Updates

Well, it's been almost a month since I last posted. I've been quite busy - that's my excuse. I found myself swamped with student work to grade during the last few weeks of my placement. Technically that's my own fault. I shouldn't assign so much graded work! But that's the normal system here in Belize. The students are used to it. I didn't like it so much, and not just because I had a constant, never-shrinking stack of papers on my desk. It's just that the graded assignments a teacher gives should be assessments, and I didn't really achieve that standard. Oh well. Making mistakes and learning from them is what student teaching is about. There's a reason we don't get paid!

I was pretty comfortable in the classroom for my last few weeks. There still were many kinks that needed to be straightened out, even during my last few days, but that's all right. I think that I taught the students a few things about English. I did a reading comprehension unit on John Updike's "A&P" - the male students really liked that story since it dealt with girls in bathing suits. I had my 3rd form students create a letter compendium that contained examples of many different types of letters. I also told the students that they had to actually write and send a letter of appreciation, complaint, request, to the editor, etc. I bought the envelopes and postage. The students really got into it, and it ended up being a lot of fun. 

A few February highlights:

- Cows wandering through campus, mooing while I was trying to give a test

- Belize Minister of Education visited for a groundbreaking ceremony and announced a school holiday. Free day!

- Placencia (again)

- For a skit in his social studies class, one of my students dressed up in a miniskirt. It was pretty funny. 

- A couple UMD professors came down to visit us and treated us to a day of snorkeling and lounging on West Snake Key. While snorkeling, I saw squid, starfish, parrotfish, jellyfish, plain fish fish, and a monster called a Florida Pompano. Somebody saw a stingray at one point, too.

My last few days in Punta Gorda were the most memorable. My last day was Friday Feb. 27th. On Wednesday, Feb. 25th, I came home from school in my usual semi-drained state. I had some food and hung out with Dazha for a little bit. I was planning on going to visit Garnet, who had just come in from Tumul Kin that afternoon. I was delayed because Eric surprised me in my room! He had told me that he wouldn't be able to visit me in Belize. LIE! There he was, in my host mom's house. It turns out that Elana knew the whole time.

But she didn't know about the rest of Eric's plan. After nearly causing me to have a stroke just by showing up, he had me turn around and close my eyes. When I opened them, he was on one knee with a ring in his hand. I'm wearing it right now.

We've been adventuring around Belize for the last few days. Before arriving here in San Pedro, we adventured in San Ignacio for a few days. However, I'll have to tell those stories tomorrow. Right now the sun, the beach, and The Story of English are calling me.