Gringo In Peru

Everyday I’ve been keeping up with the flood coverage in my hometowns of Fargo-Moorhead.

There are countless stories of evacuations, sandbagging and strangers helping strangers. Nerves are frayed, bodies ache, but the work of a community united to save itself from mother nature soothes some of the mental and physical pain. I lived through it myself in 1997, but this time the flood is worse and the effort is even larger.

As I watch the disaster from below the equator I’m honestly struck by the toil and selflessness the people in the Red River Valley have shown.

I just keep thinking to myself, something like that would never happen here. Here people live behind 12 foot walls and barbed wire. There is a fundamental lack of trust between strangers, so I doubt they would help each other with the same passion seen in Fargo-Moorhead. That’s not to say there wouldn’t be people who would help, but I doubt you would see the sacrifices seen on the Great Plains.

On a physical level, there is flooding here but its mostly limited to rural areas. There is some flooding in Lima proper. Rainwater from the jungle and countryside makes its way to the mostly dry rivers in Lima during the summer and spring. There are shanty towns built along the river beds. These people lose everything, but when the river goes down many just build new shanties and the cycle continues.

Fargo-Moorhead stay strong. We’re all pulling for you. You should be proud of your effort and your community. People around the world could learn a lesson from you.

My first month of professional teaching is in the (grade) books. Here are a few non-flood related thoughts to share.

Add, write and repeat.

Even though I work at a for-profit language institute students can (and do) fail. Since failure sounds so harsh, the official term is repeat. Students are graded on class exercises and the final tests. Half of the grade comes from classroom work the other half from the tests including a final written exam.

That written exam only counts for 20% of the grade. In one of my classes almost half of the students got a zero on the final, putting a lot of students on the bubble between pass and fail. For many, just one point on the final would have cemented a passing grade. Alas, this didn’t work out for many and the big red repeat “R” was their destiny. Others needed a good grade on the oral exam to move on.

Of course, there are students begging in a strange mix of English and Spanish for one extra point. The fact they couldn’t complete a thought in English speaks volumes and makes me feel better about issuing the “R”.

In one of my classes I had two guys college-aged guys we’ll call student “A” and “B”. Both spent a lot of time in class not listening and flirting with two girls in the class. “A” was a good student, and probably studied English somewhere else before. Student “B” was by far the weaker student, who could speak ok, but his writing was bad. When we did graded exercises in class they would work together and towards the end of the class it was obvious “B” was riding on the back of “A”’s talent. Then it came to the final test, “A” got a solid grade “B” was a miserable failure.

“B” tried to beg for an extra point or two, but he was to far gone. In that case, I don’t feel bad, he made his own bed.

In another class three students did a presentation on the Simpsons. They were supposed to use the terms the learned for physical descriptions, like she has long, straight, blond hair. He is tall. Etc.

Two guys in the group used Spanish in the presentation. That’s a big no-no. The words they used could have easily been looked up in a dictionary or on-line. One of the guys was going to fail anyways. The other actually had good grades, but fell one point short. He would have had the one point if he didn’t use Spanish.

Before you think I’m completely heartless hear me out.

I do feel bad for the students who literally come within a point of passing or failing. Many would have moved on if they got one point on the final. In one of my classes many students left entire portions of the test blank. So who’s fault is that?

Well, this month is over. Classes start Thursday. For now, I’m enjoying the few extra days off by blogging and keeping up to date on the flood fight in Fargo.

For the first time in a month, I’ve got a little time to blog. It’s final exam week at the school, which means a lot of work at once followed by dead time.

Yesterday the students took the written test, today they have to present a special project, tomorrow is a final oral exam and they get their grades. Students at the institute where I work do pass and fail. While the battery of tests do make up half of their grade, the other half comes from writings and participation in class.

I was a bit shocked and dismayed last night while correcting the written exam. Quite a few of my students scored a zero or one. Many of these students did very well in the classroom, but really blew the final. Other teachers and my supervisors say this happens a lot. I was really surprised students did so poorly on the listening part of the exam. When we do listening exercises in class they answer right away.

