I don't have time for a longer blog post since the internet at the school was not working today. I'm now trying to figure out how to teach a lesson about the history of electricity production in Costa Rica. Thankfully the ICE (the Costa Rican state-owned energy company) has a helpful description of its efforts. I will have to decide how to deal with the irony of it as I remember losing the power in all of Manuel Antonio during the final of the World Cup.
Quick story: Yesterday, I was unsure of whether to be offended or take it as a compliment when two fifth grade girls came up to me and put a picture from a magazine up next to my face and said, "Mire, la misma cara!" (Look, the same face). I had no idea what they were talking about as I was reading my email and did not see who it was.
As they turned and walked away, I asked them who was in the magazine picture. One of them turned her head and said, "Es Robert Pattinson!"
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Teaching
I realized that I have not actually written about teaching in a while. I mention it off-handedly like at the end of my previous post, but for the most part that is about all. There are a couple of reasons for this, but this blog does not need to be me meta-analyzing why I post what I post.
This week marks the start of the second half of the second trimester. What that means in non-confusing talk is that I am spending this week grading the tests from my 5th and 6th graders. I am also going to be ramping up my teaching to my 2nd and 3rd graders since the next test in science for them will be in English. The opposite is true for my 5th and 6th graders, who will be focusing somewhat more on science in Spanish.
I am still feeling like I am in over my head at times. I do feel like I am a much better teacher now than I was even 3 months ago. Obviously that is good. I hope to continue to improve and not level out, since there are definitely many areas in which I could improve my teaching.
The next few months will also be taken up with me attempting to find some direction on what my next step(s) should be. I will be applying to jobs from here though I am unsure of how I would do a phone interview. Over skype? Maybe I'll just time it so any phone interviews would be after I am home in early December.
The one goal I had which I do not feel I will be able to achieve was to figure out whether I want to be a teacher or not while here in Costa Rica. I was talking to the director of World Teach, the program I am volunteering through, and she commented on how many volunteers come here because they think they might want to be teachers. The problem with that is teaching here is so different from teaching in the US that it is not comparable. Just having textbooks would make things so much different for me and for the students. Not that I know of textbooks aimed at teaching science in English as a foreign language, but it would be nice if such textbooks existed and I had some
In more interesting and exciting news, Season 4 of the Guild has started up again!
This week marks the start of the second half of the second trimester. What that means in non-confusing talk is that I am spending this week grading the tests from my 5th and 6th graders. I am also going to be ramping up my teaching to my 2nd and 3rd graders since the next test in science for them will be in English. The opposite is true for my 5th and 6th graders, who will be focusing somewhat more on science in Spanish.
I am still feeling like I am in over my head at times. I do feel like I am a much better teacher now than I was even 3 months ago. Obviously that is good. I hope to continue to improve and not level out, since there are definitely many areas in which I could improve my teaching.
The next few months will also be taken up with me attempting to find some direction on what my next step(s) should be. I will be applying to jobs from here though I am unsure of how I would do a phone interview. Over skype? Maybe I'll just time it so any phone interviews would be after I am home in early December.
The one goal I had which I do not feel I will be able to achieve was to figure out whether I want to be a teacher or not while here in Costa Rica. I was talking to the director of World Teach, the program I am volunteering through, and she commented on how many volunteers come here because they think they might want to be teachers. The problem with that is teaching here is so different from teaching in the US that it is not comparable. Just having textbooks would make things so much different for me and for the students. Not that I know of textbooks aimed at teaching science in English as a foreign language, but it would be nice if such textbooks existed and I had some
In more interesting and exciting news, Season 4 of the Guild has started up again!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Back to Teaching
The reason why I have not updated my blog in 2 weeks is because I spent the last week in Manuel Antonio/ Quepos at the beach. I did have internet access there, but not enough to devote time to writing a blog post. Manuel Antonio is in the southern part of Costa Rica on the Pacific side.
Manuel Antonio has the beaches and the national park. I actually stayed in Quepos, which is a town over the hill from Manuel Antonio. Quepos is a cool little town with an interesting mix of plantation workers taking time off from work, expats, and tourists all mingling. While not aesthetically the nicest place, it had great little cafes and interesting places to find.
