Monday - Day Ten
I decided to jump ahead to today because I just feel like writing about today even though I need to transfer my notes and entries for the weekend into LJ.
So I woke up really, really (why not through in an extra "really" while I am at it) sore and tired from yesterday when we went to Tepotzlan. That was a hard hike! It was also time to do laundry this morning and all the rest of our housemates seemed to think so too. You can only go for so many days (or one big excursion) before the clothes get really stinky! And the last today were just yuck for being stinky. So I piled up my mound of used clothes (Mindy only washed like two things, which makes me wonder what she has been wearing and for how long) and took them with us to school. Our mama dropped us off at the lavandaria (laundry) by the school and all of us dropped off our clothes. It cost $50 pesos ($5) to get them washed and hopefully they did a good job. I didn´t have much choice, however. I was getting really smelly and they don´t seem to sell plus sized clothes in the store here in spite of all the chubby people I see walking around. Oh well.
So on Monday we pick up a new class schedule, but I figured mine would be more of the same as I had been doing before. Nope. Half of it was very new and very different. I still am in a grammar class but the teacher is younger and more formal in teaching, but she has a different teaching style. My last teacher was very laid back but basically followed the book. This new gal plays games and stuff, but also does book work. The only disappointing thing was that this class is a little behind where we were so what we did today, and likely tomorrow, was review. But we will be starting a new book and new constructions soon, and my other classes are different enough that a little sameness is comforing.
My next two classes are conversations where a group of students gets together with a native speaker and basically just talk. One of the teachers had a topic (the family in Mexican culture vs. the US) while the other was more spontaneous (weekend, things we like to do). I am still a bit hesitant to speak so I need to push myself to engage in these classes especially since the pedogogy of them is shown to increase conversational competence. We have to negotiate meaning a lot, which basically is repeating or rephrasing an idea until the meaning is clear to everyone. This I think will be really helpful if I don´t freeze up when I need to speak.
My last class is the one that is the most exciting and the most daunting. It is really giving me the chance to know what it feels like to be a second language student learning academic content. My last class of the day is about Mexican culture and today we were learning about the differences between the city center and cathedral in Cuernavaca versus what you will find in a typical Mexican town. Also the changes in the architecture of the cathedral and the different monastic orders that settled in Mexico, etc. Now that sounds like I was getting most of what was being said although in reality, I was only understanding about 1/10 to sometimes 1/2 of the lecture. Half the time I was panicking as to whether I should really be in that class. Everyone else seemed so much more competant than me (they read faster, asked questions, and just seemed more on the ball), but that just may be fear speaking. I really want to stay in this class because it will really push me to hear Spanish and understand it, but I am worried that I will have to write a paper in Spanish for it and that is very scary. I just don´t know enough language to do it.
This also gives me new insights into what it is like to go into a content heavy class not understanding the language very well. The teacher really needs to step up and do extra things (using their hands, drawing picture, using images, retelling or rephrasing) to help students understand. But even with this, I was having a very hard time. It was only when our teacher was talking about a place that I had been to or had some understanding of (the Xocolo (main plaza) in Cuernavaca, Tepotzlan, or Mexican history - I was very glad Dee told be about that fellow who went from Mexico to Japan to teach Christianity) that my comprehension went from 10% to 50%. Background knowledge (what you know academically or from experience in your own language) is so important for understanding academic content!
Well enough of that schoolish stuff. After classes I rushed to the computer lab to find Dee, and we did some emailing and updating (or at least I did). Then we met up with Valerie and Janese (two gals from USU) and decided we were all hungry. We went down the hill to a place we had heard was good, La Gringa, and had a very large late lunch/early dinner. It was probably the best Mexican food I have had since we got here. We had Mexican style tacos, which are very different than their Americanized counterparts, and quesadillas and various other things. It was good that Valerie was with us because she is fluent and could ask for details about the food before we ordered. Everything was very tasty and now I am very full. It was nice to finaly eat at a Mexican restaurant. Dee and I have been picking more American or Japanese foods lately.
Then we were stopped by a fellow who had some questions about English that he hoped we could answer and we said we would try. They were very techincal phrases about computers, business and/or finances and it was difficult to explain some of them to him. So many things in English are idiomatic or have two or more meanings depending on their context. I hope we helped him and didn´t confuse him. It is amazing how difficult content specific language is.
Then we walked back up the hill and picked up my laundry. We have made the climb back up the university a couple of times before, but we were both feeling sore, stiff and tired from the climb yesterday and were feeling the burn. It actually is a good thing that we have a week to recover before we head off on any more big adventures. I don´t think my poor legs could handle more!
Anyways, now we are back in the computer lab and will be hanging out here for a while. If we see signs of life from you all, we will probably try to call you. Otherwise we will keep typing away and see how you are doing tomorrow.
¡Hasta luego!
PS - I miss the rain down here. It is monsoon season down here and so we have had storms every night for the past week almost, but last night nada. It is so nice to have rain at night because you wake up nice and cool and don´t sweat while you are at school. I hope it rains so more this week.
