Teaching at the Liceo Naval

Our teaching is completed. Today, July 26, we met with the English teachers from the Liceo Naval and had a write-around at one of the local coffee shops. (Not to digress, but the locals serve pancakes with maple syrup and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I got pancakes with hot chocolate syrup from a big vat on the counter, the wonderful smell of it immediately giving me permission to forget the low carb thing.) We met with Liceo Naval teachers Veronica, Danielle, Wilson, Sandra, Robert, and Marie Antoinetta, the power behind the principal´s office. Melody opened with asking us to write on ¨What works in your classroom?¨ She had brought journals that she and Janel had made for them as well as some fun classroom things--flash cards with animals and pens. After we had eaten our goodies (including bolon verde which is fried balls of plantain with cheese), we got the conversation going. What a wonderful opportunity to see the similarities among dedicated teachers! The time in teaching spanned Liceo Naval teacher, Robert, with four months to Cynthia´s 35 years. Melody has just retired after 31 years of teaching. We talked about using authentic audiences and experiences, giving students permission to make errors, having professional organizations as resources, using writing as a process, realizing that students need to hear and see information, and using laughter to keep kids relaxed.

Afterwards, we all went out on the Malecon, the boardwalk along the shore, and took pictures of each other. Stay tuned for those pics.