Like my title? Here's the source I robbed (erm, borrowed) it from! In this post I would like to highlight some of the challenges I've had so far as a teacher, including but not limited to:
(1) A messy classroom. I've come to realize that trash cans aren't really a big deal here in the Dominican Republic. Sometimes they seem to be forgotten accessories rather than waste receptacles. Instead of a full wastebasket in my classroom I often leave to find pencil shavings, discarded candy wrappers and water bottles on the floor. It has surprised me the extent to which I have had to provide a social as well as traditional education to my students. I never read the term "garbage police" in my job description!
(2) Chatty Cathys. The number one rule in the English Immersion program is ENGLISH ONLY. As expected with students who arrived with zilch of an English background, it has been difficult for me to tamp down the use of Spanish in the classroom. Who wouldn't revert to their native language when confused? I can hardly blame the students for their slip-ups, but the program dictates that I must. The "punishment" that I have instituted for students who speak Spanish is to write 50 sentences of "I will only speak English in class." This has seemed to deter most but not all of my students. It is amazing to hear the difference in speaking rhythm when the students are speaking English during class (bumbling, tentative and mouse-quiet) versus when they are speaking Spanish outside the classroom (rapid-fire, animated, and loud). I can only hope that by the end of the year they will speak with as much confidence and animation in English as their native Spanish...
(3) Procrastination Station. Before moving on, I need to fess up as a master procrastinator myself. Rare is the case that I plan my classes more than one day in advance, which is to my disadvantage because worksheets and anything else that needs to be printed must be done a day ahead of time in order to be sent to the copier. But enough about me! My students have not yet gotten a grasp of the concept of homework, with emphasis on the first syllable. On days after I have assigned homework, I arrive as customary 15 minutes before class only to find students frantically finishing their exercises and, more often than I'd like to admit, copying from each other. This is another lesson I've tried (and, it seems, failed) to impart: that homework is only as useful as you make it. In other words, copying doesn't do anyone any good! (Hello, Captain Obvious) As my esteemed algebra teacher once said, "It all comes out in the wash." That is to say that students who have spent their days copying, an all-too-common learning "strategy" among Dominicans, will nonetheless fare poorly on their exams. Those who do not put in the time and effort will only get the grade they deserve.
(4) A narrowing field of vision. In one of my classes I have a student who is congenitally near-blind. It has been a challenge for me to be fair to him in terms of assigning homework and taking exams, taking into account his disability while not oversimplifying the work. There is a standing agreement with my afternoon class that they will go without a break in order to leave half an hour early (at 5:30 instead of 6pm). I use this time to work with Antonio using his voice recorder to go over the concepts we learned in class that day. But I have run into several pitfalls. How to teach colors or prepositions, for example, to someone with no spatial perception? I find myself having to gloss over some themes, and continue to wonder if I am doing right by this particular student. However, I am a firm believer that "disabled" is a malapropism and that we should instead use "differently abled." This particular student proves that maxim to me every day with his impressive pronunciation and word recall.
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| Stumbling blocks! |
In spite of these stumbling blocks and challenges, I continue to enjoy the day-to-day reality of my job. Teaching a foreign language to young adults who in many other ways are deprived of opportunity has been both a humbling and rewarding experience. It is true, as they say, that the teacher learns as much or more from her students as the students do from the teacher. Time and again my students have opened my eyes to the challenges of life in a developing country, the joys and vagaries of parenting, the nuances of language, and the joie de vivre that is particularly Dominican. I look eagerly forward to all I have yet to learn.
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