Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Even though we are in a different country, we are still celebrating Thanksgiving just as we would at home! Our students celebrated at school today with a Thanksgiving brunch including all kinds of Dominican breakfast foods. (I have officially come to the conclusion that I do not like plantains, I think I’ve tried them in every form now.) I also taught government for the first time today, and I think that it went well! School is closed for the rest of the week for the holiday.

After school 4 of us student teachers stopped by a local colmado to hang out and discuss our weekend plans. Our professor even stopped by to chat. On our walk back home we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a turkey so that it could start thawing for our big feast tomorrow. I don’t know how much turkeys cost in the states, but 2500 pesos seemed like a lot! That’s almost $60! But we are trying to feed about 15 people. In addition to a delicious turkey, we are planning to make green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and more! I am so excited!

We are also planning to stick with our other various Thanksgiving day traditions such as running the Turkey Trot (not me, I don’t run) and eating Lucky Charms while watching the Macy’s Parade (that’s my plan).

Tonight we are going to see a Dominican ballet, which should be very interesting. I hear that it is not like a ballet we would go to in the U.S., so I’m not really sure what to expect.

A Productive Tuesday

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but on Tuesdays we only have three class periods with students. During the rest of the day I worked on making the lessons for government class next week. I will be teaching the chapter about political parties in the U.S. government. As a history major, I’m not qualified to teach government in the U.S., and have not taken a government class since I was in high school. But I’m excited to give it a try, I definitely learned a lot about political parties today while making the lessons, I did not know they could be so complicated! I am even having my coordinator come in to observe my government lesson on Monday.

A lot of my students were talking about Thanksgiving today and asking if I celebrate it. It seems that a lot of my students here celebrate it, but there are some people who do not. We also had a discussion about egg nog because a few students had never tried it and wanted to know what it was. But how do you explain the taste of egg nog? That and all of the Christmas decorations around town (and hearing about snow days back at home!) are getting me excited to be home for the holidays.

Week 3!

We are halfway through our Santo Domingo student teaching experience! =

Today I taught U.S. History again. We are still talking about World War I and I am having a great time with it. My favorite time period is from about 1900-1950. The world wars are a fun topic to teach because students find it very interesting and sometimes have stories to add if their grandparents or other relatives were around during the war. One of my favorite things to do while teaching about the wars is to analyze propaganda, it is a great way to see how people felt during the war, and how their government wanted them to feel. I will finish up the WWI unit after Thanksgiving.

In 8th grade Geography the students had a food day! They have just finished learning all about the North and South American continents so each student brought a dish from a different country. We had cheeseburgers and fries from the U.S., empanadas from Argentina, banana bread from Guatemala, nachos from Mexico and so much more! It was delicious. I thought it was funny that the student who brought nachos brought chips, salsa, and queso dip that were all Tostitos brand, and chili that was from Wendy’s. I would have thought they would have some delicious homemade nacho stuff down here, but they brought exactly what I would make at home in Michigan. Not that I’m complaining, I love Tostitos!

The 8th graders enjoying their feast!

Yummy!

Another random cultural observation is that Spanish is exhausting! George and I discussed this over the weekend while we were watching Semi Pro in Spanish on TV in our hotel. He thought the movie was just hilarious gibberish because he didn’t understand a word of it. To me it was almost stressful to watch because I was trying to keep up with what they were saying. This is how I feel everyday, because I understand Spanish except when they are speaking too fast, which is almost always. By the end of the day my brain is fried. I really hope that feeling means that my brain is learning more Spanish, like the way your muscles burn after a good work out. Reading in Spanish is so much easier for me, I think because I’m a visual learner, and because I can read at my own pace. I am so glad that I had really good high school and college Spanish teachers, because I would rather be struggling to understand than to have no idea what is being said at all. So a big thank you to Mrs. Chahbazi, Mrs. Cavric, and Mrs. Vernon for teaching me everything I know about this language!

A Wonderful Weekend in Punta Cana, and other Adventures!

Wow, what a busy weekend!

