good idea).

Friday: We woke up at stupid o'clock, tried our best to look professional, and headed over to the convention center in the shuttle (it was freezing).

We arrived at the convention center a little before 7:00 and were directed towards our "mailboxes" (hanging folders with our names on them). Everyone began to go through the materials and interview invitations. I had a few from schools I had contacted previously and a few new ones, so I spent my time deciding which to accept/decline and making a plan for the round robin, circling table numbers on the floor plan and such. I also had my laptop, and I tried to research some of the schools I was interested in, but everyone was doing the same thing so the internet wasn't really working.

At 8:00, we had an orientation from some of the UNI staff, some school directors, and a married teaching team. It was mostly advice, encouragement, etc. We then had a meal break (brunch?), and everyone scarfed some food while furiously researching schools and finalizing plans of action for the round robin interview sign up.

At 11:30, everyone had crowded around the doors to the main room in preparation for the round robin. I had the urge to yell "NO PUSHING!" It was madness. The doors opened, and we flooded in to sign up for interviews.

We had a couple hours, but I really felt like I was pressed for time. My number of interview invitations was on the higher end (12 I think?), so I was trying to confirm the most important ones first and still leave time to decline ones I didn't want so other people could have the spots and then try to get interviews with schools who hadn't invited me. To be honest, it was very difficult. It was crowded; we had to wait in line a few times, and the interview slots fill up fast, so you really have to prioritize. I didn't get any interviews with schools who hadn't invited me to begin with, either because they were full or because I didn't have enough teaching experience.

I ended up with 10 scheduled interviews. A lot of people had less, but I tried to keep my mind open and accepted most of my invitations (I turned down a school from Egypt and one from Saudi Arabia). After the round robin, interviews began immediately.

I was SO nervous, but the interview slots are only 30 minutes; there's really not a lot of time to screw up. During my first interview, I was asked 3 or 4 questions about teaching, and then I was allowed to ask questions about the school. We parted amicably, and I walked away questioning why I had been so worried.

I had four interviews on Friday, all of which went fairly well. One director invited me for a second interview on Saturday. I got the feeling that the schools had a good idea about who they wanted to hire already from looking at our credential files.

Friday evening, there was a social for the directors and the teachers, but I missed most of it because I was in an interview. Supposedly this is a good time to chat up the interviewers, but I had enough already that I didn't bother. There was a cash bar and food, but my roommate and I were so tired that we just grabbed some water and chatted in a corner. We rode the shuttle back to the hotel and researched the schools we had interviews with on Saturday before going to sleep.

Saturday: Back to the convention center, interviews all day. I received a rejection from one of my Friday interviews that morning. About noon, I had already received two offers: Pre-school in Shanghai and 1st grade in Puerto Rico. This is where it got kind of hairy. Shanghai offered it to me in the actual interview, and I had to let them know that I was still interviewing with several schools I was interested in; I asked when they needed a decision by. The answer was basically ASAP. Puerto Rico offered after the interview, but I had to call back and ask the same question. Their response was that it was between me and another woman, and the job was going to whomever accepted first. Lame. I had kind of a weird feeling from the Puerto Rico interview, and wasn't sure I would be happy at the school. The director's whole selling point was that I wouldn't really be "leaving the U.S." I thought to myself, "well, that's not really why I'm here."

I had a panic-y moment and called Dad at this point for advice. Decided to go to a presentation by one of my top choice Friday interviews (Honduras) and ask if they had made a decision yet. They hadn't, and I still had the second interview with a school from El Salvador to go to, plus two more first interviews. I was 90% sure El Salvador would make an offer, so I decided at that point to accept it if that happened. I felt very happy with the school from the info I learned in the previous interview, and I was excited that I would be in a Spanish-speaking country.

The director did end up offering, and I signed the contract on the spot for a 3rd grade position in San Salvador! It was all very exhilarating and nerve-wracking. After signing, she gave me a poster and a little mantelito (place mat) from El Salvador! How lovely.

After that, I called Mom and Dad as well as my other offers, including a new one from Kuwait, to let them know that I had accepted something else. I also had to cancel my last two interviews. It was pretty stressful, but then I could relax! My roommate got an offer shortly after that, and we found a Mexican restaurant nearby to celebrate at.

