Mid-Travel Thoughts

5/29/13

Today marks the halfway point of my study away trip here in Costa Rica.  At this point, I feel very immersed into the Costa Rican/ tican lifestyle and culture.  I met my second host family on Sunday evening and couldn’t be happier with homestay.  The family is kind and makes every effort to make me feel like a member of the family.  My mama tica is a nurse at a clinic several minutes up the road and the father works at a butterfly garden in town and as a bartender.  They have four children, two that live at home.  Jose is 11 and attends the Cloud Forest school where he has become very proficient in English.  Natalia (Nati) is 16 and attends the public high school and is training to become a chef. 

Meet Jose!

At this point, I am feeling a variety of emotions.  I am feeling thankful for a wonderful host family in the beautiful town of Santa Elenta.  The views are breathtaking and I am getting plenty of exercise from walking up and down hills all day!  I am enjoying the company of my classmates from MSU and have really liked getting to know the UNC-W students.  I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work so closely with students in Costa Rican schools and find it very interesting to learn more about the public school system here.  During the available free time we have, I enjoy wandering about Santa Elena and seeing as much of the area that I can. 

My host family loves Michael Jackson Wii dancing games and their yellow lab, China!

On the other end of the spectrum I am starting to feel a bit worn down.  Early mornings and long afternoons of Spanish classes are beginning to feel draining and have appeared to take an effect on the positivity of us students as a whole.  I wasn’t anticipating that four hours of Spanish classes would be as difficult to get through daily.  The lack of down time our group has coupled with the lack of internet access has left me frustrated and wanting to sort of “shut down” a few times.  Having basically unlimited Internet/Wifi access in the States has made me forget how convenient and easy it is to access information at any time.  Getting homework done and completing research is very difficult when none of us can connect to the Internet at our homestays or CPI.

I am curious to know how the reminder of the trip will be.  I am wondering how much further my Spanish will progress and how much further “immersed” I will feel into the Costa Rican culture. 

Typical Costa Rican meal- arroz con pollo (rice and chicken). Yum!

Demonstration, Not Translation- Calle Hernandez Primary School Experience

Visiting and teaching in Costa Rican schools has by far been my favorite portion of this study away trip. I wasn’t sure what to expect while working and observing within Costa Rican schools but I am so grateful for my time at Calle Hernandez primary school and I value my interactions with students. 

My experience within Calle Hernandez primary school immediately started off positively because of the welcoming debriefing we received from Dina, a teacher at this school.  Dina spoke English and was the Enlgish school at the school. Dina gave us the demographics of the school, problems that the public school system here in Costa Rica face, and challenges she personally faces daily in her own classroom at Calle Hernandez. 

We visited Calle Hernandez primary school on Tuesday, May 21^st and Thursday, May 23^rd during the morning hours. On Tuesday, we gave a lesson to a small group of students on parts of the body while pairing up with a fellow study away student.  As we were assigned two fourth grade students on Tuesday and a third grade student on Thursday, I tried to put myself into their shoes.  I thought of the possible fear and anxiety they would be feeling as they were paired off to learn a foreign language with a non-Spanish speaking, strange looking gringa.  To counteract their possible worries, I tried my best to give welcoming smiles, introduce myself enthusiastically in Spanish to them, and get on their height level when speaking to them.

Giving a lesson on describing words to my student Angelica.

I faced some initial challenges when teaching the lessons on both Tuesday and Thursday.  It was important for me to try and grasp how much English my students knew, what type of learning style they preferred, and techniques used to make them feel as comfortable as possible.  When I would ask a student to complete a task related to the lesson I was teaching, often times they would not understand my English direction and appear frustrated. 

To conquer this issue and overcome the language barrier, I started to use Dina’s motto of “Demonstration, not Translation”. I began to demonstrate the task I desired to my students.  After I demonstrated, students would try the task.  Sometimes, this required guidance. Eventually, my students could complete a task individually and take ownership of their learning, progress, and outcomes.  Demonstration was done by drawing pictures, walking around the school grounds and examining objects, repeating English words, and palying charades.

Fourth grade classroom

 Implementing a demonstrative style of teaching proved to be not only effective for my students, but also fun for them!  My students loved being able to move around, compare objects in nature, and act out what they were learning to their peers.  The joy I felt watching my ELL students learn and demonstrate their material was indescribable and a feeling I want to remember each and every day in my future classroom. 

I am proud of the persistence, bravery, and positive learning attitudes of my students at Calle Hernandez primary school.  The work and effort of Dina is outstanding and she serves as a great resource for not only her students and their parents, but also for us MSU and UNC-W students as well. I am grateful for her motto of “Demonstration, Not Translation” and have implemented this teaching and learning technique countless times since my visit to Calle Hernandez!

Reflecting on La Carpio

Today was truly life-changing.

Our group visited La Carpio, the toughest neighborhood of Costa Rica where poverty, drugs, and violence rule the streets and dictate the lives of three generations of residents.

By growing up outside of inner city St. Louis and working in rural Southwest Missouri schools, I thought I had an average amount of exposure and mental grasp on what living in poverty really is.  After my morning and afternoon in La Carpio, my views and understanding on poverty has completely changed. 

After listening to Gale speak about her work in La Carpio, I realized that most times, living in poverty isn’t a choice, but rather it is a world you are either in born into or trapped within.  Do you people really choose or prefer to live in filth and drink unpurified water? Do people choose to live with low self-esteem and depression?  As a mother, would you choose to buy nice smelling shampoo or food for your multiple, hungry children?

As a future educator, poverty is an issue that I’ll undoubtedly face within my classroom.  It is fair to assume that at some point in my teaching career, I will have a student who may not eat any meals besides lunch at school, a student who has parents in and out of prison, or a student who may not even have a home.  These students’ basic needs will not be met and they will have to work harder and overcome more obstacles than their peers in both academic and social settings. 

