Saturday was pyramid day, and we went through dark, breezy pyramid at Cholula. The Spanish missionaries built a church on top of the pyramid site, where several pyramids had been built on top of one another. These pyramids are older and larger than the ones in Egypt, based on the size of the base.
Cholula also has girl scouts.
On Sunday, Adrienne and I went to the Presbyterian church in Puebla while the family went to a park. The people were friendly and we were warmly welcomed outside by Eunicia and inside by Dora and Simon, who has worked at church camps in the United States. The children were presenting a musical so we were allowed to take some photos.
We spent the afternoon shopping and then taught Luis, René and Mario how to play Crazy 8s.
Starting on Monday, I was with the high school group, called bachillerato. The students are in what we in the U.S. call 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. They are known as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades in the high school, which was confusing to my supervisor when I told her I had been with the third grade last week until we clarified that it was 3rd grade in the primary school.
One of my fellow teachers, Max Slaney, is from Great Britain, and much of the curriculum is based on the British practices with regard to punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
I spent most of my time this week observing the other teachers in the English department. These include teachers of ESL, literature, business, and U.S. History. These courses are taught in English. They are excellent teachers, and they use the same sorts of practices that we have been taught at the Reich College of Educaiton (e.g., activate prior knowledge, guided practice, feedback, etc.). Like other experienced teachers, they also use strategies that they have learned through years of practice, trial, and error.
I also met Laura, the math teacher, who also is an extraordinary art teacher. Although her students are clearly remarkably gifted, her teaching is evident as well. She has been gathering 500 student works for an upcoming exhibition, and the students have provided samples of a wide variety of media.
Laura has offered to teach me how to paint/create art. We'll see. She also creates works of art out of sugar: sugar "cubes" in a huge variety of shapes (musical instruments, flowers, etc.) and colors.
Adriana, who teaches business and is one of my guides/teaching models, is also a budding artist. She works on her painting after school and during breaks.
