First 2 days of school:
Costa Rica continues to amaze me in its beauty. On Monday, Rachael and I began our time at our school. Each day, we ride the city bus to and from school for 190 colones (about 35-40 cents). It was a little intimidating at first, but our host mom came with us on the first day so we knew where to get off. As we approached campus, she left us and we started our walk in. The entrance is gated and monitored. The campus is HUGE! The school includes Elementary, Middle, and High School. They have so much property and use it all beautifully. The gymnasium is outside, surrounded by palm trees and the jungle. Classroom doors are left open to the outside during instruction. Many classrooms have sliding doors on the wall opposite the entrance, so those doors are often kept open, allowing for a wonderful cross-breeze. There is a beautiful courtyard in the middle full of flowers and surrounded by picnic tables. It's breathtaking.

I met my cooperating teacher who is an expat from Colombia. She is amazing. She teaches 4th and 5th grade English, as I will be soon. I've spent my time this week getting to know the students and her classroom management style, as well as helping her with small tasks. She had me helping to teach lessons right away. On the first day I helped with a 5th grade Spelling lesson, and today I helped with a 4th grade Spelling test/lesson. I also got to re-vamp a bulletin board, which as most of you know, I LOVE doing.

Everything is pretty laid back. There is A LOT of prep time, which is super nice. The schedule changes every day but typically I have almost 2 hours of prep time in the morning. Since I don't have anything to prep for yet, I have been helping my teacher get ready for her lessons, helping out other teachers with their things, and asking a lot of questions about the curriculum usage and implementation. They have a program called ATLAS which houses all of their curriculum, complete with objectives, activities, materials, and procedures. There is a very high standard at this school for education, so the administration and parents want to be sure that the curriculum is appropriate and challenging.

Speaking of parents, at this school they are heavily involved. They are also heavily invested financially in this school. It's private and tuition is very expensive. Many of the students have private drivers, maids, nannies, etc. In spite of this, they are very considerate and respectful of their teachers. Their parents put high value on education and expect a lot out of their students.

In terms of my daily schedule, it changes. I typically catch the bus by 6:30 and school begins at 7:30. We finish with the students around 1:00, but there are often things going on after school. For example, we all stayed after today to plan a presentation for the end of the year, and watch the rehearsal for the talent show that is on Friday. Flexibility is a must for being in Costa Rica, but there are always people available to answer questions and provide guidance. There are a lot of teachers here from the states and some have taken us under their wing. They know the need we have as Americans to know things and be in control of things, so they try to give us advanced notice of everything...which is great.

As a part of my rent, my host mom prepares breakfast and dinner. It's delicious! A lot of beans but all very fresh food. The fruit and vegetables here are amazing. I can't get enough! For lunch our school has a subsidy program that pays for part of the lunches for teachers, then we fork over the rest. It ends up being just under $2 per day, which is perfect; and it's pretty good for school food! Way better than I've ever experienced. Today I had tilapia, and it wasn't creepy! It tasted good, and with some fresh roasted veggies and a salad with a pesto/lime/cilantro dressing, I was set.

Today was a great day, but super long. I'm off to bed before 8pm! I'll take some pictures of the school this week and post them here/on fb so you all can see how beautiful it is! Here's the website in case you want to check it out...there's a slideshow on the homepage.

Pan-American School

Hasta luego!