The Creole here is completely different than down south, so I'm definitely freaked out by the language barrier. Until I learn some of that I guess I'll focus mostly on my broken Portuguese. I went to my job (a whole block away from my apartment) where I'm pretty sure I've already made a stellar impression. When I first went into the building I was told they needed an English teacher in 5 of the high schools. Huh?! Turned out I walked into the wrong building and the university was behind it. It's really small, but the people are nice. They have first, second, and fifth year students there. First and second year they focus on language classes and then fifth year they focus on their student teaching and thesis. I thought I'd be teaching teaching methodology, but since that happens 3rd and 4th year, guess not. I'm teaching English Lit, English Language Practice and Communication, Cultural Lit of Eng. Speaking Cultures and PHONETICS and PHONOLOGY. Eek. I'm excited about the English Lit and Practice, but I'm beyond nervous about the Phonetics. I keep reminding myself that if they had someone else to do the job I wouldn't be here, but it's hard not to feel a little over my head. I plan on spending a lot of time next week figuring out what resources we have to work with and then trying to form some semblance of a course around that.
Another reason to be happy to here came courtesy of my favorite Connecticut teacher: Here's a funny story for you though. Today I had a student hand me a plastic baggie. I looked down and there was something kind of gray in there. It didn't feel like coins, but I assumed it was milk money. Well I went to grab the baggy later on to record the money. Low and behold it was a small dead mouse. Seriously. I was shocked. I asked the kid if it was to share with the class. She told me it was a present in case I needed it for science. WHAT? Weird.
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