Teaching at 11,000 feet

Fiona goes back to school

After almost missing the bus a second time, we had a journey of 3 bad films, chicken and rice and one game of bingo. After seven hours we arrived at Huancayo where James and I would be spending the next two weeks at a school. Huancayo stands at almost 3,300m (11,000 feet). It is not a rich place and most of the buildings are ugly concrete boxes. The city is surrounded by mountains and almost at any point in the city you can see the green hills, to remind you that there is something beyond the concrete.

We were met at the bus station by Mari, the wife of the school’s owner Tino. Mari got us safely into a taxi and we hadn’t driven 10 yards before a policeman stopped the taxi and discovered he had no license. We then had to get out and find another taxi (no idea if he had a license or not) to take us to our house. Tino is the man who started the mountain school. He is a world-renowned weaver (his weavings look like photographs they are so accurate) who has spent time in the US and Europe. However, he decided to invest his fortune and time into building the mountain school for under privileged children in Huancayo. The children who live in the hills in Huancayo are very poor, many of them suffer abuse, some have fathers in prison or parents who are alcoholics, some are orphans, and the majority of them work in the farms. Tino decided to open the school for these children, who would otherwise have no chance of an education. He is such a kind and caring man and it was a privilege to live with him and his family, even for such a short time.

There were four other volunteers at the school when we arrived; Emil and Ylva from Iceland, Lauren from Canada, and Amy from the US. They showed us the supermarket in town (which is like a Tesco Extra! No joke) and told us roughly how the school works. The next morning, Amy was sick and so James and I were sent to cover her lessons at a different school in a nearby town. Off we went in a taxi, not really knowing what to expect, or what to do!

The school was on a square and consisted of a couple of empty halls. The room we were directed to was a mezzanine directly above a conference that was going on, there was lots of music from below, not a great learning environment. The room had some chairs against the walls and a small table. There was not even a blackboard. What were we going to do? Very soon, the kids turned up. They were well dressed and quiet, carrying books and pens. There were only four of them and we soon learnt that their names were Nikolas (11), Karioska (11), Paola (9) and another little girl whose name I couldn’t catch (8). They showed us their books so we could get an idea of what they had been studying. We then improvised an hour and a half lesson with only some paper and a pen. It was so much fun!

Firstly we played bingo. James made the bingo cards and we had a shiny one pound coin as the prize. It was very sought after! Unfortunately, all four children shouted bingo at the same time. There is obviously a technique to making bingo cards (that James doesn’t have). We then learnt parts of the body and sang “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, we looked at a picture of the world (according to James, should I be worried that as a pilot, his world looks quite different from the real thing?), and also played a game of bingo in which only one person won. It had been an exhausting introduction to teaching.

That afternoon we headed to the mountain school for lessons. A small bus named Petra took us up the hill. The bus is the perfect size for small Peruvians but James and Emil were like giants, and people stared at them as though they were aliens. The further you go from town and the higher into the hills, the poorer the communities are, and the worse the roads become. Off the bus, we jumped a stream (which we would be jumping every day) and headed up a dirt track to the school.

Dirt track to the school

Walking up the dirt track, you see little children emerging from everywhere, they squeeze out of doors, appear round corners, and race toward the track screaming “Teach, teach! Miss, miss! They then race up to you, reach up their arms and put their dirty little faces up to yours and give you a kiss. This is normally accompanied by “Good afternoon Miss” (always Miss for girls and Teach for boys). It is the sweetest welcome I think I have ever had, and I loved it every morning and afternoon.

Heidi and Jose-Luis on their way to school (with a pig!)

At class that afternoon, I shared a class of kindergarten children with Lauren. They were between 2 and 5 years old, and were adorable and terrible at the same time. After my first day teaching, I was both excited and nervous about going it alone the next day. I was going to have the kindergarten class in the morning.

Finding our feet at school

When we arrived and had been kissed by about thirty grubby faces we went to our individual classes. I stood at the front of class and was faced with six expectant little children, all fidgeting and rocking on their chairs. It was daunting, but after only a few minutes I was really enjoying myself. It was so sweet and rewarding to have the kids shouting English out at me, and they were each really pleased with themselves when they got something right. Towards the end of class they would become restless, and so I learnt that for the second class in the morning I had to teach something particularly fun to keep their attention. After a few days, James joined me for my morning class, and I had afternoon class alone. Our schedule went something like this:

8am Breakfast with the volunteers
8.30am Lesson preparations including trip to the photocopy shop
9.10am Take the Petra bus to school and get lots of kisses
9.30-11am Morning lesson with various Kindergarten children. Colours, numbers, animals, songs, games and the hungry caterpillar book
11am Play with the kids, get lots of goodbye kisses and take the Petra bus home
1pm Huge lunch with the volunteers followed by free time and lesson planning
3.10pm Take the Petra bus to school and get lots of kisses
3.30-5pm Afternoon lessons with my regular class of Yeni (6), Fredi (10), Nando (10), Alison (6), Edelinda (6), Dafne (10) and Diana (7). Colours, numbers, days, months, songs, word searches, snakes and ladders.
5pm Play with the kids, get lots of goodbye kisses and take the Petra bus home
5.30pm James and I have a Spanish lesson with Tino’s neice
7pm Dinner with the volunteers and freetime

We became really used to our schedule, and although we were only actually teaching for a few hours each day, it was exhausting. Keeping a bunch of very young children entertained for the duration of class was very tiring and took a lot of energy, but it was so rewarding. I began to really look forward to classes and seeing those expectant little faces, and the children racing towards you for a kiss and class.

