First day of school

It was the first day of school for me and Gayle, and for her it was TERRIBLE. We started the day being introduced to all the students who have to sing the national anthem and the school song in the middle of the courtyard every Monday morning even when it's completely "helado" like it was this morning.

I teach high school, and Gayle is teaching in the elementary classrooms. There was nothing planned for us in the ESL classes today--they just dropped us in to observe and help wherever we were needed. For me this meant talking for 90 minutes straight and having the students talk to me as much as possible while the instructor did grades in the gradebook. Me not being the conversationalist, my head ached after the first two periods were through. However, the students were willing, contrary to what I heard about them, and they were respectful and curious. They're very excited to learn the lyrics of all their favorite songs in English, and loved that I brought my iPod and speakers to teach them. I made quick friends with many of the students.

Gayle, on the other hand, had a battle today. In Chile, it's the little ones who are rude and disgusting, and they had a lot of fun making obscene comments to her. They were loud and didn't follow directions, and didn't respect the regular teacher anymore than they respected her. It got so bad today that Gayle left the school in tears. Gayle's a tough girl, so that says how "groseros" they were. She did end up coming back, but I think she is going to try to work things out so that we can team teach instead of trying to do battle everyday with the younger kids. She liked being with me in the afternoon, so hopefully that will make it better for her.

School starts at 8:15 and ends at 5:00 on Mondays, 4:15 every other day. There are 5 classes per day, 90 minutes each. We have one or two "recreos" (recesses) and lunch is an hour. Here the teachers move to the different classrooms.

Here's my Chilean phone number again, but with different numbers at the beginning:
0056 97 866 3710--Please someone try and call me to see if it works. Also, here's my mailing address here in Chile:

Lindsay Wilde Unsworth
Villa Mirasol
Pasaje Los Pimientos
Comuna de Santa Maria
Ciudad San Felipe
Quinta Region
Chile