19ZariahG – CA Work Experience Program

Day 9- Primary QHS

On Friday I went to QHS to attend math classes all morning with Claudia. Each class was more or less the same lesson but the way each class perceived it and interacted with the material was always different. One class was very anxious to understand the material they made lines for questions and the study groups were easy to identify. Another class refused to do the work and instead decided to play the ukelele. Clau was okay with this because this was the longest period of the day. So we split up the class into people who wanted to work and get it done and people who would focus on a part of the class work for the second half of the period and for homework. There are so many things going on in Argentina that makes me want to be an international teacher. Church and state are not separated here so presidents are required to follow the teachings of Catholicism. This means that Abortion is not legal in Argentina. The children in senior 2b were having a conversation with me about this and they explained the families living in poverty with low access to education have girls who are often pregnant at the age of 12. Sometimes it is because of sexual violations or because of the lack of access to sexual education in the public school system.

In the afternoon I went to QHS primary school which is where the younger children are. They were getting ready for the end of the year performance in August for chorus so they sang me two songs. After in order to practice their Spanish the group of kids were split into groups wh were they each gave me an interview. After I went to spend time in the teachers’ lounge where i was able to have more insightful conversation about once again politics, Macri, Christina, and the events happening in the United States. QHS primary head Valerie was able to introduce me to Doloris a teacher who participated in a program for international teachers. She was willing to help me out and hopefully, I will be traveling back to Buenos Aires for a month program and training for international teaching. Lastly, I went to the house meeting. QHS gets all their teachings from Cambridge so that is why a lot of their traditions may seem British. Students are identified by houses, Hudson, Livingston, Shackleton. Every few weeks they have house meetings where students get effort pins, merit pins, neatness pins, etc and each house builds up points. Then the house with the most points wins.

Day 8- Midlands College

Today I went to midlands college (mancedo) where I observed all of the different age groups possible. This school is a lot like Quilmes high school because it a private school. I spent time with the 10 year olds making posters for their book fair. Then I went to spend time with the director of the the smaller kids to talk about education systems and some of the events happening in Argentina. She explained to me that argentina was having a economic crisis which I had known about. However, she explained to me that not only are they having a economic crisis but they are having a social crisis. She said many people are fighting about the past president and the current one because they believe someone needs to take the blame. After I went to the junior 5 Spanish class where they were learning about grammar. Each class had the opportunity to ask me questions about anything they wanted to know. I told them about similarities and differences with school in the United States and here in Argentina. One of them being that they call their teachers by their first name. Then I went to the senior 3 class where we worked on analyzing text and essays. They had their own system but I taught them about DDIST for analyzing texts. We also discussed the controversy with the SAT and Cambridge exams. The kids then had be give them autographs and pictures because they say they don’t get to meet a lot of people from the United States.

QHS DAY 7

Today I went to many classes at Quilmes Highschool. First I went to the middle schoolers where I taught a geography class in all Spanish it was very difficult but i had a lot of fun watching students laugh at my mispronunciations. The teacher does a lot of crossword puzzles so we did one of those. I stood in front of the class and said definitions for one of the letters and they filled in the rest. Then I went to the seniors and taught a history class on world war 2. I was taught how to collect information from students to see what they remember. I did this by asking questions and making a chart. They asked really good questions about university the United States and we had a great discussion about the hypocrisy of the education system in the United States. This conversation started when I told them that we are not obligated to take a class on Latin American history when they are obligated to take a class on US history. After I did more history classes and then did two English classes where I read a short story and helped students prepare their analytical essays for the Cambridge exam. This a very hard test that they have to stay on the last year of secondary school.

Day 6

Today I went to el Jardín De Cristo Obrero Montel. This is almost the equivalent of a public school but it it for very small children. We played games, read el lobo y la chica (red riding hood) and learned about Juanita en el Laguna. I taught them the song “ the itsy bitsy spider”. When all the children went home at 11:50 I stayed behind with the director and one of the teachers and we had a conversation about USA and Argentina. It was very difficult for me because my Spanish capabilities are not great when it comes to politics but I held my own pretty well. Shout out to Señora Kridle. The director told me that many families living in poverty in Quilmes use the Jardín to gain money. Only Kindergarten and middle school is required by law in Argentina. Therefore the government will pay families money to send their children to school and for them to receive vaccinations. The conversation was very sad but left me wanting to make a change. After I returned to Quilmes Highschool where I attended 3 classes. One was business, dramatic literature and American Lit with the Senior 2 children. I read the plays and the literature in both classes as well as helped them analyze the literature.i also spent time with Daniel Pauni the director of Quilmes Highschool and we went for a walk with his 8 month old granddaughter. When we dropped her off at the nursery he told me how many of the schools use a system from Italy that is the best kindergarten teachings in the world. When we were on the walk we saw a older man dropping off one of his children and he explained to me that Senor Pauni was his student. I thought that was so cool because in Quilmes the community is like a family and it is common to have many family members in the schools aswell.