My time at the beach was a lot of fun. I did a bunch of generic tourist things like wandering around the national park and lying on the beach. The weather did not cooperate for the second half of the week so I spent less time on the beach than I had planned. That was not that big a deal because I was more than happy to stay in and read the books I had bought at the used book store I found in Quepos.
I went white-water rafting for the second time in a month which I enjoyed immensely. The river was running really high since they had had a lot of rain in the days before I went. This meant that the guide was actually somewhat unsure of how some of the different parts would run which made parts a little hairier than they might have been otherwise.
For example, La Boca del Diablo (the Devil's Mouth) ended up being really tame because of how high the water was. On the flip side, just below la boca del diablo, the guide directed the boat directly into a large hole, unintentionally. Luckily only the guide was tossed from the boat, but it was still pretty intense.
I also watched the final of the World Cup from a bar in Manuel Antonio. The bar had one tiny television, but it was the only place I could find where I could sit down to watch the game. I'm used to watching sports on a tiny television from college, so it was fine. The entire game was really exciting, with plenty of chances and lots of yellow cards. (Nigel de Jong definitely should've gotten a red card).
In the 131st minute, seconds before the end of the game, the power went out in all of Manuel Antonio. The entire town ran outside of wherever they were watching to try to find somewhere else to see the end of the game. The power came back on a few minutes later with the Spanish players celebrating in the middle of the field, so I didn't miss anything important.
Now I am back to teaching, which is proving tough. I need to sit down and focus on what I need to be teaching. Well, there are only a couple of weeks left in July, soon it will be August. I will be back in the US in December, before too long.
Manuel Antonio has the beaches and the national park. I actually stayed in Quepos, which is a town over the hill from Manuel Antonio. Quepos is a cool little town with an interesting mix of plantation workers taking time off from work, expats, and tourists all mingling. While not aesthetically the nicest place, it had great little cafes and interesting places to find.
My time at the beach was a lot of fun. I did a bunch of generic tourist things like wandering around the national park and lying on the beach. The weather did not cooperate for the second half of the week so I spent less time on the beach than I had planned. That was not that big a deal because I was more than happy to stay in and read the books I had bought at the used book store I found in Quepos.
I went white-water rafting for the second time in a month which I enjoyed immensely. The river was running really high since they had had a lot of rain in the days before I went. This meant that the guide was actually somewhat unsure of how some of the different parts would run which made parts a little hairier than they might have been otherwise.
For example, La Boca del Diablo (the Devil's Mouth) ended up being really tame because of how high the water was. On the flip side, just below la boca del diablo, the guide directed the boat directly into a large hole, unintentionally. Luckily only the guide was tossed from the boat, but it was still pretty intense.
I also watched the final of the World Cup from a bar in Manuel Antonio. The bar had one tiny television, but it was the only place I could find where I could sit down to watch the game. I'm used to watching sports on a tiny television from college, so it was fine. The entire game was really exciting, with plenty of chances and lots of yellow cards. (Nigel de Jong definitely should've gotten a red card).
In the 131st minute, seconds before the end of the game, the power went out in all of Manuel Antonio. The entire town ran outside of wherever they were watching to try to find somewhere else to see the end of the game. The power came back on a few minutes later with the Spanish players celebrating in the middle of the field, so I didn't miss anything important.
Now I am back to teaching, which is proving tough. I need to sit down and focus on what I need to be teaching. Well, there are only a couple of weeks left in July, soon it will be August. I will be back in the US in December, before too long.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Quince Dias!
First day of vacation today in La Fortuna. The vacation is called Quince Dias, which is how Costa Ricans say two weeks most of the time. Hence, the vacation is for two weeks. The first week I will be spending relaxing and hanging out in La Fortuna, while I will be off to Manuel Antonio and the Pacific Ocean for the second week.
This also marks the halfway mark on my time here in Costa Rica. More specifically, it marks the halfway time of my teaching here, since I'm past halfway if I include orientation. Still, its crazy to think that I'm halfway done with the school year. At times it seems like this has been the longest 6 months of my life, but at the same time I know before too long it will be December and I will be back in the US.
I will be excited to be back in the US, though the recent jobs report makes me less than excited about job searching. I was really hoping the economy would be adding jobs, not simply moving sideways. Still, there's hope that in 6 months things are looking better. A second dip would be depressing on a number of levels.
