I don’t know if I would rather be a teacher here in Belize or in the United States. They are two completely different styles. Here it is more direct instruction with limited supplies. At home I have everything I could imagine needing but we are missing the basics. What if we no longer had technology? Most of our students in the United States would be lost because they learned to rely on computers and calculators. I think that it is a great experience to teach abroad so that you grow as a teacher. You must realize that there is more to teaching and that many different styles that work for students. My students here in San Pedro keep saying “Teacher, teacher, I am tired. Can we take notes now”? Which I think is funny because I would never hear that sentence uttered from a student back home. I love being here and I love that it is a different culture and atmosphere. I don’t think that you can say one is better than the other. The students are learning both here and at home, it is just completely different. It has be difficult not having unlimited use of the copier and printers. Everything must be hand-made and paid out of pocket because the school doesn’t provide it.
I also think it is funny that the students are allowed to walk home for lunch and are given the responsibility to come back to school. At home I don’t think many students would come back. If you give them an assignment that they need posters, crayons, or supplies you can just send them to the store or home to retrieve it. Haha. That would be a joke back home. I think they just have more responsibility here. Which I feel like our students are sometimes lacking in the United States. Another thing that is different is that the students are not as creative here. When I try to do an art project or journal write they don’t get that they have to use their imagination and create their own thing.
If I could give the school here one thing I think it would be sports equipment because they have PE once a week but they have no balls to play with so they use soda bottles or pretend. It is very difficult to teach a PE lesson without balls. How do I teach dribbling? I can show them the hand motion but that doesn’t guarantee that they will learn to dribble or that the ball will even touch their hand. But, all in all I love both places! I think here you just have to be more flexible and work at their speed and teach the way that is best for them.
I also think it is funny that the students are allowed to walk home for lunch and are given the responsibility to come back to school. At home I don’t think many students would come back. If you give them an assignment that they need posters, crayons, or supplies you can just send them to the store or home to retrieve it. Haha. That would be a joke back home. I think they just have more responsibility here. Which I feel like our students are sometimes lacking in the United States. Another thing that is different is that the students are not as creative here. When I try to do an art project or journal write they don’t get that they have to use their imagination and create their own thing.
If I could give the school here one thing I think it would be sports equipment because they have PE once a week but they have no balls to play with so they use soda bottles or pretend. It is very difficult to teach a PE lesson without balls. How do I teach dribbling? I can show them the hand motion but that doesn’t guarantee that they will learn to dribble or that the ball will even touch their hand. But, all in all I love both places! I think here you just have to be more flexible and work at their speed and teach the way that is best for them.
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