The Strike Has Ended

So the Chilean Congress passed the controversial education law anyway. Meaning, in effect, that the teachers simply gave up after finding out that their efforts went unnoticed. Seems kind of like a cop-out to me, but hey, the students do need to get back to school after all! Also, I heard that a strike longer than one week would have cut into winter vacation time (in order to make up classes). In retrospect, the whole strike seemed a bit half-hearted to me, especially in the particular high school in which I'm teaching.

So classes finally started back up yesterday. Although the terms of my "contract" require a full week of observation, I was eager to start out on my own, so the co-teacher, Boris, and I began with split classes in the morning. Everything went pretty well, although I still don't have a wipe-board! This makes teaching a whole lot more difficult, as I have no way to show the students what they're supposed to be repeating and no model for discussions.

In general, high school classes (middle school as well) can be summed up in one particularly appropriate chilenismo that I have adopted as my favorite: Cumpleaños de Mono ("Monkey's Birthday"). Just picture what a monkey's birthday party might consist of for a second...yes, that is the Chilean education system for you. Kids make calls during class, blast music through earphones from their cell phones, walk around the room, and generally disrespect the teacher in every way possible. Luckily, I don't have to deal with other volunteers' stories of kids making out for an entire class period because there are very few girls in my school. Yet today, at the request of my co-teacher, I went over to speak with one student who reeked of Marijuana. It was 9:30 in the morning! What have I signed up for?

So far, however, I have witnessed fairly decent behavior in my breakdown classes. Because the whole English class splits for two 45 minute periods, I haven't had more than 15 students at one time. This definitely prevents some of the Cumpleaños de Mono, but what really should prevent it is the class division. I specifically went over the entire roll call with the co-teacher in order to split up best friends and various partners-in-crime. Yes, I know what you're thinking...great call.

I am really looking forward to getting back into a normal work habit this week. I was incredibly lazy all last week during the strike, and I feel extremely unhealthy after partaking in minimal physical activity. This is definitely one of those get-back-on-track weeks! Today is a perfect day to start: very warm, completely sunny, and fried fish (fresh off the morning boats) for lunch!

Chao Everyone... I hope all is well.