Teaching French politics in Guatemala

A move to France just over the horizon, I'd clicked on a link about French presidential elections- I should know what's going on there, after all.  After wading through an article with references to people I'd never heard of who belonged to parties I wasn't familiar with, I felt pretty much as clueless as before.

And that's when it hit me- this would be a perfect article to use with staff.  I'd been wanting to do a professional development session modeling how we, as teachers, can make difficult text easier for students to comprehend by pre-teaching key concepts and aiding them in strategy use.

A few weeks later, we all clustered around our conference table as I passed out the article, letting them struggle through it on their own, just as I had, to start.  I asked them to rate their own comprehension, which was low, just as I'd intended.

And that's when things got fun.  I pulled out my photos of the 5 key candidates and arranged them on the board in a spectrum from left to right. I gave a mini intro to French elections, and then outlined the shared reading process we would do, filling out a concept map as they discussed with a partner.  There was a buzz of conversation all through the room, people laughing about Hamon (calling him jamón which is the Spanish word for ham) and slowly picking out the connections between candidates and how they benefited and disadvantaged one another.

Apologies to anyone who actually knows French politics
for any over-simplifications or outright errors

I walked between partners, helping them pick out key phrases in the article to answer questions, and loved seeing as light bulbs went off, and people summarized connections in their own words.  We wrapped up rating comprehension levels again, and, just as I'd hoped, this time almost everyone gave themselves a substantially higher score.  They'd seen the hard work that can go into both comprehension, and creating the right supports to aid comprehension.

It wasn't really my intention to teach French politics, just to use it as a platform for teaching how to support comprehension, but it struck me as funny, a room full of Guatemalans, heads bowed over their article, taking the hard work of comprehending French presidential elections seriously.  And then, to my delight a few days later, one of my coworkers mentioned "we were talking about a corrupt politician here in Guatemala who paid his family for work they didn't do and I thought, 'just like Fillon in France."  Hopefully they understood the subtext, but at the very least, my comprehension activity worked.

Endings and Beginnings

My central work project all last year revolved around updating Child Aid's teacher training curriculum.  I observed in our workshops and Guatemalan classrooms to see what we were doing well and what needs teachers still had.  I lead staff professional development sessions to teach new concepts and teaching methods that I wanted to try implementing in workshops.  And I spent a really lot of hours staring at my computer screen trying to figure out how to make all the moving pieces fit together in a logical way.

In October, I finally had it "done", or so I thought, and spent the next 7 weeks modeling and discussing changes with our leadership team.  Their feedback of course lead to another round of revisions and I was finally ready to share the nearly final product with our entire staff in December.  Having them work in small groups to discuss content and map changes between the old and new curriculum was beyond rewarding.  Then, I left for Christmas vacation, trusting my curriculum to the hands of a graphic designer and hoping it would be ready when I got back.

January rolled around, workshops were just around the corner and suddenly we had a crisis- the graphic designer we'd been working with left without telling us, and there were still 30 pages that needed to be finalized.  One of my amazing coworkers took over from there, stopping by the office in person and making sure we got it done on time.  And finally, just in time to get them out to workshops, we got the finished product from the copy shop.  To say I'm delighted would be an understatement. 

Reading for Life, Child Aid's four-year teacher training curriculum,
being used by over 600 teachers in nearly 70 schools. I feel pretty proud of my work :)

So, one project ended, and now we start a new phase- rolling out the curriculum for use by our teacher trainers and the teachers we work with. I'm so excited! 

A Very Different Thanksgiving- part 1

It’s Thanksgiving morning, but I’m not cooking a turkey or making a pie.  Instead, I’m headed up the mountain to the next town over- Sololá, the capital of the department (Guatemala’s version of States) that I live in.  We have a meeting with the director of the Department of Education and the supervisors of every school district we are currently working in.

I look around, fascinated, as we walk in.  It’s my first time at the offices, and it’s so far from my imagination of what the department of education would look like back home.  It’s a cement block structure, just as all the schools I’ve visited, and the waiting room we’re in has high ceilings and is cold this morning. The walls are painted, but the cement blocks below are still visible and the lighting is poor.  A stream of people arriving for work greets us as they walk past.  Eventually we’re lead upstairs to a large conference room, an overhead projector already turned on and the power point for the meeting after ours on the screen.  There’s a pretty tile floor pattern and tables set up in a large U.  We talk to the sub-director of the department of education as we wait, as supervisors begin to file in.

This meeting is the culmination of months of effort on the part of one of my coworkers. We’re here to sign a letter of understanding between us and the department of education.  It gives us their backing to work in schools in the districts of this department.  The department director reads the letter aloud, outlining the departments responsibilities and our responsibilities, and then, with all the supervisors we work with looking on, our Director of Programs and the director of the department of education sign and seal a letter for each supervisor as I take photos.  By the end, all the district supervisors in the department have arrived for their end of the year meeting.  We get a photo with all of them.  It’s a historic moment for us, and we’re really excited to have backing at this level of government for the work we do.

