Education and Bees

It is now June and my classes are up and running. The schedule is pretty much set and the kids go full day (at least until October when it might start to rain again). Of course now that it's summer time, the fiestas have started. There are always teachers or students missing school for a fiesta or to go play volleyball or soccer in the anniversary of some far away school. However, I do that best i can and I am pretty busy teaching during the weekdays. I'm teaching a bunch of different classes in the escuela, two of them being english to the 6th graders, aka 11 year olds. This is the first time I've really attempted to teach English since arriving in Cochán. I've helped out with a bunch of different classes, but I had never before taught from the beginning. These kids didn't know anything so it's hard to figure out where to begin, especially when it's only 1.5 hours a week. Here in Cochán, the teachers teach the same class from 1st grade until 6th grade. One their class graduates, the teachers then return to the 1st grade and follow the new group of students around until they graduate. I can definitely see the benefits of this because the kids don't have to get used to a new teacher, and the teacher can see their progress. You also don't have to worry about lack of information because each teacher knows what they've taught. However, after teaching English classes to both 6th grade sections, I'm starting to think that this system might not be the best idea. For example, after I gave the first English exam, one section had an average of 12 (out of 20), while the other class averaged 6 (out of 20). Since then, the other class has studied more, but one section consistently outscores the other section. I'm sure there are many factors for this, one being that the kids in the higher scoring section are mostly girls that know me better and therefore are more motivated to study. However, that section also always turns their homework in on time, whereas the other section frequently turns it in late. I'm not saying that one teacher is better than the other, but 6 years with the same teacher is a lot. I think one of the teachers is stricter so the kids know that it's important to turn their homework in on time and study for the exams. So maybe these kids are more used to my style of teaching and that is why they score better on their exams. I think that could be another reason why so many kids struggle once they reach the colegio. They learn how to read and write from the same teacher and only have one teacher up until high school. Then when they reach high school they are suddenly in classes that two or three times the size, and on top of that, they have to deal with several different teachers and teaching styles. I might have mentioned this before, but last year 18 kids repeated the first grade of the colegio. So this year in the first grade of the colegio there are 18 kids who are in the first grade for the second time, and 17 kids who are new. Well I think that ends my thoughts on education here in Peru. Please remember that these are just my thoughts and opinions, I have a lot of free time to think about this kind of stuff!! And now onto the pictures...

One of the things that I love about the Peace Corps is that every day is different. Even when I'm teaching, I have several different kind of classes that I teach, so I don't get bored with teaching the same things. Now that I have switched host families, I am finding that there are more things to do on the weekends. My old host family was very busy working the store, so they hardly ever left. My new host family has older kids, and are teachers so they are free on the weekends. Last weekend their uncle asked if we wanted to go to his house to get honey. I of course, jumped at the opportunity. His house is in one of the caserios about an hour's walk away, and I love to get out of town and walk when it's possible. This was my third time going to this caserio, but the first time without boots. It's amazing how much easier and shorter the walk can seem without boots. Once we got to his house we pretty much just spent the day chewing on honeycombs and viruses.

What' this you ask? VIRUS of course. It's the best thing about choclo season. All around town everyone, young and old, can be seen munching on virus. It kind of has the same flavor as watermelon, it's the cheap Peruvian candy.

Preparing the honey.

Yummy Honey

More honey

One of my favorite meals here. I love that everything is so natural. The corn and potatoes they just picked from the fields, and the quesillo, something in between milk and cheese, they made from the cows that they just milked that day.

Doing my best to keep the bees away. I've also decided that after almost two years here it's about time to invest in a sombrero. Now I just need to find one that fits my enormous head.