8th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Well its been quite an easy day today but I still feel shattered after the weekend. I wrote a very brief lesson plan in case teacher wasn't in and unpacked one of my bags so I could use it for taking the stuff to school. I walked to the school and the teacher asked whether I had done a lesson plan for teaching jobs. I explained that I was half-way through teaching them it and what I had done with the children in the last two lessons. We discussed what we would focus on today but then we both found out that we had no children to teach today. They were having a sexual education meeting. So I discussed with the teacher what I should do with them on Thursday. I then walked back and twice cowered as dogs came barking up to the fence when I hadn't spotted them. I looked at my lesson plan for tomorrow in case the teacher doesn't go. I am then left to cover her lessons which is quite tricky. I don't really agree with that I should have responsibility for those lessons if the teacher doesn't come to school.

9th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Well today has been busy and some of the children have been badly behaved but it has been a better day as I haven't had sole responsibility for the teaching. I wasn't feeling too good this morning but I thought it was due to bad thoughts of going to school and tiredness so I pushed myself to go. I was pleased when I saw Veronica at the raising of the flag. I am not convinced today that she had a lesson plan as she hadn't much planned for the children. I think she hoped that I had activities for the children to do. I had an idea what to do if she wasn't in but I wasn't going to lead the lesson today as I was supposed to be a Teachers Assistant anyway. I saved my lesson plan for Friday. She photocopied my wordsearch as she didn't realise I had already done it with them. We had the first three lessons and I did a bit by helping write on the board etc. Generally wrote classroom activities on the board.

After lunch we had another 3 classes and I realised I had nothing to feel bad about. The teacher had trouble controlling the classes, she didn't have good lesson plans, she was fluent in Spanish (which I'm not) and she was getting paid for her job. I think she has lost all enthusiasm for the job and to be honest I can't blame her. She is only 3 and a half years older than me. Its no wonder the children act up for me though as they are used to acting up for her. My second lesson of the afternoon I was a little annoyed as she left me with the most disruptive class without saying how long she would be. She said copy the classroom accessories on the board and the children had already copied it out before. I tried to be strict with them and I kept confiscating things off them. I have to be grumpy and strict in that class otherwise they walk all over me. I had heard one of the other teachers in Spanish say use Suzanne and I wondered what it was about. I now know so she could go off somewhere. At break I also had my first taste of mate and it wasn't bad. I was expecting to hate it as I don't like coffee. The teacher also used her mobile phone and answered it in a classroom plus had a sweet. About 6 pupils at least were chewing gum in the lesson. The last lesson I felt quite good in as I was the one helping the pupils with the exercise she had set while she was at the desk. I don't think she cares whether they do the activities or not as long as they are quiet. I can understand that and as a volunteer I almost feel I can't be bothered with the badly behaved children. Problem is you have to otherwise they just disrupt everyone else. I wish the children would realise that I can't split myself in two though. Tonight I had a weird experience with a tiny little beetle like insect- I thought I had developed a spot on my back. I managed to get it off and it was like a tiny little grey beetle that had attached to my skin.

10/05/2012 Posadas, Argentina

Unfortunately I ended up being sick on the way to the school. People probably thought I had been drinking the night before being sick on the street. I think it was the malaria tablet I took just before I left the house. I sat on the little wall surrounding one of plants. When I got up to walk away one of the people in houses asked me whether I needed water and do I need to sit down again. I got to the school and I mentioned it to the teachers so they would know if I left the class what it was. I was surprised that they left me alone with the class today for a lot of lesson even though I had said I had been ill. Eventually they came in-they did sometimes pop in though so that kept the children in a little bit of order. I ended up asking would another teacher read the instructions for my game as the children were either not understanding my Spanish or were purposefully being awkward. I wouldn't try and do this again unless I was fluent. It makes me wonder how people teach in China without Chinese. Some of the girls I am beginning to become a little suspicious of as they pretend to be very nice but then are mischievous. They are a lot easier to deal with than the boys though.

Today I went through flashcards with the children of professions, then I got them doing worksheets and after that played the game where it was like pass the parcel but they didn't really get into it. It was to pass the bag around the class with the images of the professions and when I said stop they had to pick out an image and say one of the professions. Then it was time to go back to the house. I forgot to go to end of morning school tradition. I've realised I've forgotten every Thursday about it. I am not meaning to be disrespectful.

11th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

I didn't feel brilliant when I woke up but I knew this was due more to tiredness, not wanting to go to the school and pre-teaching nerves. I used to not feel well in the morning when I had days sometime at the bank and I was fine. So I trudged my way into the school. I was helped by a person in the office to photocopy and cut the worksheets for the children. I will be glad not to have to keep spending money on photocopies too. They were celebrating their National Anthem today so the morning meeting went on a bit longer so I had a bit less time with the pupils in my first lesson. It was quite nice to watch the raising of the flag and the singing of the Argentinian National Anthem. I followed the lead of the PE teachers next to me of when to clap and when not to.