Primero Dia de Clases

The flight to Argentina was the most memorable flight I’ve had in my entire life. The cancellation pushed the flight to the weekend. I had to fly to Houston at 3:15 but Houston is a different time zone so the flight felt like I was on it forever. The flight to Argentina was scheduled for 10:20 so I sat reviewing my Spanish by watching one the newest introduced novelas by the name of “Silvana Sin Lana” Senora Solis introduced the show to me a few weeks ago and I’m already almost done. Finally around 9:30 just as we were lining up to board the plane I saw an abundance of familiar faces. I sat with them waiting for them to start boarding group 3 when we received a message that our flight would be delayed an hour due to technical issues on the plane that needed to be fixed. As it got closer to 11:45 I received another text saying our flight would be delayed an additional hour pushing our flight to 12:30. As we started to approach 12:30 I am sure you can guess what happened next… our flight was delayed till 1:30. Luckily this was the last delay and we were on the plane by 1:30. My seat was all the way in the back next to two nice men one from Argentina. I enjoyed sitting next to him he was very interested in my work experience and my connection to Argentina. He asked me where I was from and when I told him I was from
North Carolina he was in complete shock. He said “ there is no way, where are your parents from” and I knew where he was going. When I told him my family is from panama he was able to put two and two together. He was pretty knowledgeable about educational systems in Panama and he suggested that I keep in mind my family hometown when deciding places to teach.

When we finally arrived in Buenos Aires, My friend Mica was waiting for me at the door exit door. After going to the “AutoMac” for food she took me to Quilmes High School so I could finally begin my journey. I met with Pauni, the director of Quilmes Highschool and with many other teachers who i would be working with throughout the week. I attended two classes both of them were Literature Classes. One was led by Fer Vargas and she allowed me to introduce myself. The children we reading a book about two people who are stuck at their school due to a war in the summer. They asked me if the United States has classes during the summer. This led into a very long conversation about discovery term and the US history course at Cary Academy.
My next class was with a teacher named Amaya. I led the class by introducing myself and explaining why I was back at Quilmes Highschool. I explained what my work experience purpose was and they were amazed at my ideas. Many of them were excited because they expressed that they wished they had someone at Quilmes that could help aid them in applying for university and such. Their remarks made me extremely happy because I was hoping it was a needed profession. The class was discussing a poem “ a melded wall”. We all sat down and took stones representing the wall and passed them around talking about what the wall represented in our lives. Their ideas were extremely insightful. We also made a poster where we wrote down words in English about ways the poem represents different things. This class was very unified. The students were attentive and worked together to find words that expressed their feelings. It amazed me how the class was a English class but Spanish would be tossed around frequently it was very cool. The teacher was moving around the room and on the floor drawing and writing with them. It was all a group effort.

Day 4

Today is my last working from home!! This weekend I get to fly to Argentina and finally start observing and execute my plan. I have never been more excited it feels like I have been waiting for forever. I have been planning and working on my Work Experience plans since almost the beginning of Junior Year. Surely, experiences like this don’t come without an abundance of work, communication, and planning. Unfortunately, I didn’t plan for exactly what to do if a 24-hour transportation strike delayed my flight for 3 days.

There are so many things that go into flying abroad to work that I didn’t know before. For example, there is such a thing as ” Travel Insurance”. Due to the change of flight, I had to call the company and have them redo the policy to fit the new arrival and departure date. My parents wanted me to gain experience doing things like this since I will have to do it many times as an international teacher so I had to call the travel insurance company all on my own. They needed to know things like my social security and birth date. This process was all new to me because I didn’t even know what my social security # was until today. I guess that is what work experience is for, right?– Discovery!.

This experience at the airport will be much different. I have never gotten on a plane by myself. The change in dates means that I will be completely by myself on this flight. There will be no friendly Cary Academy students anxiously awaiting their time in a foreign country while I fly from RDU to Houston. The lack of presence will hopefully allow me to reflect and prepare myself for all the memories and experience that will come next. It just started to hit that I will be leaving home for a while and I won’t be able to watch novelas with my dad and mi abuela. However, the family and friends I have made and have in Argentina are looking forward to watching me take part in this amazing opportunity. It has been a year since I have seen most of them and I can’t wait. Wish me luck!

Day 3

Another great day of discovery, I started my morning as if I were in Argentina. I woke up around 5:30 which would be 7:30 Argentina time. I ate a light breakfast and opened my computer to check my email. While I am in Argentina I will be working with many teachers who all have different expectations for what they would like me to be doing in class. These past few days have been modeled as if I were working from home. I have been doing mostly Administrative like work while I am stuck at home. I have prepared my schedule, made phone calls, drafted emails, and memorized lectures and presentations for classes.

