One door closes, a better one opens...

Life is good.  I found a new job and so far it is wonderful.  I interviewed with a really nice girl which turned into more of a chat than an interview and I left crossing my fingers that I would get to work there.  Everyone just seemed so nice and happy.  Quite the opposite of my other job where I worked there for a month and no one seemed to really talk to anyone.  I met with the director on Monday to go over what I would be doing and that was a nice change as well.  We talked about our experiences learning a second language (pretty much the entire staff seems to speak English, which is fascinating and nice all at the same time)  and one of the first things she said was people learn by listening and speaking first, you can't just put a book in front of a child and expect them to learn and be able to know what they're doing.  (Take that Hector, told ya so!) and I thought, alright, this lady actually knows what she's doing.  This was all before she had told me I got the job so I started really hoping I would be able to work there because it would be so nice to have a director who was also a teacher so they understood what went on in the classroom.  Then she asked if I would be interested in editing the other English teachers' worksheets and lesson plans and being a kind of substitute teacher for the school where I would help out when needed.  Frankly, this sounded great to me because I was a little burnt out on teaching after the last mess.  So she took me around to introduce me to the classes but warned me beforehand how out of control and disrespectful the kids were.  I thought, "oh no, here we go again..." boy, was I surprised!  The kids all sat in their seats facing the front.  Occasionally one would laugh at a mistake another student made or talk quietly to the other person sitting next to them.  The director gave them a big lecture and sent three of them to her office where she further lectured them on the importance of being respectful and told them they would have to spend recess in the office with her and told one boy who laughed at a mispronunciation another student made that she was going to call his mother and make sure she knew how poorly he behaved in school that day.  When he was on the verge of tears she let him go back to class then said to me, "I'm not really going to call his mother, but I'll let him think that, maybe it will scare him a little into behaving better."  All I could think was 1) another 'take that Hector!  see, you can discipline kids!' and 2) wow, if you could see the bullying and fighting going on over at CEYCI, you would die. 

So I've been working there for 2 days now and it's so nice not to absolutely dread going to work.  The kids are funny and, aside from being fidgety with short attention spans like all kids, well behaved.  The teachers are all super nice and smile and talk to each other.  The first day when I was being shown around they all told me if I ever needed anything or had any questions to feel free to come to them.  And I thought, even if you're just saying that to be nice and don't really mean it, at least you're not completely ignoring the fact that I work here with you like my other job.  One super nice lady was born in Mexico but her family moved to Illinois when she was three.  She helped show me around the school and we bonded over the extreme weather of the midwest.  She loved when I mentioned how I had never been colder than when I visited my friend at Northwestern because she went there.  You could tell she loved being able to talk about her alma mater to someone who had been there too.  So thanks for that Whitney! 

I've been teaching the fourth and sixth graders because their teacher (the super nice girl who interviewed me) is in Mexico City taking care of her sick mother.  Yesterday the director helped me during the classes so I could get a sense of the kids and how she teaches and get ideas for what I would do with them.  It was nice not to just be thrown in blind to the classroom.  The fourth grade English class is 2 hours long but the kids were so good and the director made sure I had plenty to do with them so the time flew by. 

So now I'm just enjoying this new job and hoping things stay this good! 

Waiting Game

Well I hit the pavement today applying for jobs.  No really, I almost literally hit the pavement trying to walk on cobblestone streets in heels.  I went to two schools and gave them my resume and they're supposed to call me later this week (or next week, that part got a little lost in translation since tomorrow is the last day of this work week...either way, I guess I'll just have to keep my phone by me since I'm not sure!) to set up an interview.  One lady looked at me a little skeptical & used the word 'quizas' or 'maybe' so I'm not too sure about that one.  Maybe it wasn't a skeptical look on her face but just her straining to make eye contact considering she literally came up to my elbow with my heels on.  Go big or go home, literally.  At the other school the receptionist lady took my resume and said they'd call me for an interview.  I applied at that school about a month ago and they had another ad in the newspaper so maybe they're getting desperate and will rethink hiring the gringa teacher.  Quizas.

Round 2

Well not much has been going on.  I spent the last week enjoying my new found freedom from crazy kids and douschy directors and playing with my adorable kitten.  I was starting to get a little too comfortable with it so now I'm actually starting the job search round 2 instead of just talking about it.  There are four ads for English teachers in the newspaper today so one of them has to want to take advantage of my native speaking skills, right?  I thought so.  So we'll see how it goes this week!

