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Tuesday, 2nd September, 2008
My first
placement is in a local community centre in a very poor
part of Salvadore. All behind locked iron gates. I spent
two hours teaching very eager adults, 7 ladies, one man
and two young children very basic English. These poor
people are desperate to learn English in order to
try and get jobs in service industries such as Hotels
and Restaurants, etc. Very little, if any English is
provided by the State and private lessons are extremely
costly. They are so poor that some cannot always afford
the low bus fare to come to the school so attendance
varies day to day. Surprisingly I seemed to drop
naturally into the role of teacher and it was great fun
and productive.
The last
hour was in a children's pre-school with 20 delightful
children aged 5, but what a noise? This was much
more difficult contrary to what I originally thought and
I will need to give careful thought and find some
activities to distract them. They were absolutely
adorable, all exactly the same size and dark colour,
slim (not thin) with big luminous eyes and very active
and noisy
A
rewarding first day
Wednesday, 3rd September.
Somando Commercial Institute. A little more formal than
Baixe da Algeria and more structured. Young adults
wanting English to get into the job market. These
students come from all over Salvador where the students
at Baixa come from the one local poor community. Another
4 hours of teaching English that fried my brain – but
rewarding and actually good fun with plenty of laughs.
Getting into the swing of it now but a long way to go
and very demanding.
Back to the centre for lunch and an evaluation meeting
followed by two hours of Portuguese lessons. All of us
are out on our feet. If that were not enough tonight we
had an hour lesson in Copiera Kung Fu style dancing that
left us soaking wet.
Now armed with masses of stuff for tomorrow’s two
schools – crayons, paper, posters, etc. Tomorrow night
Samba lessons (Thursday)
Friday, 5th September
What a week this has
been? Being thrown into a new environment and a new
culture has indeed been a massive cultural shock.
Having to face teaching English entirely on my - when I
had assumed that I would be helping teachers – has been
an overwhelming experience. I have received a great deal
of help from the lovely staff here, especially Taite,
who is basically in charge of the day to day
placements.
The first few days was daunting to say the least yet for
some strange reason I seemed to drop into the role of
teacher immediately once I had overcome my initial
nerves. I am teaching 5 days week, not 3 days teaching
and 2 days at pre school as originally thought, and to
two very different groups.
The first group are
local poor people from one local community at Baixe de
Alegeria who desperately want to improve themselves.
They all know each other as locals and are all very
friendly and love the lessons. This is for 2 hours
Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The wall charts that I
took proved very essential everywhere and saved a lot of
time.
For the next hour on
the two days I am at the pre-school centre with 5 year
olds. The noise was horrendous. But they are Oh so cute.
All the same size exactly, same colour, same big dark
eyes, so friendly and so caring. around me. Here I am
helping their teacher and the challenge is finding
something to occupy their little minds immediately. I
cracked it on Thursday by bringing in loads of crayons
and photocopies of butterflies and that gave me 45
minutes relative peace. I then helped them wash their
hands, etc, for lunch. During the coming week I will
show them computer animals and sounds. I could bring an
armful of them back with me.
Monday, Wednesday and
Friday are at a commercial centre – Somando, for 3.5
hours in the morning This is a JOB FOR ALL programme the
purpose of which is to prepare students for the job
market. Provided they have a basis of English that helps
the to get a job interview after which they are trained
properly by their employers, ie hotels, restaurants etc.
Entirely another challenge as there are about 24
students that will not fit into the small classroom
therefore the class has been divided into sessions, 8.30
to 10.15 and 10.15 to 12.00. Same lesson twice except
they are all at different levels and come in and go when
they please or do not turn up at all as they cannot
afford the bus fare. Having a smattering of the
language has also been of great help and saves me waving
my arms around in mime. Using it in town etc is another
matter entirely?
Afternoons are a
mixture of cultural lessons and tours, Portuguese
lessons and free time. Not compulsory but not to be
missed. Samba and Capoeira (simulated Kung Fu dancing)
twice a week and the sweat absolutely pours off.
The food is regular
and excellent, all being freshly cooked on the premises.
No alcohol is allowed in the home base. I feel much
healthier eating at set times, no alcohol, not much
coffee, loads of water and as much fruit and vegetable
as you want with plenty of fruit juices.
A truly wonderful first
week during which we have been welcomed by the staff and
students alike. Watch this space in
week two. |