The Top 5

I know you are not supposed to have favourites as a teacher, but I just couldn’t help myself. As in my last teaching position, the criteria for being my favourite are threefold: male, mischievous and cute. Although one little princess did win me over and she was neither male nor mischievous. So here’s my top five:

Number five - Jose-Luis
This little four year old in my morning class was never without a smile (although sadly he had very bad decay in his teeth and clearly never brushed them). He was normally able to stay focused for about the first twenty minutes of class, before his mind and body would start wandering. He was often one of the first to race over to you on the walk up the track to school and he liked to hold your hand on the way to and from school.

Number four – Rubinho
Rubinho was a very clever little boy who was sometimes too shy to raise his voice and show how clever he was. Supposedly he had been in class with his older sister for a long time and had only just gone it alone when she moved to an older class, this meant that he was left to fend for himself. He was happier working on his own and whispering answers to questions in your ear, rather than in front of the whole class.

Number three – Edelinda
Edelinda (pronounced Yedalinda) was the cutest little girl in my afternoon class, she always wore a little sunhat and layers of clothes, despite the heat. She was studious, and despite being only 6 years old, she was able to copy down words and would take exercises home to complete. She was very shy and I would have to get very close to her to hear her answer a question, and if she needed help she would look at me with pleading eyes rather than shout like the others. Towards the end of school she would always come up to me and say that she had to leave at 5pm, and could I please tell her when it was 5pm, she would then come up to me repeatedly and ask “Is it 5 yet?” I have no idea why she had to be so prompt in leaving. She was a conscientious little angel.

Angel in pink

Number two – Nando

Nando was a real character from my afternoon class. He was 10 years old but the size of a boy half his age, and he worked the fields with his family when he wasn’t at school. At weekends I sometimes saw him herding cattle and he wore the same clothes to school as he wore in the fields; wellington boots, tatty corduroy trousers with a broken fly (which he was constantly trying to do up), a dirty woolen jumper and a coat. (Just to note, it wasn’t just Nando, most of the kids wore the same clothes to school day after day). One day we were able to give all the children presents (courtesy of a past volunteer from the US) and I decided to give Nando a pair of shorts and a toy, he seemed very happy, and like all the other children he turned up in his new outfit the next day. Nando was intelligent and fiercely competitive, he never won a game of snakes and ladders (the kids favourite) but he put a lot of effort into every throw of the dice and it killed him to lose.

Nando enjoying breaktime

Number one – Angelo
Angelo was a tiny boy in my kindergarten class. He was no angel, but he was very intelligent, energetic, and competitive. Normally, as soon as I pulled out the flash cards at the beginning of class (they had colours and shapes on them), there would be a group chant of “No! no miss!” However I soon came up with a game with the flashcards which had the kids jumping off their seats and Angelo was particulary enthusiastic. I would hold up the card, for instance ‘yellow’, and the first kid to shout out the right word would get given the card, to build up a collection. Such a simple game, but the little ones were so competitive that they would be leaping out of there chairs shouting colours and shapes at the top of their voice. And Angelo was the best, his little eyes would shine as he shouted at the top of his voice, and he always won. I also loved the way he would check with us for everything, he would never commit a crayon to paper without checking with us that it was the right colour.

Like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth

Summary

When it came to my last day at the school I tried to pay particular attention to all the kids, how happy they were; how tangled their hair was, how nicely they played together. I wanted to remember them all, because they were such great kids. After play time, it was time for us to go, I shouted goodbye to them and like every day they would run and kiss you goodbye saying “Bye miss!” into your ear. I tried not to, but I couldn’t help myself and I cried. The likelihood is that I will never see them again and the likelihood is also that they will continue to live in poverty. A few lucky ones may make it down the mountain (and up the social class), but most will work in the fields, like their parents, they will have too many children for too small a house, and their own children will grow up in torn clothes, with decaying teeth, and fleas. I think that is what made me feel so sad on that last day. But one thing I am sure of, however poor the children at the mountain school are, and however poor their own children are destined to be, they will always have a smile on their faces and kindness in their hearts.

Thank you so much to Tino and his family (Mari, Leslie, Angela and Pilar) for an amazing stay in Huancayo, and thank you to the children at the mountain school who taught me more then I could ever have taught them.

Extra memories

Take a look at this amusing video of Zafira eating God knows what and following the "three second rule". Also a few other photos

Zafira and the three second rule

Angelo and Jose-Luis - little hustlers

Heidi on the swings