Well, after further research it turns out there are really only two viable job options in the newspaper.  One number didn't exist and the other turned out to be the school I just got fired from!  oooops...wrong number sorry!  

Internationally Known (just not on the microphone)

Well...my illustrious teaching career has hit a bump in the road.  The director, Hector, and I just didn't see eye to eye on the whole teaching English thing, to put it lightly.  It all began on Wednesday in my second grade class.  Two boys started fighting (fist fighting) and I had to physically pull them apart.  So I proceeded to do what I had seen their teacher do and send the perpetrators out into the hallway.  Well one boy simply refused to go.  I kept telling him to go outside and he just kept shaking his head saying no, no.  So finally I forced him into the hallway where...one boy kept making faces at the rest of the class and the other boy proceeded to punch another boy through the window from out in the hallway. I went out to yell at the window punching boy only to have three more boys join in the fight from the inside of the classroom.  So I go back in the classroom to break this fight up.  Meanwhile, another boy takes his book and hits the boy who's been ganged up on upside the head with it.  Three Stooges style.  Which is funny on tv, not so funny when its second grade boys in a classroom.  It was out of control so I got a boy I trusted to go down and tell the director what was going on and that I needed his help.  He strolls up to my classroom ten minutes later.  I told him exactly what happened and exactly who was doing what.  His response:  Ok, ok, everybody calm down and sit down.  There's only 15 minutes left of class so why don't we all just calm down until class is over.  WHAT?  I have six boys physically fighting in my classroom and your response is just run out the clock? Then he turns to me and says, I'm going to need to speak with you tomorrow morning before school.

So...six boys try to beat each other up in my classroom and who gets sent to the principals office?  Me!


So I show up the next morning half an hour before school starts and surprise surprise, Hector isn't there.  So I wait around for fifteen minutes until he meanders in to talk to me.  Then the lecture begins.  Basically to sum it up, CEYCI is a very prestigious school and they've been around for 28 years and have certain expectations of their teachers and staff.  They're not just a nationally known school but an internationally known school.  (doubtful.)  They can't afford to have their reputation slip because of me.  Then he proceeds to pull out 2 students books from my first and second grade class to go over with me.  He pulls out the first grade book and flips through it going nothing, nothing, nothing.  Then gets mad because there's not much completed in the workbook.  After repeatedly trying to explain myself he finally lets me.  The first graders can't read and write!  In any language.  What good is having them fill in the blanks when they don't know what they're filling in.  He seemed to disagree.  He told me I should be going around the classroom helping them with their assignments.  Which, I pointed out, I do.  But they can't read!  or write!  So me going around helping them with their assignments was basically me going around doing their assignments.  Which I thought was pointless.  Then he showed me where I had the first graders write down the class rules (where I learned they didn't know what they were writing) and boy, was he FURIOUS.  He yelled that the rules are something you put in the classroom, not in the notebooks!  Wow.  Apparently I committed a cardinal sin or something there.  He was enraged I would even think about doing that.  He was also very angry I had brought outside books to read to the preschoolers.  Their student books were by Macmillion, and internationally known company, and should be all I needed to use.  Woah, sorry for trying to get the three year olds excited about colors!  By the way, they loved Big Green Monster.  What educator gets pissed when you try to read to kids? That should have been my first clue this guy was nuts.  Then he yells at me for not using the audio cds that came with the books.  To which I responded equally vehemently because I had stopped by the office every day the previous week to try to get a CD player to use and either no one was to be found in the main office or the lady that was there either a) didn't know where the CD player was or b) didn't have a key to unlock it from where it was.  Hector, by the way, was no where to be found on any of these occasion.  So he rants and raves a little bit more then tells me he needs to talk to the second and third in command at the school about what to do and they'll let me know at the end of the day.

Awesome.  Let me tell you, I was sooo excited to go teach after that.  Not.

So at the end of the day he proceeds to tell me that he didn't have time to check with the other people and I should come talk to him before class the next day.  So the next morning I show up only to be told that Hector had to go somewhere else to do something else and I should come back after class.

So I go teach my classes knowing full well that this is most likely my last day doing so.  After school Hector has me wait around for another 20 minutes before talking to me.  Long story short: I get fired.  But not before I let Hector have it.  Oh, thank you K-State Spanish department, turns out I learned more than I had thought.

