The First Day of Class!!!

Wow.....what a first day, today was truly a roller coaster ride in every sense of the term. Before I explain what went on today, it would be appropriate to talk about the dynamic of the day. Today was just a half day, students came in from 8-12 and they were suppose to be in classes from 9 until 12 with a short break for recess (which high schoolers get here). The other thing I should mention is that all of these kids have been in the same grade and in the same classes since at least 5th grade, if not going back all the way to kindergarten. There are two classes in each grade and most stay together year after year, so they are extremely comfortable with each other. I was supposed to have 20 minutes to cover basic rules, materials they need for class, and anything else that I felt was necessary. Usually I would have 40 minutes. And I would only teach 4 classes, usually I would teach 6 to 7.

Now...the day started at 8 and Ms. Godoy, the principal went 20 minutes over the chapel time with introductory rules and cut into 20 minutes of our 1st period time. Since we only had a 30 min. class 1st period that left me with 10 minutes to introduce philosophy, Bible, and all the rules that they need to know in the school. The 11th grade A class was pretty good, the principal told me to be really firm all week, so I that's what I really tried to do, the other thing I heard all week was people apologizing to me for how bad the kids were going to be, but the first class was not too bad, just really talkative, I had to repeatedly tell them to stop talking.

Next class was 10th B, was my beloved friend Carlos, yes, I know his name already because he was the worst kid by far. He made it a point to make sure that I knew his name because he was such a problem. Everytime I or someone else said something, he would try to divert all the attention to himself, he would get up out of his seat. He was also talking in spanish to his friends, I thought he might be talking about me, and since they are only allowed to talk in English (bilingual school) he translated what he said, "I'm a Pimp." I will probably not ask him to translate any more. The whole class was reacting to him big time, and I felt like I was laying into them pretty hard too. That was by far the hardest class. I had 10A next, they were pretty talkative as well, I had them all say their names, age, favorite subject, and favorite superhero, they enjoyed that. And they were quiet enough to hear everyone's answers too, which was nice. Finally I went into 11B, where they were a semi-decent class, there was one wise crack in the back of the class who kept mumbling things in Spanish and talking, so I just held what I was saying until he finished, I only had to do that 2 to 3 times before he realized that I was serious and would not talk until he stopped talking, but that class was extremely talkative as well. I felt like my voice was almost shot already after only 4 classes of 20 minutes each!!!

My unrealistic expectations for teaching was completely shattered. I'm used to teaching in an environment where people generally want to learn. But this is certainly not the feel in any of my classes. Not only am I going to have to plan a curriculum for almost everything I teach, but I have to do it in a very creative way, so the students are more interested and really are interested. I'm so excited about doing that in Bible, but it will certainly be a tougher challenge with Philosophy and Sociology. But most importantly I need to be spending alot more time in prayer about this tremendous responsibility and challenge. Please keep praying for me, I need your prayers so much!!!

However the day was not over, we actually had open house that night with the parents of the children, I talked to 5 classrooms of parents and everything went really well and really smooth. I must have explained things pretty well, because nobody had any questions really after any of my announcements about myself and the class. I had a good conversation with one of the parents about missions, he definitely had heard of Moody, which was cool, and he knew of Moody Press as well. I was talking to him about possibly one day going to seminary and becoming a pastor and then going overseas to train other pastors in 3rd world countries, and how that seems to be such a huge need in the world.

Wow, what a day, and if that wasn't enough (sorry for this long post) the first real and full day of school is on Monday, which interestingly enough will probably not happen at all. There is a planned countrywide protest in Honduras, teachers and supporters of public school teachers are coming to Tegucigalpa and marching on the main roads to block all traffic. Apparently the gov't in not paying what they promised the teachers, and some are not even getting paid. In the past there have been a few violent incidents, and when people really want to be heard, they usually invoke some kind of force. They might be protesting against our private school too, so we are supposed to stay off the main roads and stay inside for the most part, be we also symbolize everything that the Honduran protesters don't have and could take it out on us. The protest was being broadcast on the radio and is supposed to occur on monday and tuesday, possibly running into wednesday, so we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading and please know that I really appreciate your prayers. Grace and Peace