The first lesson they then had to have milk so all I really did with them was did some flashcards with them and then got them to fill in the worksheet. The second class was probably my favourite class that I taught today. It was a bit difficult playing the word tennis game with them as it was too difficult to try and keep score as everyone was shouting out. I then did some practice of flashcards with them. I then got them to do the worksheet and then I got them playing pass the parcel with the flashcards. They got quite into it. I then got them playing Chinese Whispers. I had some teachers or I think they were student teachers at the back of the room in second class which was useful.

The third class this time I had a teacher at the back of the room which was nice as I usually don't have one in that lesson. When they played Chinese whispers though I read out the instructions but they didn't get it so one of the students read it and told everyone to form a line. Luckily it was only 5 minutes till the end of class. They played pass the parcel as well. I tried the game word tennis with them again which was a problem again to do and keep score. They ran out of words quickly that they knew so they had to have a bit of a look in my dictionary as they asked me what the English word for toad in Spanish was. I didn't have a clue. One of the teachers was telling me I would be better teaching English in a secondary school or institute. Of course I know that now but I thought my Spanish would be good enough for it after 6 months. A secondary school would be awful though. What I need is smaller classes and other teachers involved in the lesson. Some classes actually work with the other teachers. Badly behaved children are bad enough when you can speak their language. I then went to the garage to get a sandwich, chocolate and coke which I ate in the staff room.

My next class I had a teacher in so it was fine. I tried the word tennis, then the flashcards then the worksheet and then the pass the parcel game. They didn't really get into it. All the classes have got very bad pronunciation in English as the teacher just gets them to copy notes off the board from what I can gather. The next class I had the teacher but I didn't dare try and do games with that class as there is too many disruptive students- passing the bag would have gone awful with them. I couldn't do the word tennis with them so just got them thinking about different words. I went round them individually getting them to pronounce the words. The teacher let them go out early but another teacher sent them back in so I got lumbered with them again for another five minutes. I may have had more of a chance with them if they hadn't gone out and then come back. I was quite glad to get rid of them early.

Little did I know my worst class was to come. I spent nearly the whole last lesson shouting in Spanish. I was getting a sore voice and a headache by the end of the lesson. First they were having milk and then the teacher left me. I had to have eyes in my back of my head. I first tried to do the word tennis game but they all started making their own teams and I knew chances are I then had the naughty kids together so I said if they choose their own teams we weren't playing. So that fell on its knees so the word tennis I had to work individually with. I then did flashcards with them then I had to write on the board the words in English and get them to fill in the worksheets. I had things being thrown around the classroom, people trying to pinch chalk and other people pretending to be good when they weren't. It was a nightmare again and only be able to say silence, sit etc is not very effective. I threatened to get another teacher but when they carried on I only had 5 mins left of lesson. Next week I am not standing for it. I will go for another teacher as I am only volunteering I am not a teacher. I then watched the flag come down and said goodbye to the pupils. Next week it will be for the final time. I walked home and had the dogs barking at me along our street again.

12th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

I did some organisational things today and went out for lunch with Elizabeth just round the corner from me.

13th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

I walked down to the town to meet Elizabeth and have lunch. I realised walking down that it was a little breezy and my thought on that was why do I always decide to wear a dress when its windy. On saying that I didn't have much choice on what to wear today as most of my clothes were drying in the garage from yesterday. I managed to find my way without the map with a few wrong turns but it did make me later than I should have been.

We got the bus to Apostoles which took about an hour and 15 minutes. We then had to get a taxi to Juan Szychowski museum which is a 35 peso taxi ride away from Apostoles. We managed to arrange with the taxi driver to return at 5:00 as he was asking do we want him to wait for us. I didn't want to do that otherwise it would cost us a fortune in taxi fares. The museum turned out to be free. I thought they would expect a tip but when I tried to give them one they refused. We got mate to drink on the way round. At first I thought that is nice but after sipping for a while it began to make me feel quite sick so I stopped. It was a bit of a mechanical museum so at times it was difficult to hear what was going on with all the machines racket. We saw the water turbine work. We then watched a film on the production of the mate now and in past times. It was surprising that it employed 200 people even with all the machines. We then spent a pleasant time in the café chatting in Spanish with the people from the museum while drinking peach tea. Our taxi then arrived we got on the taxi and then got a bus back to Posadas. We got a taxi back to the houses.

