First day of school! Officially a teacher...

Hafa adai!

Just finished my first day of "real" teaching :)

I have three classes of Spanish-1 students. Today we went over the syllabus and class rules, I had them take a survey, and we learned about the teacher, classroom objects, how to say "what's your name? My name is..." and "What language do you speak? I speak...".

I was happy to hear students in the halls after class sharing what they learned to their friends! I even went into the bathroom and heard through the window to the parking lot that students were saying "Como te llamas" and "que idioma hablas?". That was exciting -- usually students don't go tell their friends about what they learned unless they really liked it. A good sign...

Today we started school by going up to the baseball field and Miss Sharlene (principal) introduced all the teachers, class reps, etc. The seniors all showed up (as tradition) in their cars honking and playing loud music, driving onto the field to arrive for the school year. It was fun to see how excited they were to become seniors. I'm also a 9th grade advisor (homeroom), so I met them and they seemed shy, for their first day of high school.

On the survey I gave the 27 students today (not all were there, I should have about 40 total but many were getting their schedules fixed), about 24 speak some level of Chamorro, the local language. Most have an advanced or fluent level. About 9 speak Tagalog and other languages of the Philippines, while there are a couple who speak Bangladesh, Palau, and others who know a little Japanese. About 1/3 have internet access at home, and most replied that after high school they would joined the armed forces. There is a strong junior ROTC leadership program at the school. Others said the wanted to get PHDs or Masters degrees, or just go to university to become nurses, teachers, mechanics, police enforcement officers, and one said landscaping.

After school, many said they worked either a real job or just at home. There is a group of boys who skateboard, about 6 in my classes play guitar (reggae or rock), and many said they play sports or exercise in their free time (lift weights, run, swim, baseball).

Last year of the 36 seniors, they had 6 teen pregnancies. We have 2 students coming in this year pregnant. On the island there are high levels of diabetes and gout, and other nutritional illnesses as people eat canned food and junk food, although there are vegetables on the island.

School is from 8-3. I arrive 7:30, planning period 8-9:20, 9:30-10 is homeroom exercise ("health and wellness"), 10:05-11:25 is 2nd period Spanish, lunch is 11:30-12:15, 3rd is 12:15-1:35, 4th is 1:40-3.

It was a good day, and I'm excited to go back tomorrow.