My house is on Arteaga Avenue, a.k.a. Tamale Avenue because there are so many tamale vendors. My host mom surprised me this morning with tamales for breakfast. The tamales are not like the ones back home – they are BIG and you can get sweet ones (no meat). My tamale this morning was strawberry flavored. It looked like strawberry cake. I also had apple slices and papaya. This was all prepared and ready for me when I come down for breakfast.
Today is dia de las maestras (day of the teacher). Public schools do not have school but private schools do which is why we had class. We all pitched in 10 pesos (less than $1) to buy 3 maestros flowers. After class we celebrated dia de las maestras with a variety of breads and coffee.
In class I was given 60 verbs to study tonight!
We then went to tour a museum. Along the walk we saw a building with green glass and barbed wire. I thought the glass on the roof at my house was for decoration, but I learned this is to keep people out – stop them from climbing over.
The trees in the town are beautiful. And statues are fountains are all over.
This is the museum. It used to be a monastery.
I love museums. Of course, I could not understand much of what our guide was telling us. The other students occasionally filled me in on the highlights. I tried my best to listen to the guide but my brain finally turned off. All of the girls are great – so nice. I think I will ask them to stop translating for me (even though I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to know what is being said) because I think it is taking away from their experience – worrying about me. Plus, that is the point, right – full immersion. The good news is my brain didn’t shut down as fast today as yesterday. I know it will get better each day. By lunch time I am beyond mentally exhausted.
This was a monestary but they found this female body. This is real. Can see her hair and fingernails. Her full body is in glass. Just posting the close-up.
After our museum tour, we took a bus to the supermarket. I bought index cards so I could make flashcards for my 60 verbs and some AA batteries for my camera.
Cindy bought some papaya from a street vendor. He squeezed lime on it and sprinkled it with chile powder.
I came home to this lunch. She called it tacos. When I looked confused she said it is also referred to as flautas. It was yummy!
Went to university to visit with professors.
I won’t write everything the professors talked about, but I thought those in education would find the notes I took interesting:
There are separate special education schools. There are no positive behavioral supports in schools. Bullying is increasingly becoming an issue. There are no laws to protect the parents if your child has a disability. There is more labeling of children than services. Few resources. Students may go weeks without seeing a therapist. There is no summer school or after school tutoring. In fact,public schools have morning and afternoon sessions due to the lack of facilities. High school is not mandatory. Bad teachers go to bad schools – not as accountable. The state decides where teachers go. Teachers have to pay their moving expenses to wherever the government tells them to go. It is possible to work your way up the system to teach where you desire. If you have tenure, you get social security. Teachers get tenure by taking an exam after teaching for 3 years or by earning merits. You can have 2 different tenures – one for AM classes and one for PM classes. With tenure, teachers get paid comparable to university instructors. The only way for a teacher to get taken out of a school is sexual abuse and even then they only get transferred elsewhere. Many teachers don’t get staff development – depends on the type of tenure track they are on. Specialists – speech, OT, psychologists, etc. also have a tenure system. Specialists often end up getting tenure in teaching rather than their field of expertise. So many teachers teach with no teacher training/experience. There is special training for SPED but many SPED teachers don’t have the training. Psychologists sometimes deliver speech services, etc. Common to practice outside specialty area. SPED and gen ed get same pay. There is no time off to have a baby. If you leave without permission, you lose your job. If you leave with permission, the job will be waiting for you but no pay and no benefits. MX has the strongest teacher union in the world. Very powerful – hard to change. On average, people finish school at 5th grade. Many 14 yr olds can’t read because they keep getting passed along. It is not allowed to fail 1st graders but you can fail 2nd through 9th in theory. It is an unwritten rule that kids do not get failed.
Finally, Andrea and I went to a bar to have mochilitas - beer with tomato juice with salt on the rim.
Great atmosphere with live musicians and beautiful trees. No wonder I'm always so exhausted. That was a lot for one day!
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