Work for the week done for me and my one American coworker, we head back down the mountain for a celebratory breakfast of eggs, black beans, plantains and tortillas, before we leave for our Thanksgiving holiday.

Big Spenders

Usually when my alarm is set before 6:00 I’m not so happy about waking up, but last Tuesday was an exception.  I had an exciting task ahead of me- several coworkers and I were going in to the capital to buy $10,000 worth of books.  Every year we receive over a million dollars worth of books in donations from book consolidators in the States, and then we pass on those donations to schools and libraries we work with, but since those donations come from surplus from publishers, there’s no guarantees to what we get. This year, almost all of our books were at the 3-5^th grade reading levels, so we were in search of some quality early grades books. 

As we walked into the store, Fondo Cultural Economico, the manager came down the stairs to meet us, handshakes and kisses on the cheek were exchanged, and then we were ushered through the store area to a separate room.  Tables had been laid out, books carefully displayed, a careful selection they thought might interest us. We flipped through, quickly discarding books that were too advanced. We asked the price of a book and another employee appeared with a laptop, looking up prices and marking them on a sticky note for every book we were interested in.  Another table magically appeared for us when we wanted to put all the books we were tentatively interested in together.

I found a new favorite, about a little boy with a stubborn pet mastodon and giggled over a wordless picture book of some animals who chase after a fox who stole a hen, only to find out that the fox and hen are actually friends. There were the books I set aside too- Beautifully illustrated poetry that was way to abstract for 6 year olds and moralizing value tales that were too boring to read.  But choosing $10,000 dollars worth of books goes surprisingly quickly when you’re buying for 70 schools and would like best if every school received the same set of books. 

While we were waiting for our order to be packed, the manager invited us to coffee at the bookstore’s adjoining restaurant.  We sipped tea and coffee and talked about book publishing in Mayan languages in their upstairs lounge, and then, urged by the manager to accept his offer of lunch, moved down to the restaurant floor below for cheese stuffed cauliflower and rice. We talked about international book fairs and his plans to expand the bookstore into more of a cultural center, and as the book packing continued, he invited us to try dessert, and we were rewarded by some excellent crepes. There’s a saying here in Guatemala- “full belly, happy heart”.  That was absolutely true at that moment.

We browsed the bookstore as they finished packing out order, and then arranged for delivery and headed back home.  I’m thankful for spending sprees, especially book buying ones, and as we were driving away, I couldn’t help but think I could get used to spending $10,000 at a go if the customer service was always so great.

Vignettes from My First Weeks on the Job

I stand, swaying in the back of a pick-up, as we swerve around hairpin mountain turns.  It’s chilly this early in the mornings, and the wind blows my hair in my face.  The view of the volcanoes and the lake on this road is spectacular.  My fellow passengers, mostly indigenous Mayan wearing their traditional clothing, seem un-phased by the view.  I wonder how long until it’s just common place to me as well, and appreciating the beauty takes conscious effort. I’ve done this trip several times now, headed to meetings and school observations, and workshops, so now I recognize where I need to get off.  I knock on the window and the driver pulls to a halt.  Climbing off the back, I reach through his window and pay him 3 quetzales (about 45 cents) and then cross the road to the building where our meeting is held.

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The room is crowded with 30 teachers, all sitting on small student chairs, hunched over low tables.  There’s a buzz in the air, as they all work intently on their news articles.  Two of our facilitators are leading a workshop on teaching writing in the elementary classroom, and now teachers are practicing a technique they’ll be encouraged to use in the classroom.  As they finish their articles, they step to the front of the room.  Someone grabs a box that was sitting on a table and uses it as a fake video camera. “Lights, camera, action” we all shout and the first reporter steps up. “And now, from Naranjo school, a recent classroom soccer championship was held. . . this is María reporting live for Gossip News.”

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Small children giggle as they look at me.  They’re probably not too used to seeing foreigners this far off the beaten track.  It took me two hours to get here this morning, first a bus, then a mini-van, then a pick-up, all forms of public transportation here in Guatemala.  Their teacher launches into the lesson she’s prepared based on one of our workshops she’s attended.  After reading aloud to the students, they are broken into small groups to create their own version of the story.  “Take a picture of ours!” one group begs me, as they carefully add in illustrations to go with their story.  The facilitator who’s in charge of follow ups with the school takes notes to go over with the teacher at the end of class.  After some general observations, recommendations, and praise for a job well done, we head off to the next classroom where another teacher is ready for his follow-up.

