I'm a College Kid: Honduras Day 12.

Journal Day 12 May 24, 2013

After two weeks of being in ABSS, we woke up this morning with dread because it was our last day. Breakfast was cornflakes, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich (what? This is breakfast?), juice, and Jello! Jubin joined us for breakfast for the first time as well, and we walked to school and explained to him the ways of the stray cat and Tyra, the bridge lizard.

When we got to school, Becca and I made a birthday card for Norman because it was his birthday today. We also helped Miss Lacey get the math lesson together by making a poster to hang up on the board. The math lesson was individualized, so the students that really understood the lesson got to work on extra practice problems while Miss Lacey worked with the students that needed a better understanding. The way the extra practice was set up was really cool because the students had 3 choices that were scaffolded to get increasingly more difficult. The students all chose the most difficult option, which was really cool! Plus most of them really seemed to get it.

During Language Arts time, the students displayed their comic strips they had made earlier this week using contractions and compound words. They were so funny! The storyline would be one thing, and the next thing you knew, a cowboy popped in for a frame or two. It was so great.

Since it’s Friday, we had Kinder buddies and finished the bean counting activity we did last week. After that, we went outside and sang a song and also played, “Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” with a fake cookie. It was really cute to see the little ones singing and playing that game with my third grade. For lunch we had some pieces of meat, rice, tortillas, refried beans, and plantains. I think I might end up missing the cook’s food during lunch, because it was always so tasty! Some of my students came into the library after we were done eating because they wanted to give us massages! Becca, Megan, Lia, Aidan, and I were all pampered as they willingly gave us free massages. It was wonderful!

Becca and I helped to introduce the new Word Wall words after that. The procedure for Word Wall words is to show the students the word, have them read it out loud, clap the syllables, spell it with a part of their body, and then give example sentences. It sounds easy, but when you’re trying to teach third grade the difference between there, their, and they’re, it can get pretty challenging! I did my best to give them some examples and tricks to help them remember the difference between the words. The students played Sparkle with the words after, and that was fun to watch.

Since it was Miss Aidan and my last day, we wanted to do something special with them and for them. First, we took a class picture out by the playground, and it was really cute, despite all the bunny ears the students insisted on doing. We also wanted to play a little charades with them, just for fun. It was really cute to see the students act out their words! Afterwards, Miss Lacey and Miss Krisna and the class presented us with cards that they had made and signed for us with little notes! They were way too cute. Becca and I also gave our students personalized notes that we made last night, as well as some candy. We then gave our teachers our gifts (mine were Purdue mugs and Purdue post-it notes).

It was really difficult to leave the school today because this would be the last time we’d say goodbye to everyone, and that breaks my heart because I’ve really loved working with these students the past 2 weeks. A couple of our girls even started crying! I really didn’t want to have to go, and some of the students around the school even asked JoAnn if we could stay one more week. I wish!!

Laura, Katie, and I went to the pool afterschool, which was probably a good idea since we got to see some of our students at swim lessons. Gracia had been sick earlier and hadn’t been in class, but she came to swim lessons after and I was glad I got to say goodbye to her. We didn’t stay long though, and we went to dinner at 6 again with the rest of the group. Dinner was meat, rice, veggies, tortillas, and juice. Again, I wasn’t feeling it too much, so I didn’t really eat it.

After dinner, the group split up: Megan, Ivy, and Becca went out with Jairo and Sara, some of the teachers at ABSS, while Brian and Lia went to the library to work with some of the Zamorano students. The rest of us met up with Gustavo and Jeffry and the other guys at their place, where they were having another cookout. We refused to eat the food though, considering they started the fire with some chemicals and even joked about using Axe. We played Uno and BS for a little while, and then hung out with some of the guys, singing and dancing. We learned a dance they love doing, called, “Ai Se Eu Te Pego,” which is apparently a Brazilian song that is in Portuguese and they don’t even know the words to. We also learned about a word, maje, that the students use to call each other “dude” or “bro.” Gustavo then told us that he was going into Tegus tomorrow and that we’d have to say goodbye to him and his friends tonight! It was so sad because I’ve loved hanging out with them and learning the culture from them. They were so welcoming and nice and I always had a blast! We said we’d keep in touch though, and that we’d write each other and Skype, so there’s comfort in that. I just hate the idea that we have to say goodbye to people that we might never see again.

On the way back, we saw a baby lizard, so Kayla tried to catch it, but its tail fell off and stared wiggling around. We were so grossed out but it was pretty funny. Kayla, Laura, Katie, Aidan, and I chilled when we got back to the Kellogg Center and “worked on our journals,” which was actually getting on Facebook. We went to bed around 1:30, which probably wasn’t such a good idea.

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