711 School

So after teaching all three classes for several weeks now, I think I can comment on how things are. All the students have a uniform, which consists of tan button down shirts with epaulets and matching tan pants (sometimes with a hat), and then a sweater if they're cold. All the students are super cute - upon walking into the school, we're immediately surrounded by students excited to see us (calling out "¡Profe!", short for profesor), and in some cases, I'm called "ProfeDavid." It's adorable :)

ProfeEmily with the 6th grade students

Emily and I are teaching 3 different 6th grade classes, the oldest in 711. What's interesting is how each of the 3 classes differ (mostly) based on the teacher. In 6A, the profesora is really strict, and the class is super quiet as a result. In 6B, the teacher is pretty chill and nice, and the class is really energetic and fun to teach. In 6C, the teacher seems good…but when when Emily and I taught his class for the first time, he kinda dipped out on us for all of the class, except for the first ten minutes. Read: Emily and I had to control one of the more inherently rowdy classes by ourselves (not that bad but still). Regardless of the class dynamic, I love teaching these kids, and I think that the remaining weeks are going to be excellent.   Apparently, the kids in C (who seem to be the most misbehaved kids per each grade) stay in C all throughout their elementary school career. Ex: 5C students go into 6C, so it's a never ending cycle of fostering bad behavior (of sorts).  I don't approve of it, but there's not much we can do in that regard.  In terms of getting their attention, the students love games where they get to compete (usually for points), and they love drawing.  Thus, we've been building these two activities into our lesson plans in different ways, and it helps us make sure that they're learning the material as well.


Posted by David Chou