first, let me say that if i ever received that ^ thank you card from one of my students, i think i would die. so cute. although there is no such thing as starbucks in costa rica (slightly upsetting) soooo i don't think that would happen any time soon.
i wanted to take some time to point out some things that i have noticed about my students here in costa rica. i may be wrong, but to me my students seem completely different from my classmates and me when we were in seventh and eighth grade.
1. they are extremely open. there was one activity in class where i asked them to raise their hands if they considered themselves a private person. only one student out of fifteen raised their hand. when i made sure they knew what the question meant, they all scoffed and said, private? nah not me i'll talk about anything (and its true). these guys will talk about anything in front of anyone. and there really is only one person that i would consider private or shy in my class. maybe i am mistaken but at that age i remember more people being a little bit more intimated to speak up and share things in class.
2. they never. stop. talking. i have a fair amount of students who literally never stop talking. i'll call attention three or four times, i'll even say those students' names to get their attention, and they just keep talking. its not like they don't here me because i see them look at me, they just keep talking until they finish their conversation and i find it incredibly rude. i've asked them multiple times how they can continue to be so rude when their teacher is standing in the front of the class trying to get everyone to be quite and they can blatantly ignore me. and even if the other students aren't talking they don't say anything. i cant ever remember one of my classes when i was student being that disrespectful. it kind of blows my mind.
3. they don't play sports. i think out of the 24 students that i have in total, maybe 3 of them play a sport (of course soccer). in fact, they don't really do any extra curricular activities. when i was there age, maybe a year or two older, i was on sport team after sport team, rec teams, club teams, and school teams, i was in the band (yes, yes i was in the band... clarinet), and always trying to get involved. on mondays when i ask these guys what they did over the weekend, i'm lucky if i get "i went to a family bbq." most of the time its, i played wii (xbox, playstation, etc), watched tv, and went on the computer." and sometimes its even a "i did absolutely nothing i didnt even leave the house." ahh!! whats wrong with these kids. and its not just my students its almost all of the students here. they need to get out and get involved!!
i'm sure there are many more things to add to this list but i'll leave it at that for now. and regardless of how frustrated my students can sometimes make me, i think they are great and i really enjoy being their teacher. and i hope one day i'll receive i really cute thank you card like that one!!
