Classes at Lincoln School

These last two weeks, my time and thoughts have been largely consumed by getting to know my five sections of seventh graders, which I’ve enjoyed immensely. The first week of classes I mostly observed; trying to get a feel for where my students were academically, familiarizing myself with their personalities, and getting acquainted with my master teacher’s teaching style. Seventh grade is such a fun age … they are beginning to discover their individual identities but they don’t have the raging hormones that eighth graders do. The group I’m teaching is especially bright and capable, too; I’ve already seen that most of them will readily rise to meet my high expectations. They are also at an age where they still get excited about learning, as long as their teacher is willing to put some effort and creativity into making lessons interesting. I know this will be difficult when the time comes to teach grammar (I think nouns and verbs are exciting, but will they?), but thus far I believe my lessons have been successful.

A little explanation for those of you who may be confused: Lincoln School is an international school near San Jose. All the classes are conducted in English (except for Spanish class, of course) and the students (as well as most of the staff and teachers) are largely bilingual. About eighty percent of the student body is Costa Rican, the remainder being American or another nationality. Most of the students, therefore, are native Spanish speakers, so that they speak to their friends during passing period in Spanish, but they’ve grown up speaking English at school, so their English is very impressive. Lincoln is a private school (and consequently quite expensive), so many of the students come from privileged families; their parents are very involved in their education and willing to offer any support necessary, which can be encouraging for teachers. I’ll be teaching English, which is the equivalent of English class in the States … since these students already know English, it isn’t really English as a second language as many of my friends in the US assumed when I told them I would be teaching English in Costa Rica. Just like English class in the US, we do spend time on grammar and sentence structure, vocabulary, and writing, but we also look at literature and poetry, which I’m most excited about. This past week I introduced our poetry unit with a poem by Billy Collins called “Introduction to Poetry.” I found it on a website my housemate Alyssa told me about especially designed for high school students studying poetry. The poem uses great imagery to describe the best ways to read a poem; I think my students enjoyed it.

I love my master teacher, Jenny, too. She’s been teaching for a long time and has lots of experience, and she has wonderful presence in the classroom. The students love her and respect her at the same time, a balance I’m striving for. She has been very encouraging and supportive and continually tells me how glad she is to have me.

The Lord has certainly blessed me with my students and my master teacher! Please pray that I’ll serve my students well … I love them already and want to give them all I can.

Thanks for reading! Que Dios le acompana (Dona Rosa, my host mother, always tells my housemates and I this before we leave … it means: God go with you).