Most people left on Sunday, but I thought I might have some interviews on Sunday and had bought my ticket for Monday. Oops. I hung out at the hotel and watched the Super Bowl with vending machine food.

SO. Words of advice:

1. Get a roommate! You can participate in the forum before the actual fair and find out if anyone would like to share a room or a ride with you if you're driving. Several people did this, from what I could tell. Having a roommate gave me someone to touch base with throughout the day, sit with on the shuttle, and get meals with. It was nice to have someone to talk to so I didn't have to stand alone awkwardly at any point during the weekend.

2. DON'T BE NERVOUS. The interviews are easy. They are not going to throw you a question out of left field. It helps to know a little about the school sometimes, but not always. Relax.

3. Prioritize. If you don't have a lot of interview invitations, prioritize which schools you want to focus on speaking with during the round robin. If you do have a lot of invitations, stop by the ones you're interested in the most first to sign up for a time. The slots fill up fast, and I didn't get interviews with a couple schools who invited me because I didn't make it to the tables in time. It helped me to make a list and then cross them off.

4. Bring food. I was terribly hungry throughout the day, and the cafe in the convention center was good, but I didn't always have time to buy and eat a whole meal. Granola bars were a life-saver, especially because I had back-to-back interviews at times.

5. Don't lug your portfolio or a laptop. Before the fair, you should have contacted and researched schools, so researching them in the convention center is not really necessary. Do that at home or in your hotel room beforehand. Also, none of the interviewers looked at my portfolio at all. I think it's a good idea to bring it, but leave it in the hotel and offer to bring it the next day if someone wants to look at it (rare). All you really need is your cell and a binder to organize school fact sheets and brochures and to take interview notes. Don't forget money for food.

6. Don't be afraid to tell an interviewer that you're not ready to make a decision yet. Most will give you a few hours to finish up interviews. While you do need to make decisions quickly, don't let them guilt you into accepting something you're not happy with. This is a big decision.

7. Bring thank you notes and leave them in interviewers' mailboxes as soon after the interview as possible, especially if you have a good feeling and want to continue speaking with them about employment. Leave details like a cell number and when you're available for second interviews.

8. Ask questions in the interviews. Important things to find out: What exactly is the housing situation like (make sure it's not a dorm)? What is living in this city like (especially important for women) and how does the school help its employees to stay safe? How does your HR department help new hires settle in? Is there a mentor or buddy teacher program? Are language classes available? What professional development opportunities are there?

9. And most importantly, have an open mind! You may get interview invitations to places you hadn't even thought of. Accept them! I planned for South America the whole time, and ended up with only ONE interview on the whole continent. That particular school was the most sought after in the whole fair. If I had limited myself, I wouldn't have ended up in the great school that I did. Decide beforehand what your "deal breakers" are, and then go from there. Accept any and all offers that seem even vaguely possible for you.

I hope this post is helpful for someone! I had such a stressful but awesome time participating in the UNI Fair, and everyone was so friendly and helpful. I've heard that other fairs are more cutthroat, but of course I can't judge any but this one. What a super experience; I can't WAIT to begin the visa process and get everything ready for my new job!

Today

Today was good because:

LivingSocial hired me to write for Escapes (YESSS. I CAN WORK IN PAJAMAS FROM HOME UNTIL I DEPART FOR WHEREVER).

I sold several pieces of furniture.

I got to see Emily! Yay.

--

I had a couple of pre-interview interviews this week for two schools in Shanghai. Both went well.

I got two more interviews confirmed for the fair: Prishtina, Kosova and Guayama, Puerto Rico. Beginning to think I overbooked myself. We'll see.

I'm starting to get sad about leaving Austin.

This song is currently cheering me up:



Ai se eu te pego!

UNI Fair Update

Finished my credential file for the UNI Overseas Job Fair and sent my resume and cover letters to 33 schools in total, all around the world. An additional five schools contacted me separately (only one of which I turned down), so I've got some interview invitations set up already:

Barranquilla, Colombia
Manizales, Colombia
Shanghai, China
Jakarta, Indonesia
Taichung, Taiwan
Hawalli, Kuwait

I just finished sending out letters today, so I'll hopefully get a few more responses before the fair and some other interviews scheduled once I get there.

