Changed my mind again

So maybe I will write a real blog post :) I happen to be bumming in the office in Managua at the moment, waiting for my friends to return from the grocery store so I've got some time.

I wanted to share a positive story because I feel like I've been pretty negative on here lately. This is a little ironic because this week I've been lacking some basics on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs but I'm still gonna share this story because I need some positivity in my life.

One thing I've noticed in the classes I teach is that, much like in the U.S., you have your good students and not so good students. When there are upwards of 30 or 40 students in a class, I really can't fault my counterpart for concentrating on the better students because in that kind of environment it's virtually impossible to make sure everyone is learning. However, I think some of the not so good students could be better with just a little attention. Positive feedback can go a long ways with these kids.

Anyway, the story: the 2nd year students were practicing reading a dialog and there were two girls who were clearly not interested in participating in any way, shape, or form. They were shooting hate beams out of their eyes, I think that's a cross-cultural way of saying "just let me be and no one gets hurt." But of course we couldn't let them be so instead I sat down with their group to decide parts and work on the pronunciation. One of the girls claimed she couldn't read any of it so we worked particularly on her part. I was so impressed when their group stood up to present and she did a great job! And all of a sudden there were no hate beams, she was smiling and happy to actually receive some praise for her work, something that may not happen very often.

This teaching bit is a challenge, but there are little positive moments like that to give me a little more motivation. Many days I'm amazed any of these kids learn anything in over-crowded, dilapidated classrooms that are oftentimes super hot and loud and in some cases very smelly (the ones next to the bathrooms, need I say more). I learn something here everyday.