Craziness...

Sooo..interesting story.

 

Today, I get to school around 8:45, like I usually do, and as its getting closer and closer to 9, I realized that none of the teachers in my building were there yet. I went down to see if they were waiting by the door (like they sometimes are). Nope, no one there. But...all the kids are there, lined up, waiting to be let in. So, not knowing what to do, I let them in. Then I realize the worst thing I could have realized: all of the classrooms were locked and I dont have keys. So I'm standing in the hallway with the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes--you can image how crazy it was. 

 

Finally the headmistress came up and started to open classes, and she told me that only one of the 6th grade teachers and one of the 4th grade teachers were going to be there today. That meant that the teacher I'm working with, the 4th grade English teacher, and the other 6th grade teacher were not coming. Turns out that pretty much only 1 teacher from each grade showed up today. There's some kind of protest going on tonight because of some kind of legislation that just was passed about public schools here..I'm trying to look more into it but I haven't figured out exactly what it is yet. Apparently there was something else going on today related to it, and they just let the teachers not show up! At this school, there isn't really such thing as a substitute teacher, so the headmaster just decided that I could have the 5th grade class. All day. By myself. While this was huge because it shows that they trust me enough to do this, I was still scared to death. 

 

To make things worse, the 5th grade classroom was locked and there were no spare keys anywhere.  It was finally decided that we would use the 6th grade classroom. One problem, though: the kids didn't have their books since the class is locked. Oh, only one problem? No, here's another one: I had nothing planned because the teacher I'm working with told me that today would be her day to teach. Whats more, yesterday I wasn't at school because of a service learning project that we had to do--I had called my teacher to tell her about it and she said not to worry that it would be okay. She said nothing about not being here today and she didn't contact me this morning or last night either. It REALLY would have helped to know that I was going to be alone all day!

 

 Anyways...I finally had the kids sitting down and we were reviewing some of their science (thankfully they had their science books in their backpacks) because apparently they have an exam tomorrow (also news to me). Suddenly, the headmistress comes in and says, "What are you doing?!" So, I explain to her that we're reviewing because the students were told that they have a test tomorrow. She said, "Oh, well, good...good. After this, just let them rest for the remainder of the day, since there are a lot of kids missing today." I looked at my watch, and it was only 10 am. 10 AM. I smiled and said okay, but in my head I was like ITS ONLY 10 AM--WHAT AM I GOING TO DO FOR THE REST OF THE DAY WITH THEM!!?? I knew there was no way I could just let them sit around all day. I might be a new teacher, but I know better than that! So, we played some games and talked in English for a bit. Thankfully the gym teacher showed up and he took them for an hour. When it was finally  break, I Googled ESL games and found a bunch--they get back to class, we start playing, and then the headmistress comes in again and just takes them. Literally just tells them to line up and then leaves with them. I still have no idea where they went. They showed back up about 5 minutes before it was time to leave. 

 

Needless to say, it's been an interesting day. I never know what I will encounter each day here--what will tomorrow bring? I'll find out!