Friday after school the group had a meeting with our coordinator to make sure that everything was all set for the remainder of our trip. After that, my weekend (which was much too short) in Punta Cana began! My boyfriend flew down to so that we could spend the weekend at a resort and see some sights together. The drive from Santo Domingo to Punta Cana was interesting, we definitely saw some sights there! We took a little bit of a detour leaving Santo Domingo and ended up driving through a traffic jam in little Haiti, which was a bit scary. But it was smooth sailing once we got on the highway. We reached the hotel just in time for dinner. A great bonus of visiting a resort was the hot showers. I am still not used to the cold water showers where we are staying.

Before the trip I was curious about other parts of the island, and how the resort communities differ from the capitol city, it was definitely different! Being at the resort was a whole different world. It was very interesting because I had expected to see a lot of other vacationers from the U.S. there, but it was actually mostly people from places like Ukraine and Russia, which added another cultural element to this trip. They seemed to really like cameras, everyone was constantly posing for a million pictures.

The beach was wonderful, it was nice to relax and feel the sun while listening to the waves. I love the ocean! A funny part of the trip was that on the other side of the wall outside our room was some sort of club/discoteca. All night it sounded like there was a party happening right there, and the DJ was yelling in Spanish. It might sound annoying, but it was pretty entertaining.

I didn’t take any pictures on my phone, but I hope to have some to post soon! The trip went by way too fast, as vacations always do.

I arrived back in Santo Domingo this morning and I showed my boyfriend around the local mall because it is a really neat building, and we were hoping to get some breakfast. It was kind of fun being the one who “knows” Spanish. Usually Sam, a Spanish major, does all of our communicating. Since she wasn’t there and George doesn’t speak any Spanish, I was the expert at the moment. I definitely speak broken Spanish, but I can get the point across. I’m hoping to gain more Spanish skills in the next couple of weeks.

This afternoon, we visited La Zona Colonial again. There was a little festival this weekend, but it was mostly over by the time we arrived. We did, however, stumble upon the oldest fort in the Americas. It was open for us to walk through so we went all the way up to the highest watch tower. It was so cool! The view of the city was beautiful, and I did get a few pictures there.

Greek Food Day and Heading to Punta Cana = Perfect End to the Week!

How is it already the end of our second week of school in Santo Domingo? Time is really flying.

To finish up the unit on Greek History, we had a Greek food day in 9th grade. They brought all kinds of delicious things such as hummus and pita, vanilla ice cream, Greek Salad, cinnamon apples, orange juice, Greek grilled cheese, and a variety of feta cheese items, and a few desserts. It was so yummy! I loved the Greek grilled cheese and the cinnamon apples with vanilla ice cream. The food day reminded me of when we had food days in my high school Spanish classes. I think that food days are a great way to celebrate the end of a unit and to explore other cultures. It is important to try new foods, which is something I have done a lot while I’ve been here! Another interesting part of the school day was that everyone was called out of class to to courtyard where the flag  ceremony takes place. They announced that the U.S. flag was flying at half mast in respect for John F. Kennedy, whose assassination was 50 years ago today. I wondered if schools in the U.S. did anything to commemorate this event?

So many delicious treats!

Last night a few of us went to the Agora Mall near our apartment. When we walked in we noticed all of the Christmas decorations and music. We followed our ears to the source of the music, and they were having a little Christmas concert! People were standing on platforms in the giant Christmas tree singing Christmas songs in Spanish! We all looked around for the Santa display because we want to get our picture taken with a Dominican Santa Claus! Do they have mall Santas here?

The mall looks so pretty!

Today after school I am headed to a resort in Punta Cana for the weekend. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing time on the beach, and indulging in some delicious all-you-can eat buffets. It will be interesting to compare being in a resort/tourist area to life here in the city of Santo Domingo.

In the Presence of Greek Gods

Today the 9th grade world history students continued presenting their projects on the Greek gods and goddesses. I personally learned a lot, since I haven’t studied this topic since 9th grade English. Tomorrow we will have a Greek food day to celebrate the completion of their project. I am really looking forward to some yummy food, and not having another PB&J for lunch.
Here are some pictures of my students during their presentations.