So I woke up really, really (why not through in an extra "really" while I am at it) sore and tired from yesterday when we went to Tepotzlan. That was a hard hike! It was also time to do laundry this morning and all the rest of our housemates seemed to think so too. You can only go for so many days (or one big excursion) before the clothes get really stinky! And the last today were just yuck for being stinky. So I piled up my mound of used clothes (Mindy only washed like two things, which makes me wonder what she has been wearing and for how long) and took them with us to school. Our mama dropped us off at the lavandaria (laundry) by the school and all of us dropped off our clothes. It cost $50 pesos ($5) to get them washed and hopefully they did a good job. I didn´t have much choice, however. I was getting really smelly and they don´t seem to sell plus sized clothes in the store here in spite of all the chubby people I see walking around. Oh well.
So on Monday we pick up a new class schedule, but I figured mine would be more of the same as I had been doing before. Nope. Half of it was very new and very different. I still am in a grammar class but the teacher is younger and more formal in teaching, but she has a different teaching style. My last teacher was very laid back but basically followed the book. This new gal plays games and stuff, but also does book work. The only disappointing thing was that this class is a little behind where we were so what we did today, and likely tomorrow, was review. But we will be starting a new book and new constructions soon, and my other classes are different enough that a little sameness is comforing.
My next two classes are conversations where a group of students gets together with a native speaker and basically just talk. One of the teachers had a topic (the family in Mexican culture vs. the US) while the other was more spontaneous (weekend, things we like to do). I am still a bit hesitant to speak so I need to push myself to engage in these classes especially since the pedogogy of them is shown to increase conversational competence. We have to negotiate meaning a lot, which basically is repeating or rephrasing an idea until the meaning is clear to everyone. This I think will be really helpful if I don´t freeze up when I need to speak.
My last class is the one that is the most exciting and the most daunting. It is really giving me the chance to know what it feels like to be a second language student learning academic content. My last class of the day is about Mexican culture and today we were learning about the differences between the city center and cathedral in Cuernavaca versus what you will find in a typical Mexican town. Also the changes in the architecture of the cathedral and the different monastic orders that settled in Mexico, etc. Now that sounds like I was getting most of what was being said although in reality, I was only understanding about 1/10 to sometimes 1/2 of the lecture. Half the time I was panicking as to whether I should really be in that class. Everyone else seemed so much more competant than me (they read faster, asked questions, and just seemed more on the ball), but that just may be fear speaking. I really want to stay in this class because it will really push me to hear Spanish and understand it, but I am worried that I will have to write a paper in Spanish for it and that is very scary. I just don´t know enough language to do it.
This also gives me new insights into what it is like to go into a content heavy class not understanding the language very well. The teacher really needs to step up and do extra things (using their hands, drawing picture, using images, retelling or rephrasing) to help students understand. But even with this, I was having a very hard time. It was only when our teacher was talking about a place that I had been to or had some understanding of (the Xocolo (main plaza) in Cuernavaca, Tepotzlan, or Mexican history - I was very glad Dee told be about that fellow who went from Mexico to Japan to teach Christianity) that my comprehension went from 10% to 50%. Background knowledge (what you know academically or from experience in your own language) is so important for understanding academic content!
Well enough of that schoolish stuff. After classes I rushed to the computer lab to find Dee, and we did some emailing and updating (or at least I did). Then we met up with Valerie and Janese (two gals from USU) and decided we were all hungry. We went down the hill to a place we had heard was good, La Gringa, and had a very large late lunch/early dinner. It was probably the best Mexican food I have had since we got here. We had Mexican style tacos, which are very different than their Americanized counterparts, and quesadillas and various other things. It was good that Valerie was with us because she is fluent and could ask for details about the food before we ordered. Everything was very tasty and now I am very full. It was nice to finaly eat at a Mexican restaurant. Dee and I have been picking more American or Japanese foods lately.
Then we were stopped by a fellow who had some questions about English that he hoped we could answer and we said we would try. They were very techincal phrases about computers, business and/or finances and it was difficult to explain some of them to him. So many things in English are idiomatic or have two or more meanings depending on their context. I hope we helped him and didn´t confuse him. It is amazing how difficult content specific language is.
Then we walked back up the hill and picked up my laundry. We have made the climb back up the university a couple of times before, but we were both feeling sore, stiff and tired from the climb yesterday and were feeling the burn. It actually is a good thing that we have a week to recover before we head off on any more big adventures. I don´t think my poor legs could handle more!
Anyways, now we are back in the computer lab and will be hanging out here for a while. If we see signs of life from you all, we will probably try to call you. Otherwise we will keep typing away and see how you are doing tomorrow.
¡Hasta luego!
PS - I miss the rain down here. It is monsoon season down here and so we have had storms every night for the past week almost, but last night nada. It is so nice to have rain at night because you wake up nice and cool and don´t sweat while you are at school. I hope it rains so more this week.