I was not sure what to expect when I arrived to Costa Rica. However, it did not dawn on me until I saw my schedule that I was like an elective teacher here in NC. What I mean by that is I had break throughout the day and I would teach multiple grades. I really enjoyed this. When I walked into my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classrooms I felt overwhelmed and useless. The students did not understand that I did not speak or understand Spanish because they continued to come and talk to me. I just simply smiled and said No Se y Lo Siento!! I found out through the first week that learning a second language is very difficult but being immersed like we were it was the best way to learn.
Students in Costa Rica do not have a choice of which language they want to learn. They only have English as an option. For the grades I interacted with I learned that repetition and repeat after me is how the students learn English. They have textbooks that the teacher follows with because it gives a good foundation. The book has a pronunciation topic to introduce like long e sounds. then a story is give where the teacher reads it. The sound has many words about the particular topic. However, the teacher takes it further by going more in depth with the story and learning the vocabulary of the story and asking comprehension questions. The teachers I worked with were great!
It is possible and not hard to teach students without all the fancy manipulatives and technology... is what I Iearned in Costa Rica and is different from what I already new. I have been surrounded by manipulative and technology that I have seen many classroom teach without all these things. And the students learn just as much and it is not as hard as some people say.
The teachers wanted to learn English and communicate with us. After we were there for a week more teachers would try and communicate and see how they can help us and vice versa. By talking with others we all agreed the difficult part about each others language is not understanding it but speaking it. The pronunciation for the same letters in each others language is different and that is hard to adjust to.
I really liked the unity of the school teachers. Every Wednesday school is dismissed at 12:00 so that the teachers can have a meeting. It is similar to a faculty meeting but since it is a private Catholic school, they discuss their lives and God. They all help lift each other up when problems arise outside of the home.The teaching methodology is similar to ours in the fact that you teach topic by topic and not overwhelm the students.
However, one main difference is discipline. They have a universal discipline plan but the students are very rambunctious. The organization of the class is not in place and I know the English teachers are looking into other methods. They are looking at different state's discipline plans and they want to change theirs sooner than later.
I learned that at first things will be difficult but keep at it and will soon become easier. This was
true for me learning Spanish and for teaching my students. It was difficult but I wanted to learn so therefore I did. I learned that I am a good teacher and by continuing to learn I can be a great teacher.
Where you live affects what the students are going to learn because the best way to teach is by relating the information to them. So in science they learn about animals Costa Rica has first then goes into similar animals around the world. Same for Social Studies, as in they learn there history first and then learn how other countries has affected them. Also they environment that you teach in affects how you teach. If the school is a more active and hands-on school then you will tend to teach that way. Everyone's culture has different morals so in Costa Rica every kid goes to school because that is important for their future. Culture plays a large role in what is being taught and what is not being taught.