Well, another round of exams is about to get underway.

I’ll post more later.

Paperwork and the continual wait were the themes this week.

Last night we got a letter from the United States Embassy telling Vanessa she has an interview scheduled in two weeks. Before you get too excited about our return, it’s my understanding we can’t go back until Vanessa’s waiver is granted. If that continues as planned, we should have it in September/October. Even then, Vanessa told her school she would stay through December, the end of the school year. I’m sticking with my “we’ll be back around the holidays” prediction.

Like everything else, we’ll have to run this latest development through the lawyer.

I had my bout with Peruvian paperwork and bureaucracy this week too.

For my job I needed a certificate of health and a police certificate. Apparently everyone who works at an incorporated company in Peru must have these documents on file.

The police certificate was easy. Bon Bon (my father in-law) went to a bank, paid about two dollars and half of the process was over. Then I went to the police station, coughed up another two dollars, had my picture taken and voila it was over. The whole process took about 10 minutes.

The health certificate was a different story.

This had to be obtained through a government run clinic. This was the first time I saw the real difference of South America’s haves and have nots. The clinic itself was a sprawling building with shiny cement floors and a corregated tin roof. Now, it wasn’t dirty, but everything was outdated. It looked a lot like the clinics and hospitals you see on those late night infomercials asking you to help kids in Africa.

On the wall was a list of prices for the services the clinic provided. The most expenisve was about $9. Many listed cost about $1 or less. I paid my 2 sols (about 65 cents) for the doctor visit where the doctor took my pulse, listened to me breathe and asked the usual battery of general health questions.

Next, I was sent to a lab across town for a blood draw and an x-ray. This is where my exam veers into borderline back alley medicine.

Mita (my mother in-law) and myself were the only people in the lab, but we were forced to wait. Then I was ushered into a small room for my x-ray. Where a guy in hospital scrubs stood in the room with me as I stood in the “put ‘em up” position against a wall. When it was done he put the x-ray film in a bath of some developer type substance and I left. About a minute later the tech with wet hands walked the dripping x-ray, down the hall to another room to dry.

About three minutes later the same guy took me into another room for the blood draw. He grabbed a dirty test tube from a rack, put a little rubbing alcohol in the bottom, and placed it in another rack. He then washed his hands with more alcohol grabbed a new needle and cleaned my arm for the poking. He poked, missed the vein and poked again. He never put on gloves and he just let the open end of the needle drain into the test tube.

For as barbaric as it was, my arm didn’t turn green and I’m OK. Although the place the blood was drawn still hurts three days later.

Armed with my test results, the next day we went back to the government clinic. I plunked down another 5 sols (about $1.60) for a piece of paper that a doctor had to sign.

This was a lot harder than it sounds. We waited, and waited, and waited. After an hour Mita had enough and was on a mission. Somehow she found a doctor who wasn’t doing anything (the clinic was empty the entire time we were there) and he signed off on my health.

There was no real reason why we the whole process lasted over an hour. For those of you who think the U.S. is bogged down with too much paperwork, they should come here. When I was hired at the institute we we’re given a list of 17 documents we needed for employment. I’ve been told by the school’s administration all the documents are required by the Ministry of work. They are kept on file in case an inspector stops by, but inspector never visits.

This isn’t the first time we’ve run into the Peruvian bureaucracy.

In fact, the next day we had to overnight one sheet of paper to the Peruvian Counsulate in Chicago so it could be sent with a bunch of other official documents back to Lima. Apparently we couldn’t just drop it off at the right office, it had to be sent through official channels.

Crazy.

Hi folks, just taking a minute to give you an update on our possible return home.

We got a long e-mail from our lawyer detailing what happened and what happens next.

He filed two separate petitions to get us back home. These options were explored in case one was approved and the other wasn’t. It’s always good to have more than one route.

