What in the nonsense?!: School Work

Today I thought I would post a few photos of the schools that I work at. This coming week marks the end of the first semester. This is followed by a week of vacation and then the beginning of the second semester. Bring it on.

Here are the photos:

These are some of my 3rd and 4th graders from the multigrade school where I teach. We are making a school garden here, although it has sort of failed. We didn't have time to plant seeds that day and then I'm not sure if they planted them correctly later that week. I also think they have quit taking caring of it altogether. The main problem is that I am only there once a week and can't check in on the garden enogh

These are some of the kids from the my 5th and 6th multigrade class. We are making a compost pile here.

Here they are breaking up horse manure into the compost pile. I decided to skip this part to take photos.

Here is the school that is closest to my house (about a 3 minute walk away). Some of the third graders are standing on the concha during recess. Behind them is one of the school buildings. All schools in Nicaragua are painted blue and white. And every classroom in every school in the country has a picture of the three national symbols (the national bird: guardabarranco, the national tree: madroño, the national flower: sacuanjoche, a type of plumeria). They also have all three patriotic symbols displayed (the national anthem, the flag, and the national seal).

Some kids hanging out on the swingset during recess. The thing I find so interesting about recess here is that the teachers don't really watch the kids. And there don't really seem to be any rules. I remember there being lots of rules during recess when I was a kid. Such as on the swings we were not allowed to stand up. Obviously that is not a rule here. And there is often more than one kid on a swing. The teachers spend recess talking amongst themselves. They don't use it to help the kids who need help or to watch the kids who are supposed to stay in during recess. This drives me crazy. They also carry on recess for at least 45 minutes and sometimes up to an hour even though it is only supposed to be 30 minutes long. Of course once they tell the kids recess is over it takes another 15 minutes or so to get them all inside after they go to the bathroom and get a drink. The teachers just tell me that the kids are bad or nuisances and what can they do? They just accept it other than take authority. It is one of the cultural differences that drives me crazy.

Some of my third graders. The one of the left has zero attention span but has improved since the beginning of the year. The girl on the right is slightly cross-eyed and adorable.

Here are a couple kids "washing" their hands at the faucets at the school. These faucets were built last year by some group that came through. Behind them are the outhouses that are falling apart. All the kids use the faucets and drink out of them. There is no soap. Apparently next week a group is coming to work on the outhouses to make them better and do a few other improvements around the school. I'm not sure if it is the same group or not but it should be helpful.

Here are some more of my third grade girls. The taller one is obviously a little bit older than the others. Many of the classes have a wide range of ages due to kids not passing classes or not going to school for a year to work or various other reasons.

A small parrot. When I went to the school to take photos the kids showed me this bird that belongs to one of the teachers. He then said it belonged to his daughter. Only in Nicargua will people take their (possibly illegal) pet birds to school. And their squirrels. I have seen more than one kid walking around the playground with their pet squirrels.

Some more kids who were excited to have their picture taken.

One of the school buildings. This one only has two classrooms in it.

The building next to the previous one that has four classrooms. This drop-off here is often used for games with the kids. Games in which they push each other off. The teachers say nothing. It is not ridiculously high and the kids are generally prepared for when they get pushed off but I did once see a girl get pushed off where she wasn't expecting it and landed really hard on her back. She didn't cry. She made hardly a sound and just walked away with some of her friends, not playing anymore.

Here are some of the morning teachers. I work with the teacher in the turquoise shirt. She is a third grade teacher. The man on the right is my counterpart and director/principal of the school.

Here are some of the 5th and 6th graders working on a school garden last week. It is located in the preschool where there is a fence that does not allow pigs to get in.