Escuela

Escuela

I took some pictures of the school where I spend most of my time. Without further ado:

Front view of the school. The building behind the truck is where the custodian lives. One of the professors lives in the building on the left. Classrooms on the right. Note: do not try to step on the little concrete bridge; it’s a trap designed to get you to twist an ankle.

The kids in morning formation where they sing a random subset of {national anthem, canton anthem, parish anthem}. Then the daily announcements are made. The kids stand in military-style formation by grade, separated by gender. In this picture, the 7th-grade boys are first on the right, then 7th-grade girls, 6th-grade boys, 6th-grade girls, etc.

The other side of the formation. 1st, 2nd, and half of 3rd are visible. Each professor stands with their grade. The principal is also the professor for 5th grade, and is making the morning announcements. Important note: the ping pong table is inside the room the principal is standing next to.

Rear of formation. They are currently “at ease,” but they are at various times ordered to raise/lower their hands, left-face/right-face, and to stand at “atencion firme.” This is not an attempt to indoctrinate them with military discipline, but rather is used as a quieting device. When the murmur of kids talking grows too loud, the profs will yell out “atencion firme!” (attention) followed quickly by “descanso” (at ease). This has the effect of momentarily distracting the kids from their conversations and giving the prof a window of approximately 5 seconds of their attention.

The first grade kids. This is the room where I am referred to as “EL PROFE DE INGLES!!!!!!!111one” and if you say “buenos dias” to them they will pop your eardrum echoing it back.