Both have been approved, but one has a few more advantages than the other. For example, one will make Vanessa a permanent resident, allowing her to work. The other would make her an extended tourist of sorts, then she could apply for residency.

Besides waiting a few more months, we have to file another mind-numbing round of paperwork. Most of which is due by Friday.

The immigration saga continues.

Sorry I’ve been neglecting the blog, but now that I’m employed I’m super busy.

Here are a few random observations after 10 days of teaching.

- I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Two weeks of training be damned. Presenting the lessons hasn’t proved to be much of a problem, yet. It’s all the procedures that will be the death of me. Things seem to be much more complicated than they should be. But what business isn’t bogged down with mind-numbing tasks?

- Monday I’ll get my first paycheck since August!  The institute pays us 40% of our wages at the mid-month mark and the rest after the last day of class. Senior  teachers are complaining because this month the institute will pay us at the end of the month. They sent a letter to teachers claiming the school is having “financial difficulties” and we’d have to wait a few extra days for the final check. Some I’ve talked to say this is bull, and the institute has pulled this stunt before. The classes are full as ever and there was just an ad in the paper calling for new teachers.

- In one of my classes one of the writing exercises calls for students to describe somebody in the class using sentences like: She has long, blond hair. He is tall, etc. The class was then supposed to guess who they wrote about. When I asked volunteers to read their sentences every student started with “She has long, black hair. She has brown eyes.” After about the third student it dawned on me.. everybody has either black or brown hair and brown eyes. I changed the exercise for my later classes to describe somebody from their life.

- I am slowly becoming an expert in Peru’s shoddy public transportation system. Here there are no bus routes, per se. Instead a series of large vans called combi’s pick people up, and drop them off. The combi’s stops are painted on the side of the van. Luckily, the institute is just off a major road, so finding a combi going my way is easy. Rides cost one Sol or about 35 cents.

Vanessa had hired me a driver. He was good for the first month, but then he started to show up late. One day I was late to class and I lost my hour. A supervisor had to fill in for me. Not a good way for a new hire to make an impression. Then the next day he forgot to pick me up after class. He’s been kinda fired, but kept on reserve just in case.

- As teachers, we are required to teach in the kids program. Most of these classes are Saturday. This is hard. I find the first 45 minutes of the class the kids are engaged. The second half, the lessons really loose their energy. It’s tough because we are suppose to get through 2 pages of short lessons and make them last 90 minutes. Oy vey. I need to learn the subtle art of killing time.

My first week of teaching is in the books. Sorry there hasn’t been more blog posts but my days have consisted of: getting up early, teaching, getting called to some new teacher meeting, observing, planning, teaching, planning, sleeping.

I feel like I’ve been eating and breathing work for the last week. Which is normal for a new teacher, I’m told. The classes have gone alright, so far. I’ve run into a few sticky situations, but the students seemed to understand my lesson, so that’s good. Of course I do get a few blank stares

Working a crazy split shift, doesn’t help. My first class starts at 7 a.m., I observe a class at 8:45, then I’m off until 5 and work until 8:30.

I was going back to teach at 3:15, but that class was taken away from me and given to a teacher with more seniority. Experienced teachers are guaranteed four classes. New teachers are guaranteed two, but can teach more due to demand. During the first week of class the school schedules more classes than there may be demand for. If a class has less than 12 students after three days its cancelled. A teacher higher on the seniority list had a class cancel, so he or she was assigned my 3:15 class.

On Saturday’s the kids take over. From 7 a.m. to Noon, kids and parents fill the halls. I have a pre-teens class, which are students from 10 to 16. Before teaching my class, I observe the same class. My observation class went well. Most of the students were 10-12 years old. They seemed to be engaged and the teacher had command over them.

When it came to my class, it felt like I was talking to the wall. They were well behaved and all, but getting them to participate was like pulling teeth. My students tended to be older, most were 13-14. There were a few younger kids in the mix, but not many.