I tell Hector it's probably a good idea that I not work there any more because it's clear we have very different values when it comes to teaching students.  He thinks I should use a book and have students write down words that mean nothing to me and use only the book.  I told him that was a poor choice because not only do many students have different learning styles and don't learn out of books I didn't feel like wasting the children's time and my time with having them "draw" letters, which is what they said when I asked them to fill in the blanks.  Not write, but draw.  Hector tries to tell me it's common practice to have first graders trace letters.  Which I responded that I was aware it was common practice when teaching children to read and write but they had hired me to teach them English, not reading and writing, and that was what I did.  I also told him I was accustomed to directors or principals or whatever you chose to call them being the leader of the school and disciplinarians and he was neither of those things.  I retold the story and how I was shocked and appalled that his response to children physically fighting in the classroom was, school's almost over, just wait a few more minutes.  I said maybe I just hadn't been there long enough to learn it but it didn't seem like there was any sort of system of discipline or punishment in place for kids who didn't behave.  Turns out, I was right.  They straight up told me there wasn't and that they couldn't punish the kids.  I wasn't talking beating them with a stick (although I'm not so sure some of those kids didn't deserve a little whacking) but maybe a detention?  extra homework?  something for goodness sake!  Nope, nada.  They were also fully aware they had a bully problem but thought there was nothing they could do about it.  One boy cried and told me he hates school so much because the other boys are so mean to him that he cries every night and begs his mom to change schools.  Every day is the same and I hate it he told me.  Turns out, the director knew about this and chose not to address it.  Definitely no, "it gets better" campaign at that school!    So after a few more minutes of me telling him I was of the belief that it doesn't matter so much how kids learn as the fact that they are learning and he was of the belief that it needed to appear kids were working so their parents would continue to pay the big bucks and if he had actually talked to any of the children he would have realized they were in fact learning, Hector gets up and leaves.  Just plain old walks out.  Finally he comes back and it's clear it's time for me to leave so I ask him for my documents (which I gave them when they said they were going to go to the immigration office the next day)  The third in command lady gets confused and gets them but doesn't understand why she's giving them back to me.  She asks, wait, is she not going to teach preschool any more either?  A resounding NO was the answer.  Looks like they had thought about having me teach the two preschool classes only but I think I pissed Hector off too much.  Sorry buddy, but if you're going to make me sit there and listen to what a horrible teacher I am I'm going to have some of my own things to share with you.

So I was sitting on my high horse staring Hector down when he gets up and leaves again.  Welp, see ya later?  The third in command lady, who is still somewhat confused (and actually a very nice lady) prints out a sheet I have to sign saying I no longer work there then proceeds to tell me that she has all my contact information so if anything comes up for like after school activities or something she'll give me a call.  (thanks but no thanks) then she proceeds to thank me for everything and tell me it's a real shame things didn't work out and give me a hug goodbye.  Ah, come on!  I was good until someone started being all nice to me.  Then the emotions started to surface.  She lets me out (because the place is locked up and you need to have someone with a key let you in & out) and it is just POURING.  and of course, I don't have an umbrella.  So I'm walking to the bus stop in the pouring rain when I just start crying.  hard.  Even though I was thinking about quitting and I hated going to work everyday, it still sucks to get fired!  Plus it was like a scene out of a damn movie.  I get fired from my first job and it's raining cats and dogs and I'm walking in a downpour crying.  All I needed was a sad song playing in the background or a bus to drive by and splash me for it to be complete. 

But, I've never had to quit a job either and I was leaning towards doing that with this school.  And I'm not too sure I would be better at quitting a job than getting fired so maybe it's for the best I just got to tell Hector off then make my way home (in the pouring rain.)  Also, making a proud, graceful exit (which was my original intention) after being (unjustly, in my opinion) fired is much more difficult when you're soaked.

So this week I'm back to applying for jobs so we'll see how round 2 goes!


On a less comical note, pictures from Octavio's birthday weekend:

Octavio's friend (in the blueish-purple) plays that little guitar so we went to a "fandango" where a bunch of people were playing, singing, and dancing.  And eating really tasty tamales!

This lady was a "statue" in the park and if you gave her a coin she would give you a fortune.

more fandango

Octavio & I with some of his friends from school in the centro

pretty wall murals

a cute little place where people washed their clothes.

Octavio at the botanical gardens for his birthday weekend.

Octavio & I with some of his friends from school taking a break at the botanical gardens.

more botanical gardens.

We took a break while Octavio's friends played some music for us.

this Dad & his daughter stopped to hear Octavio's friends music during their walk at the botanical gardens.

fancy cake Octavio made & I enjoyed.

Lola likes to watch things move on the computer.

I found a friend at the botanical gardens.