On an information type note, I've had a couple schools turn me down because of my lack of full-time experience (a lot of schools want candidates to have at least 2 years), but there are definitely options for new teachers like me.

I'm really excited about all of these prospects! I might be going to the Middle East, but I'm definitely going somewhere.

Whelp...

...just booked my flight to lovely Iowa in February. No going back now. Hope I don't get caught in a blizzard. I'm going to try to think of it as a vacay, though I don't know who would go on vacation to Iowa in the middle of winter.

I really just like to be in airports. I think if I could periodically just go sit in an airport and imagine that I'm about to go somewhere, I would be infinitely happier.

Left to do for UNI fair:

Personal Statement
Get 3 (?!) letters of recommendation
Fancy up my portfolio


TRAVELS! HERE THEY COME!

Texas Teaching Certification

Just got my official State of Texas bilingual teaching certificate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BAM.

Berlitz Training Day 1

was very long. I have training 4:30-9:00 pm every day this week.

One other lady and I were "invited" to training, or at least we were the only two who were invited and decided to come. Haha. We learned/reviewed a bunch of things from the online module we were supposed to do for homework: Berlitz's history, other teaching methods, etc. etc.

The big thing about Berlitz is that the lessons are taught ONLY in the target language with no translation. We learned a bunch of reasons why this is good and some ways to make students understand what you are saying, even if they don't know a single word of the target language. Our instructor taught us a mock French lesson for 30 minutes, and it was really cool to remember how fast you can learn in an immersion situation. It reminded me of being in Spain for the first time. Haha.

Je suis Vanessa. I don't know any French, and by the end of the lesson I could introduce myself and other people, say I am well, thank you, and this is France. France is a country. France is not a city. Paris is a city. Paris is not a country. Hurrah!

Then we did some practice lessons in English and Spanish, which helped us get a better idea of how to teach with the Berlitz Method. It's not so easy! I got the hang of the "tools" we were supposed to be using today, and the instructor told me my pronunciation and pacing was the best. Yay!

The other lady in training with me is nice. She's from Mexico City and likes to tell stories that don't really have much to do with what we're supposed to be learning. Oh well.

More tomorrow!

ESL Update

Since this was supposed to be my ESL blog, maybe I should update about something ESL-related.

Sooo I got a job teaching at Berlitz here in Austin, which in case you don't know is a big ol' language school in pretty much every major city of the world. Including, you guessed it, Buenos Aires. Hooray! I see a transfer in my future.

Training starts next Monday, and the job is very very part-time, but I'm excited nonetheless. In the meantime, I'm back tutoring, etc. for the Aztex/Orlando City since someone finally realized that they fired the only person who can speak to the Colombian.

So Ronald and I have been studying for the TOEFL about 4 days a week along with running errands as he doesn't have a car - he is a really hard worker and is improving a lot. It feels good to actually be able to see/hear/read his progress and to know that I helped him accomplish that. I'm not sure when he'll actually be ready for the TOEFL, but considering he got here in April, he's doing very well.

Some highlights: Listening to him sing every word to "Bottoms Up" when it comes on the radio is really great. Also, today he asked me what "tryna" means. Like, wrote it out and everything. This kind of makes me sad for the speakers of the English language now that I think about it, but it made me laugh. It must be so hard to learn English. Jeez.

The other day we ate at Casa Colombia, my favorite favorite restaurant in Austin, and he walked in like he owned the place. He also somehow managed to dance while eating. Fantastic.

Anyway, that is fun.

I've been selling some jewelry and things on my Etsy site, which is periplogifts.etsy.com in case you missed it. Buy some jewelry because I am poor!

I was also accepted to the teaching certification program I applied to, and that starts in January. Yay! Moving forward with teaching is making me feel good because I know it's what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

Boyfriend finally got things straightened out with his school, and he got his tools today after he, his dad, and I spent a lot of time on a three-way call to the immigration office. Turns out his school is crazy and he had already given them everything they needed, but they didn't realize it. Anyway, he has his auto tools and is on the job hunt. Hopefully we will both find something else soon.

In other news...I LOVE THE WEATHER! Thank you, Texas! My plants are still alive. Emmanuel bought me a Nochebuena the other day, and it is beautiful. It looks great on the balcony. Yay!