The unit started with a conversation between people at a music festival. So I started class by showing a picture of an iPod.

“What is this?” I asked.

“I-pod,” they said.

“What’s on your iPod?” I followed up with.

Silence.

“What kind of music do you listen to?” I asked.

More silence.

“Do you like rock ‘n roll?” I asked while trying to play air guitar. That brought out a few laughs.

So I asked a boy in the front row. “What kind of music do you listen to?”

“Reggaeton,” he said.

(For those of you who don’t know, reggaeton is a mix of hip-hop and reggae with Puerto Rican roots that’s popular with “the kids”.)

“Who’s your favorite?” I asked.

“Daddy Yankee.” He said.

I asked another boy who was about 10, “What kind of music do you listen to?”

“Hip Hop,” He said “I like 50 cent.”

“Do you understand what 50 cent is talking about?” I asked.

“Mas o menos (yes or no),” He said.

“That’s good,” I said. “You are too young to understand 50 cent.”

That made some older girls in the back giggle.

Whew, my poor attempts at humor translated. At least the ice was somewhat broken. It was my “how do I reach these kids moment.”

Overall, the pre-teens class was ok. I’ll have to think of something better for next week.

All the teachers, even the most senior have to teach Saturday. There’s such a demand for children’s teachers one guy from my training course was told he “failed” teachers training for the adult program, but was hired to teach kids on Saturdays.

So if you are looking for a teaching job, come to Peru. I’m sure you can find a job, experience with kids is a definite bonus.

I don’t have a lot of time, so here are the highlights after day 1.3.

I’m working a split shift right now, which is common I’m told. My first class is at 7 a.m., I observe at 8:45, get home around 10:30 and go back to work from 2:30-8:30.

I wouldn’t say I’m overwhelmed, but there’s a lot on my plate all of a sudden. I’m teaching four classes now. That’s a full load according to the school. Most new teachers usually teach two classes for the first month or two. I’m not alone, all of us new teachers found out yesterday afternoon we’ve got an extra class.

We also got our Saturday schedules today. I’m teaching kids in the morning, and teaching adults in the afternoon.

That’s it for now, got to run and start preparing for the afternoon.

My first class is in the books.

I think it went O.K. The students seemed to understand what I was talking about, which is always helpful.

There were a few minor bumps in the road, including the stupid computer.

Teachers have to login/logout to a classroom computer when they get in the class. That’s how they track you during class time. The computer also houses audio aids for listening and other exercises. Each computer is locked in a cabinet and it turns out the key they gave me unlocks certain cabinets, not all.

Also there is an external volume control on each computer for the class room speakers. I didn’t know this, so I hit play and….. nothing. I improvised by reading the exercise from the book. When it came time for a dialogue, I enlisted a “victim” from class.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one who had this problem. Now I know where to look next time this happens.

I have the feeling my early morning class will be the gunnea pigs and my lesson plans will be honed by the time evening hits. I could be wrong though, a six and a half hour break is a long time.

I spent most of my break today at home planning my other lessons. I’m sure I’ll get faster at the lesson thing as time goes on. Also, once I teach these classes more than once I’ll be more familiar with the material, I’ll be able to trouble shoot problem areas.

That’s it for now. I’m heading back to class.

My days of lazy American son-in-law are coming to a close.

It’s a good thing I called the school this morning. Turns out there was an unofficial meeting for us new teachers. Five from my training class were placed with me at this campus, they all got the call this morning at 10 a.m. to be there today at 1 p.m.

We got our books and our schedules. I’ll be teaching at 7 a.m., then I have a long break until 3:15 p.m. and finish up at 8:15. If this sounds bad to you, three others have the exact same schedule. We are all teaching 3 classes and observing another. Each class lasts 90 minutes. The school must really need us. Usually beginning teachers only teach two classes. There is a chance some of the classes we’re teaching could be canceled if not enough students sign up.

Now I have a ton of “official” documents to round up and a lesson to plan.