Well, ladies and gentlemen, after a long hiatus, I'm back. Ok, not completely back because I still don't have my own computer but, thanks to the official start of school, I now have access to a computer and internet.
Yes, you heard that right, as of three hours ago, the first day of school officially ended. What a day it was!
When we got to school this morning (by "we", I mean myself and the two other WorldTeach volunteers that I am living/working with, Sarah and Beth), the place was swarming with students. Hundreds of them in their uniforms of white shirts and blue skirts (lavalavas). It was rather an intimidating sight.
Anyways, with it being the first day of school, we went to the office to see if they had our login IDs so that we could check our rosters and schedules. Because we are new, we weren't in the system until this weekend. Needless to say, it is a bit nerve racking when you're about to start teaching at a school in a different part of the world and you don't have any idea when you're teaching which courses and how many students you will have. To my pleasant surprise, I'm teaching 4 classes of Sophomore Life Science (mainstream Biology), 1 class of Freshman Physical Science (proficient General Science) and 1 class of Reading (something that every teacher teaches during 2nd period). To my surprised surprise, the rosters for my science classes only had a maximum of 6 students. YES, A MAXIMUM! In fact, my Physical Science class only had TWO students enrolled.
While some of you may be thinking, that is ridiculous and all of you teachers are thinking "what I wouldn't give for a class of 2 students!", it is highly unlikely that it will stay that way. In Samoa, the first few days of school are full of changes. Some students' schedules get changed while other students move up a level. So, as surprised as I was, I knew this wasn't going to be the norm.
At about 8:30, the first bell rang and the students filed into the gym for the opening assembly. The new principal and a few other administrators made speeches, the students received their schedules and, by 9:35, it was off to class.
My first period, two students showed up. One was 10 minutes late. Since it was the first day and there was only two of them, I gave them some paper and crayons (misspelled "Caryons" on the box) and had them make name tags while we talked informally about whatever they wanted (within reason, of course). Although it wasn't the grand, exciting, and super inspiring first class that every teacher dreams of having, I feel like it was a nice way to ease myself into my new situation.
Of course, if first period was easing myself in, second was being thrown to the lions. In all honesty, my 15 (out of 18) Freshman Reading students we're actually pretty good. They were a bit talkative but, seeing as I didn't go over any rules, I can't blame them. Besides, I much preferred them talking, even it wasn't always about the topic being discussed, than them being completely silent. Honestly, I'm very excited about this class. I've always thought about teaching English and this might be a good way to feel it out.
The rest of my science classes went, pretty much, like my first. However, I managed to have three students (YUP! Three whole students...crazy!) 4th period and only one 6th period.
All-in-all, I really can't complain. It was a great day and I'm very excited to see what tomorrow brings...more students...hopefully! Then again, I should probably be careful what I wish for.
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