National Library fail

Monday, August 3rd

Today I made myself get up at 8 a.m. Since I went to bed around 11:30, it wasn’t terribly hard. I got up, made breakfast, read, and got dressed. I love wearing green now because it pops more with my darker hair color! I then headed to Disco, where I picked up some more snack foods, including bread, pudding, cheese, and crackers! I was hoping it would be my last store trip, but I’m thinking I’ll probably make at least one more.

Came back, and then headed to the Road office, where I got all my lesson plans in order for this week. I will be so grateful when I have easily accessible internet access again.

After that, came back, ate lunch with all my leftover foods that I’m eating before I open the stuff I bought today, and then packed my bags. I headed to a school, where I met up with a teacher one of the ladies who interviewed me recommended. Basically, networking sweet networking. I arrived at the school right when the kids were changing out. There are lots of different ways that schools happen in Buenos Aires. For primary level, you can either go half a day or a full day. Most kids only go a full day if they attend a half day in English in the afternoon. Lulu does that. This was the first school I had heard of where the secondary school students (7th up) went for just a half day in the morning. And it’s a private school. I showed up, was escorted in to a stately looking room, and then Maria Cecilia met me. She led me upstairs, where I met the two other primary school teachers. I told her I really wanted to observe the high school classrooms, and she said she would email that coordinator, but since I was already there I just stayed to observe those. It was also noteworthy that there was no i.d. process or background check for me to enter the school…I just did.

I first observed a first grade classroom. Well, I actually ended up unsuccessfully teaching it. I was with the teacher Laura, and she had a new student who didn’t know any English. So while she talked with him, I was supposed to go through flashcards with the kids. But there were a lot of them, I didn’t know their names, and so we made it through with halting progress which consisted of Laura constantly snapping up to shush them. One on one though, when I went around checking their writing, I was able to ensure they were at least able to pronounce the vocabulary.

After that, I went with Cecilia to a 3rd grade classroom. This was a bit more orderly, but it still felt like half the class was spent on redirecting the children’s attention. After that, I got to go with Laura to a 6th grade class. This was my favorite. All the kids were well-behaved, and she had them write about their winter break. While she graded questions, I answered questions they had about phrases. They also had the opportunity to ask me questions. It was fun. All the classes were only 45 minutes, which again felt like insufficient time.

After that, I headed out, and walked about 45 minutes to the National Library. This time it was open, and I entered and just straight up told the guard it was my first time and what was up. He was nice though, I suppose he gets it a lot, and just told me to fill out a form. It was kind of intense. You have to show i.d. to enter, and they want your address, etc. He okay’d me, then sent me to the 5th floor. Upon entering, there were quite a few people. As I tried to get my bearing about how everything worked, I was struck by being surrounded by scholarly people more my age. I miss college environment!! Although it was less fun not knowing anyone. I LOVE running into people in Evans Library. Anyways, I sat down at a computer and tried to do a sketch. The computer was pretty good technology, but the mouse sucked majorly.

I persisted however, but my searches didn’t reveal much. I’m really trying to find a good documentation of how English education has evolved in Argentina, or just education. But especially some kind of rationale for why English must now be taught in all schools. Most of the books I found were from the 70s. So either I was searching incorrectly or they really are old. There wasn’t really anyone there to help though. Once I figured out the search engine, I went to a desk and asked how to actually get the books. Turns out you request from the computer, then about 20 minutes later your request will be brought to the desk. To read, you have to enter through ANOTHER metal detector and guard. You can’t even bring a purse in – they have lockers. Well, at this point I was tired after school and so I decided not to check out books. But I did sit down and tried different searches for books. Still no real success, but I’ll go back one morning and try a bit. Also, you can only request three books at a time, and all I have to go off is the titles. So again, prolly not much, but at least I tried.

I then walked home, stopping by the Road Office. I was really hoping to print off my lesson plans, but all the office people were still there, so I couldn’t. I’m going to go back later tonight though, hopefully. Back at home, I talked with Lu and have just been lazing around. Dinner consisted of milanesa con puree. Bed early, long day tomorrow.