To blog or not to blog?

Apparently since November it's been the latter. I don't know, I guess blogging just fell off my list of priorities! Things continue to stay interesting here in Copan.

The weather is changing down here, it is starting to get very dusty and quite warm. The sunshine is a welcome thing, but I'm afraid it has started to affect the children of Mayatan! I have started to notice that as the sweat factor increases so does the number of behavior problems! I teach second grade, and I have to say I have a very difficult class. I have twenty-one students, 11 girls and 10 boys. Not one of these students is lacking energy! Some know how to channel it into positive behavior and learning, while many choose to use it to make me crazy!!!!

Mayatan is actually a very interesting school. It is a private school that offers scholarships to local students. Therefore, my class is fairly diverse socio-economically. About half of my class is in some way sponsored, from having partial tuition to a complete scholarship, which provides tuition, books, uniforms as well as lunch at school. Mayatan School has a wonderful mission; To provide local students with a quality, bilingual education. Living in a poor country being bilingual can open doors to opportunities that many children do not have, but desperately need.

Teaching second grade has been a challenge like no other I have ever faced before. I have taught English Language Learners in the past as well as had difficult kids in my class, but never have I taught a class full of language learners with a majority having some kind of behavioral implication. I don't know if many of the behaviors are a result of not knowing the language that is being taught, or just the kids themselves, believe me I have done some serious thinking about this!

Is it me???? Is it them???? Is it a cultural thing??? Is it the combination of kids??? I think I have come to the conclusion that it is all of the above and at this point in the year, its all about survival!

We are down to three months to go, and these will probably prove to be the most difficult because the temperature should continue to grow. If you have any wonderful, fabulous, life changing suggestions for me, please, send them my way.