After touring La Carpio and visiting several homes, I really began to think about the circumstances that innocent children living in poverty must face.  I began to wonder when faced with tough situations in the future regarding low socio-economic students, how I will react.  Will I allow a student who lives in a state home an extra day to complete his homework?  Will I remind a student they must be on time to class even though they’re late because their parents don’t own a car?  I couldn’t decide.  I believe myself to be an empathetic and understanding person- therefore I would adjust to students’ unique home situations, but I also extremely value the importance of fairness and consistency within a classroom. 

Gale helped make up my mind once we returned to the Humanitarian Foundation for a reflection on the morning we experienced.  Gale shared stories of residents of La Carpio.  These stories included sadness, death,  progress, and perseverance.  As I watched young children and teens perform a dance and play, I began to make my mind up.  Expectations.  High expectations.  I looked at these students and saw a universal spark in each of their eyes; hope.  

As a teacher who would be lowering expectations or tiering down guidelines for students living in poverty or going through tough times, I would inadvertently taking away their hope.  I would be sending an indirect message that I didn’t trust they could overcome the place they are now, that they are not smart enough, and that I didn’t wholly believe in them.  Those three things are the LAST thing I would ever want my students to believe I think of them.  They are smart.  They are important.  They do matter.  And lowering my academic and behavioral expectations would be sending quite the opposite of that message. 

I am grateful for my experience at La Carpio and chat with Gale that helped answer the question I was battling.  It was humbling get to know the residents of La Carpio and listen to their stories.  Although the effects of violence and poverty is easy to see in the community of La Carpio, the hope that residents hold for the future is impossible to ignore.  As a future teacher, I cannot wait to instill hope in each and every one of my students, no matter what their socioeconomic status may be. 

First Night With My Mama Tica

Yesterday was my first night with my mama tica.  My mama tica, Carmen, picked me up from the CPI school late last night. She was immediately so welcoming and didn’t hesitate to warmly hug and greet me.

Her home is much different than any other home I have visited.  She lives in a small house with her two daughters, their spouses, and 3 grandchildren.  The house is sort of three houses within one large one. She showed me my room and the bathroom I’ll be using.

My bedroom. (El dormitorio) 

When I arrived, no other family members were home and the mama tica gave me a quick tour of her home. After the tour, she took me into her kitchen and began to ask me questions (all in Spanish).  This was very difficult for me because I couldn’t understand what she was saying and suddenly felt shy and unintelligent.  As we sat in the kitchen, I did my best to communicate with her and appear engaged, but inside I was panicking and started to wonder how I was going to be able to make it through the week living with a family that spoke little to no English.

As I lay in bed that night I had a lot of feelings; anxiety, excitement and curiosity.  I wasn’t concerned with the lack of air conditioning, small six legged visitors in the shower, or finding my way around a new city; but instead I wondered how I was going to break through the language barrier with my new family and be the best representative of a United States’ college student that I could be.

Ready or not, my journey was about to begin…. 

Pre-travel Thoughts

5/17/2013

I feel extremely blessed and privileged to be able to participate in this short-term study away program through Missouri State University and University of North Carolina-Wilmington.  This trip abroad still seems very surreal to me although I am fully packed and waiting between flights at O’Hare airport in Chicago right now.

When this study away program was initially presented to me back in November, it seemed like a far off dream that was not going to be very realistic for me.  I am so excited that I am able to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity immersing myself into another culture and language.  I’ve never traveled out of the United States and most of the traveling I have done has been tourism-oriented anyways.  I have desired to study abroad during my college years and this trip is an ideal fit for my course work, graduation date, and financial means. 

As of now, the biggest concerns I have is the language barrier once I arrive.  I am concerned with how I will communicate with my host family about meal times, operating their showers, and letting them know where I will be and at what time.  Other than those concerns I am only slightly worried about what I packed and hoping it’s enough/ not too much. 

I hope to gain cultural insight into Latin American countries while I am in Costa Rica. I am looking forward to picking my Spanish back up and being able to communicate with not only my host family and Spanish professor but with members of surrounding community as well. I hope to become more sensitive and aware of the struggles and obstacles that English Language Learners face and strategies to empathize with them and reach them academically.  Overall, it is my hope that this immersion trip will better prepare me for my career as an elementary educator and facilitator of meaningful learning.

Let's Look at Costa Rica

• ·         Costa Rica is located in Central America.  Costa Rica is south of Nicaragua and north of Panama.  The Caribbean ocean borders the east side of the country and the North Pacific Ocean borders the west of the country.
  
• ·         Costa Rica is slightly smaller in size than the state of West Virginia with around 31,478 square miles
• ·         This means that the USA is almost 181 times bigger than Costa Rica!
• ·         Costa Rica is divided into seven provinces; San Jose, Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limon.
• ·         It’s climate is tropical and subtropical with a  dry season from December to April and a rainy season from May to November
• ·         There are more than 121 volcanic formations in Costa Rica, and seven of them are active.  
  
• ·         The population of Costa Rica is approximately 4.13 million.
• ·         The currency in Costa Rican is called the colon.
• ·         The Capital of Costa Rica is San Jose. There are about 2.1 million people living in San Jose making it the largest city in the nation.
• ·          Costa Rica’s income is mostly from agriculture including coffee and bananas.  However the largest source of income is tourism.     
  
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• ·         The staples of the Costa Rican diet are rice and black beans, along with bread, chicken or meat, vegetables, salads, and fruits.  
• ·         The life expectancy in this country is almost 77 years, one of the highest in the world.
• ·         The Costa Rican government is democratic, with presidential elections every 4 years, and no standing army.
• ·          The Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla is the first woman president of Costa Rica.