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The staff sit around the table discussing plans for the next workshop.  They’re in disagreement about which order they should present two of the points on the agenda, and the opposing sides are giving their pedagogical reasoning.  I’m enjoying the opportunity to see them think aloud and reach consensus.  I’m still sitting back, observing, taking notes, assimilating myself to my new work culture before I stick in my oar, as it were, but I smile to myself as they finally decide on the order I would have recommended, if I’d made a recommendation. 

A big move

"Good things come to those who wait".  It's been a mantra, running though my head over the past two months.  Just before Christmas I was browsing job postings, as the soon-to-be-gaduated tend to do, when I stumbled upon what looked like my dream job.  December seemed a bit early to apply for jobs when you don't technically graduate until May, but it isn't every day that your dream job comes along, so I applied.  And after (what felt like a rollercoaster to me) two months of interviews, hopes and fears, I was offered the job.

And I'm still shaking my head in wonder at what a perfect fit this feels like. Seriously, I don't know that I could have designed a better job for me myself. As graduation approaches, I've been making a list of things I'm looking for in my career. I wanted to focus on literacy development. I wanted to work with teacher training and curriculum development.  I wanted to wok within the already existing school system since improving the system that's already in place has the potential for a lot greater reach than working at an individual school level.  I wanted to be able to take a less visible role so that my expertise could support people who already have the cultural know-how that I will never develop as perfectly as someone from the place.

And working with Child-Aid, I'll be able to do all that.  Check out Child-Aid's website.  I'm really excited about their vision and beyond happy to be joining their team.  Everyone at Child-Aid that I've talked to has been enthusiastic and passionate about the work they do.  I'll be poviding training and support to a Guatemalan staff.  They, in turn, run professional development workshops on literacy instruction and provide one-on-one follow up support to teachers in rural Guatemalan schools.  The curriculum Child-Aid uses for its trainings is already well developed, but they also want it to be a work in progress, reflecting advances in educational theory and practice, so I'll get to contribute to developing the curriculum as well.


Then there's the location.  That's something else I've been doing lots of thinking about since I'm hoping to put down roots for awhile, and wanted a job in a location I could see myself possibly staying in long term. After down-sizing from Bogotá to a much smaller Turku, I realized that as much as I enjoyed big-city life, small town life seemed more sustainable and desirable to me.  I like that I run into people I know here when I'm doing errands or riding the bus.  Then, there's the weather.  If you know anything at all about Finland, you probably know it has long, dark, cold winters.  I miss the sun.  People always imagined me in a tropical paradise in Colombia, but the reality was a lot different. In Bogotá I missed the sun a lot of the time too, and I became an expert at wearing layers.  Access back to the States was another consideration.  Spending 24 hours and a thousand dollars just to visit home is difficult.

The town I'll be living in is called Panajachel.  It's located on Lake Atitlan, frequently touted as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.  I'll let you be the judge of that.

Lake Atitlan, photo from wikimedia commons

The town itself is small, estimated at around 15,000 people. Since it's a popular tourist destination, it also has more options for eating out and entertainment than you might expect in a town its size, and even a grocery store that caters to foreigners and stocks things like Italian sausage and cheddar cheese. At almost a mile high, the climate is spring like year round, with most days having temperatures in the 70s (20s in celsius).  There's a dry season and a rainy season, though I've been told the sun usually shines in the morning even during the rainy season.  It's only 1 time zone difference from EST and travel times and ticket prices are better than either Colombia or Finland. I have to admit- the volcanoes on the lake make me a *tiny* bit nervous, and downsizing from a town of 180,000 to a town of 15,000 might be harder than from a city of 7,000,000 to a town of 180,000. After all, Turku still had Ikea, a movie theater, and a shopping mall.  (But I'm not that big of a shopper anyway, and with movies at 13€ each it wasn't like I was going to the movies here either) But other than that, I think it's pretty perfect for me.

I've had some moments in the past year or so, as I think about where I come from, and where I want to go, and I wondered if Finland would really help me meet those goals.  After all, networking chances for non-profits in Latin America are pretty slim on this side of the Atlantic.  I've given myself pep-talks, the ones where I say, "God wouldn't nudge you to leave somewhere where you had a job that challenged you and that you enjoyed, friends you loved, and a home you felt happy in just so you could find a job you don't like in a place you don't want to live.  He'll open doors." But despite those pep-talks, I still found myself doubting and worried.  "What if. . .?" I'd ask myself, and fill in all kinds of negative possibilities.  So to be reminded of God's faithfulness-that he goes ahead of us, that he does not abandon us- has made my heart sing.

Now- who's coming to visit me once I'm all settled in?  My Mom has already told me that HER top priority for my apartment/house hunting is a 2nd bedroom for visitors.  I think a nice kitchen, good natural light, and location might be a tad bit higher on mine. ;)

"The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." Lamentations 3:25