A sweet Saturday in Belize

Yesterday I went into town to meet my teacher at Isla Bonita Elementary School. I was lucky enough to also meet the students who I’ll be teaching. I am in the Standard II class, which is the equivalent of third grade in America. All of my kids are 8 years old. My Belize partnership teachers name is Hector, and he is one of the only male teachers on the Island. He is hysterically funny, has an amazing sense of humor and I know I will enjoy working with him. I was astonished by the size of the classroom. It is tiny…smaller than most bedrooms in America. It is extremely cramped with very little room to move or walk around.

Hector told me that we only have 9 kids in the class. So naturally, I’m thinking “Yay! This is going to be a breeze!”  I was brought back down to earth when the students entered the classroom. They are quite an energetic and lively bunch to say the least. Friday was a school wide movie-day, so my students returned to class with an insane amount of energy. But, they were so sweet to me! Within minutes, the kids surrounded me asking me questions. The girls sat on my lap and the boys constantly kissed me on the cheek!  I gave them a chance to ask questions about myself, and one of the students asked if everyone in the States has really white skin like me. Many of the local children do not see blonde hair and fair skin too often!

I had about an hour alone with the class in the afternoon so I taught them how to play two games that I learned in my internship in America. My Belizean students already love playing “Good morning Mr. Judge” and “Heads up 7-up”.  I asked my class to teach me a game that they play and they were amazed that I already knew Simon Says!

I begin teaching on Monday. I start with reading comprehension, grammar, Spanish and math. Hector gave me two small books to bring home over the weekend and make lesson plans for the entire week. In America, I had access to unlimited books and resources to lesson plan, so it will definitely be a challenge! The schools are low on all resources. The students have to supply all materials and many kids do not have pencils or paper. The school supplies that our group brought is going to be such a blessing! I am so excited for us to distribute the materials to the kids next week! Not to mention the fundraising money that is going directly to the schools. We can already see the impact we are making on the local schools. I cannot wait to get started teaching!

In other news…Belize is beautiful and I just might move here after graduation! San Pedro is so beautiful and everyone is friendly. Living here would be so simple and peaceful. Last night a local restaurant prepared a huge, tasty meal for our entire group. The Island is so small that almost all the restaurants and businesses know us as the American teachers. Many restaurants want to cook for us and offer us cheap meals and stores give us discounts.

This morning a small group of us went scuba diving on the barrier reef, which is less than a mile off the shore of the Island.  It was awesome! Definitely one of the coolest things I have done so far in life. I saw tons of fish, multiple stingrays, an eel and beautiful coral reef. My favorite animal was a gigantic sea turtle that was only a few feet away from me. Never quite imagined Belize would be this perfect…I am so grateful!

More pictures soon...I forgot my camera today..

-Katy G