As I spend more time in the schools I am noticing interesting differences between schools back home and here and I thought I would share. I don't think I mentioned in earlier posts but the students and teachers wear uniforms. The girls wear a white dress with a tie. The tie color corresponds to their grade level (form is what they call it). So form one, which is freshman wear a green. Form two is yellow, three is blue, and four is red. The boys wear white shirts and pants. They all have badges sewn to their shirts that display the high school emblem. Teachers wear khakis and a white shirt usually.
On Fridays they are allowed a "casual day". But there is a catch...Students pay to dress down!! For example if a girls wants to wear makeup she pays a dollar. She must pay a dollar to wear flip-flops, and a dollar to wear shorts and so on. In the end the girl could pay $5 to wear what she wanted to school. By the way this is in Belize dollars. 1 Belize dollar is equal to 2 American dollars.
Another thing is the bells at school. They ring through a PA system set up in every room but they are not automatic. So if the person that is ringing the bells forgets or is not paying attention than they do not go off! It is so funny. Classes have a scheduled time to end and sometimes the bells do not ring. Teachers do not move and the next class does not begin till that bell rings. If this happened at home I wonder what the kids would do? There would be an uprising!
One thing I have forgotten to mention are the walks to and from school everyday. We walk about a mile everyday to school and a mile back. We do the walk again to go into town for errand and to eat dinner. It is expensive to rent bikes and golf carts here so we are hoofing it! I would say we are probably walking a good three miles everyday. It is worth it though. It is a beautiful walk every morning at about 6:45 am. I stop and get coffee and take in the scenery. At about 7:25 I get a move on. We need to be at school by 7:30 am. Every other day the teachers start the morning off with a prayer. They are extremely religious and most are catholic.
Speaking of this, the school rules and the classes are focused on this aspect of life. There are crosses hanging on the walls in most of the rooms and the students attend scripture classes. There are some rules that deal with the religious beliefs and morals of the faculty and the students. One that I found interesting was that if a female was caught pregnant she and the father were banned from school functions. If she is found to have had an abortion she is expelled. Wonder how this would go back home?
Some other random facts; students earn demerits that get them detention. Detention consists of staying after school to clean the yards. There is a strict policy of no gum chewing or eating in the classrooms! Students sweep the classrooms out at the end of the day. Its windy here and there is A LOT of sand. Students erase the board for the teacher after the lesson. Teachers NEVER erase the board at the end of class. Oh and chalk is like gold. Teachers have have their very own stash that they carry from room to room. I guess they are like the dry erase markers back home. Female teachers don't get called by their last name, it is simply Miss. Oh and seniors are still the teachers favorites here, just like back home :)
A little about my day at school and I will stop. Today we did labs in biology. We simulated the spread of a virus which is a lab that is similar to one we did in microbiology. Except, they put a nice catholic spin on it. I think it was a good lesson for the kids though. The virus was HIV. The students were put into different groups. Some were abstinent, others sexually active but used protection and some were promiscuous and did not use protection. They "exchanged fluid" meaning they mixed water with other students and their beakers. The fluid was water and one beaker had acid in it. The beaker with the acid and the water represented an infected person. At the end of the lab we used an acid indicator to show who was "infected". The lab went over well, although there was some giggles and snickers. I think it was a good lesson for the kids who might be thinking about these issues.
The last lab we did was one we did back home. Thank you to Mrs. Abraham. We extracted DNA from out cheek cells. It is an easy lab and one they had never done before. I think the kids really liked it. One girl said she would like to show her little brother. They all found little containers to put the DNA in to bring it home and share with their parents and friends.
To end the day we went to Mr. Kelly's for Johnny cakes. These are baked tortillas, kind of like pancakes, that are filled with ham and cheese. They served them with the best refried beans I have ever had. It was a nice evening of hanging out and meeting his family.
Tomorrow I teach Life Skills. This will be my first class. Wish me luck!
On Fridays they are allowed a "casual day". But there is a catch...Students pay to dress down!! For example if a girls wants to wear makeup she pays a dollar. She must pay a dollar to wear flip-flops, and a dollar to wear shorts and so on. In the end the girl could pay $5 to wear what she wanted to school. By the way this is in Belize dollars. 1 Belize dollar is equal to 2 American dollars.
Another thing is the bells at school. They ring through a PA system set up in every room but they are not automatic. So if the person that is ringing the bells forgets or is not paying attention than they do not go off! It is so funny. Classes have a scheduled time to end and sometimes the bells do not ring. Teachers do not move and the next class does not begin till that bell rings. If this happened at home I wonder what the kids would do? There would be an uprising!
One thing I have forgotten to mention are the walks to and from school everyday. We walk about a mile everyday to school and a mile back. We do the walk again to go into town for errand and to eat dinner. It is expensive to rent bikes and golf carts here so we are hoofing it! I would say we are probably walking a good three miles everyday. It is worth it though. It is a beautiful walk every morning at about 6:45 am. I stop and get coffee and take in the scenery. At about 7:25 I get a move on. We need to be at school by 7:30 am. Every other day the teachers start the morning off with a prayer. They are extremely religious and most are catholic.
Speaking of this, the school rules and the classes are focused on this aspect of life. There are crosses hanging on the walls in most of the rooms and the students attend scripture classes. There are some rules that deal with the religious beliefs and morals of the faculty and the students. One that I found interesting was that if a female was caught pregnant she and the father were banned from school functions. If she is found to have had an abortion she is expelled. Wonder how this would go back home?
Some other random facts; students earn demerits that get them detention. Detention consists of staying after school to clean the yards. There is a strict policy of no gum chewing or eating in the classrooms! Students sweep the classrooms out at the end of the day. Its windy here and there is A LOT of sand. Students erase the board for the teacher after the lesson. Teachers NEVER erase the board at the end of class. Oh and chalk is like gold. Teachers have have their very own stash that they carry from room to room. I guess they are like the dry erase markers back home. Female teachers don't get called by their last name, it is simply Miss. Oh and seniors are still the teachers favorites here, just like back home :)
A little about my day at school and I will stop. Today we did labs in biology. We simulated the spread of a virus which is a lab that is similar to one we did in microbiology. Except, they put a nice catholic spin on it. I think it was a good lesson for the kids though. The virus was HIV. The students were put into different groups. Some were abstinent, others sexually active but used protection and some were promiscuous and did not use protection. They "exchanged fluid" meaning they mixed water with other students and their beakers. The fluid was water and one beaker had acid in it. The beaker with the acid and the water represented an infected person. At the end of the lab we used an acid indicator to show who was "infected". The lab went over well, although there was some giggles and snickers. I think it was a good lesson for the kids who might be thinking about these issues.
The last lab we did was one we did back home. Thank you to Mrs. Abraham. We extracted DNA from out cheek cells. It is an easy lab and one they had never done before. I think the kids really liked it. One girl said she would like to show her little brother. They all found little containers to put the DNA in to bring it home and share with their parents and friends.
To end the day we went to Mr. Kelly's for Johnny cakes. These are baked tortillas, kind of like pancakes, that are filled with ham and cheese. They served them with the best refried beans I have ever had. It was a nice evening of hanging out and meeting his family.
Tomorrow I teach Life Skills. This will be my first class. Wish me luck!
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