This also marks the halfway mark on my time here in Costa Rica. More specifically, it marks the halfway time of my teaching here, since I'm past halfway if I include orientation. Still, its crazy to think that I'm halfway done with the school year. At times it seems like this has been the longest 6 months of my life, but at the same time I know before too long it will be December and I will be back in the US.
I will be excited to be back in the US, though the recent jobs report makes me less than excited about job searching. I was really hoping the economy would be adding jobs, not simply moving sideways. Still, there's hope that in 6 months things are looking better. A second dip would be depressing on a number of levels.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Soccer
Today I will be going to play soccer with a few of the teachers at the school. I have been doing this for the past month once a week and its been great fun. While its just a bunch of guys playing soccer, its still a higher level of soccer than I've played in years. I need to work on making quicker decisions. Too many times I end up staring at the other players, trying to figure out what I should be doing.
I will hopefully play better tonight, though I've been failing to run over the past week. I will have to work on conserving my energy, something I am not used to doing. I'm used to ultimate frisbee, where there are unlimited subs and the goal is to go out and run as hard as you can. Yes, you learn to take a breather in the stack, but generally you just run the entire time (or at least thats how I played). Needless to say, this is not an intelligent way to play soccer.
Well, if I end up sore tomorrow, I will be able to soak it off at the hot springs. The school has organized a trip to the hot springs tomorrow night, which should be fun. I have not been yet, so I'm excited to go see how they are.
Two more days until vacation!
I will hopefully play better tonight, though I've been failing to run over the past week. I will have to work on conserving my energy, something I am not used to doing. I'm used to ultimate frisbee, where there are unlimited subs and the goal is to go out and run as hard as you can. Yes, you learn to take a breather in the stack, but generally you just run the entire time (or at least thats how I played). Needless to say, this is not an intelligent way to play soccer.
Well, if I end up sore tomorrow, I will be able to soak it off at the hot springs. The school has organized a trip to the hot springs tomorrow night, which should be fun. I have not been yet, so I'm excited to go see how they are.
Two more days until vacation!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Why I will never write about sports for a living
So the main reasons I will never write about sports is I don't have a strong desire too. I mean, I enjoy it in my blog, but as a career it does not attract me at all. However, my latest analysis of the Argentina side was terrible.
I said that Diego Milito should start ahead of Gonzálo Higuain, and so of course Higuain goes out and scores a hat trick against South Korea. I'm hoping Brazil plays better or that North Korea proves to be better than everyone thought, so at least that prediction turns out better.
Well, I will not make any comments about the game between the US and Slovenia other than to say I am extremely excited for the game. Also, Celtics- Lakers is tonight. Less said about game six the better, but given how the series is going tonight should hopefully be better for the Celtics.
I said that Diego Milito should start ahead of Gonzálo Higuain, and so of course Higuain goes out and scores a hat trick against South Korea. I'm hoping Brazil plays better or that North Korea proves to be better than everyone thought, so at least that prediction turns out better.
Well, I will not make any comments about the game between the US and Slovenia other than to say I am extremely excited for the game. Also, Celtics- Lakers is tonight. Less said about game six the better, but given how the series is going tonight should hopefully be better for the Celtics.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Happenings
(I'm now posting this at school, though I wrote it earlier. Apparently Switzerland is beating Spain now?)
Sitting here watching the Spain- Switzerland game, I don't have much to talk about. I did a good job updating my blog every day last week, but nothing has happened particularly blog worthy the last few days.
I'm been basically teaching and watching the World Cup. This is fun but not something I feel make multiple blog posts worth of material. This week at the school I need to give a homework assignment because in 2 weeks I have to give the exams for 5th and 6th grade for the second period.
I'm teaching energy in various forms and levels of detail to the different grades, from a basic understanding of what is wind with the second graders to the 6th graders who are learning about how wind is a renewable clean energy.
Costa Rica is an interesting place to teach about energy since there are examples of places where Costa Rica is developing both wind and geothermal energy (from a couple of volcanoes), so it is easy to put the material in the real world.
Costa Rica is an interesting place to teach about energy since there are examples of places where Costa Rica is developing both wind and geothermal energy (from a couple of volcanoes), so it is easy to put the material in the real world.
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