Week 2 : The teaching begins
Sorry about the delay for our second post, but here we go!
Well week two was our first taste of teaching the classes. Although Laura has now gone (and i´ll talk more about her leaving lower down), she was still here during week two and we tried to make the handover between teachers as smooth as possible. We tried to follow on from the topics Laura had been covering with each class.
The children are split into three classes; P (Pequeno, which is small), M (Medio, which is medium) and G (Grande, which is Big). Each class has 15 children in and all of them are very lively! Most of the children are keen to learn English and are enthusiastic about being involved in the classes. Sometimes its a struggle to stop them jumping up and writing on the board!
Group P are the youngest at the project. Their varying abiltites made it slightly tricky to pace the class correctly, as some of them are finished and waiting for the next instructions while others are just getting started, we´ve since managed to combat this by taking different roles in the classroom with this group.
Overalll the first experience of teaching all the groups, although daunting and sometimes a little chaotic has been great. I think it will get easier once our Portuguese is a little better. This will also stand just as much outside of the classroom as it will inside, as the children always want to ask us lots of questions in our free time with them, so it will help us get to know them better.
Beth took us along to a big Northeastern market one evening. We went along expecting a few stalls selling bits and bobs and were suprised to see hundreds of locals(now locals, but the majority originally coming from the Northeast of Brazil). The market is to celebrate the traditional culture of the Northeast. In particular they have several stages playing different types of Northeastern music, to which all the locals were dancing Forho (not sure how to spell that). This type of dancing is one of the most sensual types of brazilian dance, partners get much closer than in Samba. We had a great time, there was a great atmosphere.
After 10 days of us arriving it was time for Laura´s departure. For a farewell meal we went out to Parma´s, home of the famous chocolate pizza. It was an all you can eat place where waiters are constantly sweeping through to offer you slices of the most bizaare pizza toppings we´d ever heard of, but it was lovely. We´ve promised ourselves another visit before we leave Rio. Laura had cultivated quite a sweet tooth in her time in Rio, so the chocolate pizza was a great choice for her last meal!
Laura´s last day was on the Thursday. At the project the children has their first session of practicing the dance they will be performing in their end of year party, so Laura got a great show of all their enthusiastic dance moves. The children and the monitors had also made Laura a lovely card to say how they thought she had been a great teacher and they would miss her greatly, which i think she was very touched with. She had to set off for the airport early in the evening, so she had her last portion of rice and beans (or should we say chicken and salad in her case!) before we said our goodbyes.
We´d both like to say thank you to her for showing us the ropes and helping us settle in to life in Rio.
Until next week
x