Since I want to be an international teacher possibly traveling and relocating countries multiple times a year the work I am doing because of this small travel change has taught me a lot about the possible consequences of attempting to make an impact abroad. Nevertheless, I have not given up yet, and the cancellation and postponement of my trip have not discouraged me. I still believe that my preliminary career choice could make a big impact on the world around me.

International Teachers could help increase diversity in Universities, decrease poverty rates, and even help teen refugee’s who fall behind in their school work while seeking safety. One of the schools I am visiting by the name of El Jardin De Cristo Obrero is a school many children in Quilmes who are living below the poverty line and face tremendous adversity on a daily basis. These children are very young but their spirit is inspiring. I have visited once before and was able to read a book a with them and all I can remember are these two little girls who held on to me for so long so that I wouldn’t leave. El Jardin is one of the schools that I am most looking forward to observing and teaching at because I know my presence will be impactful.

Day 2

Excited and Anxiously waiting to arrive in Argentina I sat amongst 8 other Cary Academy Students on their way to Buenos Aires, Argentina for their exchange trip. It was 2:48 and it was time for our boarding group to get on the plane. I grabbed my delicious Starbucks in one hand and my camper bookbag in the other. My phone dinged and I read a message it stated..” Canceled: Flight 819 to Ezeiza Buenos Aires has been canceled due to government strikes”. Clearly, as you can imagine my heart stopped and I was filled with immense disappointment. My peers began to walk on the plane and I knew it would be my responsibility to get their attention and to let someone know that we would not be flying today. It was hard being the deliverer of bad news. I have spent the last 24 hours working diligently to find a flight for myself to fly to Buenos Aires. Gratefully, I was able to purchase a new ticket and will be on my way very soon. President Macri has been a conversation starter for the citizens of Argentina. In fact, last year when I was in Argentina there was a similar strike going on.

Although i did not get the opportunity to work today i still had many things i was expected to do from home. Today I worked on 3 powerpoint presentations for my days in Quilmes. My first presentation is about Cary Academy, my experiences, private school life, who I am, and what work experience is. My second power point presentation is about the advantages and disadvantages of Slang. I talk about how some words primarily in rap music are becoming more and more controversial and about the impact these words have on different communities. My third power point is on a series of events that happened this year in the United States. I talk about our president, Gun Violence, Abortion Laws, and lastly Educational Systems and its faults in the United States.

The abrupt cancellation of my flight taught me how to handle tragedies and events while working for an organization. There was an abundance of people i had to contact to inform them on what was going on. Of course, my boss was very understanding but we had to be in constant communication. All of the pre-work has made me realize a lot about what it means to be a teacher. For example, being a teacher is a lot like being a student. You have to prepare and study for the course work you are teaching and you have to do the homework you assign to the students so that you can check it. Although this is a sudden realization I kind of like the idea of having a pattern. If this is what I decide to do then technically I’ll be going to school for the rest of my life.

Journey to Work Experience

Today I will be flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina to take part in my Work Experience. Although I will not be working in a space today, I thought it important to share a few key details about my work experience before I begin to blog about my experiences each day. After visiting Quilmes Argentina last year for my World Language Exchange I came home knowing that my time there wasn’t done. I learned a lot about the higher education process in Argentina from my host parents and the educators around me and it differs a lot from the process here in the United States. The testing, high school education, and public information and media regarding education differ. For students seeking higher education especially if they want to attend university in the United States, the transition is daunting and misguided. After a lot of reflection on the information given to me and my time in Argentina I decided that I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to pursue in the future but it confirmed that I did want to be an educator and that the only thing that differed from my childhood days where I would stomp around the playground saying confidently that ” I wanna be teacher when I grow up!” would be that now I would find some way that I could work in a Latin American country with fluency in Spanish so that I could effectively aid students in their education process. While I am in Argentina I will be spending most of my time in Quilmes High School with some time in two other schools by the name of Jardin De Cristo Obrero and Colegio Mancedo.

Before observing classes and professors I was asked to spend time researching different materials and topics so that I could be properly prepared to offer my insights to the class. I thought that was really cool because similar to a “real” teacher one day I will have to prepare myself with the course work I will teach. Therefore I am currently researching World War II, The Rain Horse by Ted Hughes, The Gulf War (Iran, Iraq, Saddan Hussein), and analyzing a poem ” The Kraken” by Tennyson. I am confident that this experience will teach me an abundance of things and confirm or deny the ideas of what I want to do when I am older. However, due to the fact that my experience is almost completely structured and fit to my needs of what I want to observe, I know that even if it doesn’t look the way I thought it would, this opportunity will be a chance for self-discovery. I am excited about everything my work experience has to offer and I look forward to sharing all the incredible details through the blog!