So, how about some good news from your end...

Okay, I get it.  The last few blogs have been a bit Debbie Downer with all this land rights/human exploitation/arrogance/imperialism mumbo-jumbo.  So, you're probably wondering that not only if there there is any good I can make of this or if there is anything positive going on down here in Galapagos.  Actually, yes AND yes.  There are SEVERAL positive things and outcomes happening on this end.

Firstly, let's just say that classes have started again!  Despite the fact my first class was a no-show this morning, which is pretty atypical for these parts or anywhere for that matter (syllabus day at 7am, anyone?)--- today is officially the first day of school.  Yippee!  Yes, this genuinely excites me.  Last night, even though I had literally been working all week and it has only actually been 8 days since I have last been in the classroom, I had "night before school" jitters as my mind ran through ideas, what if's, questions about how the semester would go, who my new students would be, would they like me, what can I do differently as a teacher, how can I improve this go 'round.  Needless today, I am exhausted and it is day one.  But, that's not a bad thing...especially since the weekend is only a few days away.

The other positive exhaustion so-to-speak is a series of projects and extracurricular activities I have been working on with the consent of my boss, the collaboration of my fellow English teacher Em, and with the feedback of student via surveys we gave a few weeks ago.  Firstly, we have an orientation manual, in Spanish, about not only the program, but the expectations of students and teachers, recommendations for studying, resources for practicing English.  Boring, right?  Absolutely.  Useful, however?  We hope!  As I've mentioned to many individuals before, not only are we teaching English here, but teaching in a region with one of the poorest, most defunct academic systems in all of Latin America we are also literally teaching our students how to be students.  (Who would have thought that learning to make flashcards was a privilege and a skill?  Turns out.... ) So, three pages, in Spanish, for the students, with lots of useful tidbits and such.  For those who want to succeed in the program, it will hopefully be a useful guide and beacon of reference.  For everyone else, well, what's another dead tree for the sake of progress, eh?

On the more exciting side of positive things, we have the introduction of Conversation Cafe and Friday Films.  Yay!  Yes, these are two projects I am very excited about which have been in the works since last module.  Conversation Cafe is a weekly gathering of locals and internationals to chat in English.  The reunions will be overseen by a teacher, either myself or Emily, but will be lead by the participants.  Half of the meetings will be at the University for general chatting and such, and the other half will be somewhere in town with specific topics of conversation/discussion such as Public Figures/Leaders, Legal Rights, and Conservation which are themes closely linked to the films we will be watching on Friday Films...which of course, brings me to my next project....

Film Fridays!  Another free event open to the public which is a biweekly showing of movies in English.  We're snagging the projector, Emily is being so kind to provide her adapter and speakers, and we'll be showing fun movies in English on the second floor at the University.  An optional discuss will follow for those who want to stick around.  The first four film include Disney's Hercules, Milk, Oceans, and The Kids Are All Right--all fantastic movies in our opinion.  We wanted to go fun-for-the-whole-family meets social consciousness.  Considering this is the closest to a movie theater this island has, we're hoping for a good turn out.  Plus, you know, with both of these events we can require our students to visit them for homework and do something awesome afterward like....do a write-up.

And, finally, in the proactive mode, I had made an unofficial appointment for Friday to chat with the Director of the Galapagos Science Center Project.  Yes, that's right.  I approached him and asked him if I could sit down and "pick his brain" a bit.  In subsequent, passing conversations I've had with him and have overhead going on among the personnel of this project, it is clear that if this is going to be a "community" structure....someone one with a foot-in-the-door, experience, some language skills, and a direct connection to the students might be able to worm her way in there to fight for her students and friends.  No, I'm not going to go in an accusatory jerk with high expectations, rather I simply want to see if there is anyway on my end I can collaborate with them, my students and the English program to put that building to good use for us since currently it is obviously oriented towards the foreigners.  So, we'll see....

So, yes, aside from that I have been learning an entirely new teaching methodology called TPR which, of course, is a discussion for another day, but it is a more primitive, active style of teaching which has had some really positive results after the pilot last module.  I am VERY excited about it.  More moving, less pressure and writing.  It should be an adventure.  And, even if it does fail, at least I get to do it while putting a little more exercise in my daily routine....