An interesting thing that happened today was that many of the seniors left school to attend a funeral for another student’a grandparent. Since each grade has only 14-20 students, they have the same classes together all day. Because of this, it seems that they are very close, which would explain why they would be there to support each other during a time of loss such as in this case. This is very different from the schools I am used to in Michigan. I graduated with about 320 students. I walked in my graduation ceremony with a guy I had never even met! I think it is great that students to Saint Thomas have the opportunity to get to know one another so well and all grow up together.

Another Busy Day

I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today.

At school I continued teaching the French Revolution, and finished up the chapter on U.S. Imperialism. I also observed the 10th grade biology class. I wanted to see how science classes might be different in the Dominican Republic. They were learning about cell growth and division and the teacher showed a very interesting video that did a good job of explaining the topic. I enjoyed the class and hope to visit again. We did not have the 12th graders today because they were on a field trip to a local university. I asked my teacher about universities here and she said that students do not have to apply and be accepted or rejected to universities, they simply pay and go!

Probably the most interesting part of the day was 9th grade. The students are giving presentations on the Greek Gods. They each have to pretend to be a certain god or goddess, in costume, and explain their lives to the class. I could tell that the students put a lot of thought into their presentations. I will post pictures tomorrow after all students have presented!

After school I created a whole new resume for myself, added some items to my electronic teaching portfolio (which is already done, thankfully), worked on lesson plans, figured out some details of my weekend trip to Punta Cana, and even had time to read a little bit of the Hunger Games. I also had a very nice conversation with Adela, one of the ladies we are staying with. It was a good way to practice my Spanish. She would type in Spanish and I would read it then answer in Spanish. I have trouble understanding when they talk here because it is so much faster, and a little different than I am used to from high school Spanish classes, but I can read it pretty well.

Well tomorrow should be another busy day and breakfast is bright and early, so buenos noches!

I contribute to yet another blog, this one is for my internship at Girl Museum

I contribute to yet another blog, this one is for my internship at Girl Museum

Here is my latest blog post for Girl Museum. It is about some of my observations as I student taught in Michigan. I hope to follow it up with a comparison about my experiences teaching in the Dominican Republic. Girl Museum is an online museum dedicated to celebrating girlhood. The unique online exhibitions are a lot of fun to look through, and our blog is always interesting as well. I am a “Junior Girl” there, which means I am a volunteer intern.

My blog for the Flint Children’s Museum!

My blog for the Flint Children’s Museum!

Click the link above!

I have worked as an educator at the Flint Children’s Museum for several years and have maintained the blog for the outdoor area. If you enjoy following my student teaching blog, please check out the museum blog! I will be posting more there when I get back to the U.S. There are many ideas for hands-on activities for kids!

Teaching 8th Grade Geography and My First University Coordinator Observation

Tuesdays are shorter days in my classroom because we only have students for 3 of the 7 class periods. It gives plenty of time for things such as lesson planning and grading. Today I taught the U.S. History class as we continued learning about U.S. Imperialism. I also taught the 8th grade Geography class for the very first time. My CMU professor came to observe my teaching for this lesson.

In geography the students are currently giving presentations on the different countries in the Americas. I interrupted their presentations today with a lesson on the geography of Michigan. I showed them how to use a KWL chart and we reviewed the 5 themes of geography while learning about the state I live in. They seemed very interested in the lesson, and had some wonderful questions, which made me very happy! I love it when students get involved with a lesson because they are genuinely curious about the topic. The students were very well behaved as well. They had so many questions that the lesson went right up until the bell rang, even though I had a few more things that we could have done in class. Both my coordinating teacher and my CMU professor both liked the lesson and provided some very helpful feedback.

 

I have noticed that I teach much differently here than I did back in Michigan, and I think there are a couple of reasons for it. Typically, I stand and move around the room more while lecturing, but here I feel like I am a little more tied to the desk because of the set up of the desk/computer/projector. Since I taught in my Michigan classroom for a much longer period of time, I felt more like the class was mine and I created almost everything on my own. Being here for a shorter amount of time makes me feel like the classroom will never become “mine.” I am okay with this because I expected things to be different, but I had gotten used to being the only teacher in the classroom and using my own materials. I guess I just felt more in control and prepared for my classes in Michigan.