Working against the system: Educating in Ecuador

So, something that most of us do here, well actually all of us, is work in some way with the education of young minds. A few of us are working at prestigious schools, and the rest of us are doing are best to run educational afterschool programs. I work in the morning teaching English twice a week to 19 boys, so I call myself a teacher.

Being a teacher here means that I get an up close and personal look at the educational system of Ecuador. Its something that most of us see everyday in our kids, and its also something that we talk about a lot around the dinner table. I want in this blog, to share a bit with you about what education here looks like and how we fit into it.

Basically, classes and homework consist of copying a ton of notes, or exercises from work books into other notebooks. Copying. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are really unheard of. All of our afterschool programs provide homework help, and sometimes there is just very little help to give. I mean, what can you do for a kid that has to copy the words ``one hundred sixty five´´ 10 times in his notebook? That would be their English homework. Or sometimes they have assignments in their workbooks that are gramatically incorrect and full of vocabulary that they dont understand.

So what does my classroom look like? Well, its kind of funny. I would love to say that my kids are angels and so engaged in my activites, but that is only the case sometimes. When I can get them to sit quietly (harder than it sounds) and participate, they do great. Weve been working on the verbs to be, to have, and to wear. We just finished a unit on clothing and describing what people are wearing. Ive been trying to do more exciting activities: bringing in magazine pictures to describe people, writing out descriptions of people in English and having them draw them . . . you know, stuff that would really go over well in the States. And they like doing different things for sure, and they appreciate colored pencils a whole lot, but I dont think that they make any of the connections. It doesnt occur to them to look in class notes for vocabulary or examples of how to form grammatically correct sentences. The worst is tests. Danny and I have to give grades every month for their report cards so weve decided to do a unit during the month and give a test in the last week. Well, no matter what we give them: study guides, word banks, lists of concepts to study . . . its like they dont know how to study. Or they will fill in a verb chart correctly, and then in the next section match verbs and subjects incorrectly with the same verb they just used. They write without thinking and its hard to get them out of that habit.

I dont want you to think that its hopeless. I have some students who are aceing my class - who want to learn and are putting in the time and effort. Im also trying to remember that English is hard to teach and learn, so were all sort of figuring each other out. But Im also trying to adapt my methods. A lot of the challenge with cross-cultural experiences is not bringing your own cultured mindset into the picture. So, much to my chagrin, I have instituted assignments where my kids have to copy vocabulary words down 10 times each. I hate it, but Im trying to convince myself that its reinforcing spelling . . . and I think it is, but it scares me to think that Im a teacher who gives busy work (everyone hated that teacher) or that I am a boring teacher. I dont know what I would do if my class was boring. Well see how this next test goes. Im giving it on Monday so wish me and my students luck.

I hope that you are all well. Thank you for the emails and mail . . . it all makes me smile!