14th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Well I regretted my decision this morning to work in the refuge today when I had to get up at 6:30am. As soon as we entered the refuge all the kids were hugging me. I saw Maria whose head had been shaved due to lice and Elizabeth says she has hardly saw her over the last week and she has been grumpy. We took 7 of them to the park. Little 2 year old Arry is very sweet and I would like to take her home with me before the others teach her how to fight. The children aren't really given much guidance in the refuge so as we were walking to the park they were pinching old slates off the street and climbing cut down trees. Arry held my hand for most of the way there and struggled with some of the larger steps up and down. I don't think its fair that Elizabeth should have sole responsibility for those kids when I'm not there. Its fine normally but if there was an emergency with the kids she is close to the home but not that close. She also has got the language problems like I have in the school. One of the kids (11 years old) walked back to the refuge without telling us so Elizabeth had to walk back to check he was there. I kept an eye on the others- one I thought was walking back when he went out of eyesight so I had to run after him. She came back with Matilda and Maria. We played with the kids pushing them on the swings and playing on the sea-saws with them. The sea-saws were quite hard due to the weight differences. Maria was on with Arry. I had Matilda on with me and then Mickaela was lying in the middle of sea-saw. It was quite hard to just keep the sea-saw bouncing using muscles that I don't usually used. Then there was just Matilda and Arry on it while me and Maria controlled the motion of the sea-saw by pulling it up and down. At 11 we had to persuade all of them to go back to refuge for them to get ready for school.

We then saw Walter and Danny again back at the refuge and the children looked at books. Amazing no-one began ripping the books up. I suddenly noticed Elizabeth looking at me weird and I thought there must be a wasp or something next to me. She thought she could see lice on me and we began to look for somewhere where she could check me over. There wasn't really any hygienic place to go. I would also like to be able to take Maria out of that environment. She thought I was coming to her school as I was volunteering in a school. I had to explain to her that me and Elizabeth needed to go to our houses. We got on the bus and we were examining each other for lice. People on the bus must have thought we were very odd. I said maybe we should do it when we get back to the houses. In the end we came to the conclusion that neither of us had lice at the moment. Saw Coco (beautiful little white dog maybe a poodle) who is also known as Coco loco in Elizabeth's hosts house. He is very sweet even if he does wee in Elizabeth's shower. He stands up on his hind legs to see you with his body straight upwards and his paws turned outwards. We then went out for lunch.

15th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Luckily I had a look to see what I could do if the teacher wasn't in. I went through the Simpsons sheets and made sure I had past lesson plans in. I also thought that I could play bingo with them but on the way to the school I realised I hadn't put in the pencil case to pick out the words by random. When I arrived the teacher wasn't in so I just had to make a few extra copies of the Simpson sheets. A little annoying that I am covering for a teacher and even then I still have to pay for photocopies. I first tried to play a game with them but it didn't work. I had three groups and the point of the game was to say 7 words related to a topic before the object that was being passed around returned to you. It didn't really work as I couldn't keep an eye on all the groups at the same time. Even with the other teacher at the back of the room they still weren't playing the game. In the end I gave them the Simpsons sheets and they were better doing them. I said thank you to the teacher sitting at the back and apologised after the class. She said how terrible it is that situation when you have to cover another teacher. She had a similar experience. This time I remembered to go to end of morning school assembly. One pupil said hello to me when we were walking out of the school and I said quite loudly hello back then a teacher behind said shhh not to me but in general. I didn't know they weren't supposed to talk on the way out of the school. It was nice walking home, I was in a world of my own and I heard a pupil when I was closer to the house than the school say "hello teacher".

16th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Well I am glad that my final day is done of teaching with Veronica. I've lost my faith and respect in her. I feel that takes quite a bit for me to say about a teacher. However, Veronica didn't train as a teacher. When I walked to the school I was relieved to see Veronica there. She was standing outside the staff room with the teachers and one of the teachers got me to go and speak with the headmistress. All it was about was whether I wanted to go on a school trip with them in the morning. It was quite interesting to compare school trips in England to Argentina. This was a lot more disorganized. On the morning of the trip they were still discussing what bus they needed to get. We walked down a road (which were a bit of a dirt track) to catch the public bus. The children weren't walking right at the edge of the road like they would be in England. When I got to the bus they hadn't told me where I was going or what it was going to cost. One of the boys from the school gave up his seat for me and I wasn't sure whether I should be accepting or not. It was nice to get a seat though and the other teacher told me to sit down. I didn't really do anything to help the teachers, I probably felt like another pupil to them but no-one had really told me what I should be doing or which class I was helping with etc. They then got to the institute and there were 4 people leading the session so again just sat or stood at the back. We walked around a museum part of the institute and then went back for a class session. After the session I talked to Veronica about what I was doing Friday with the children. She then asked me and what about this afternoon. To that I answered I don't know. If she hadn't been in I would have done Friday's class for Wednesday. Today I feel its her class. She is the teacher and I am supposed to be the Teachers Assistant. We then got a bus back to Posadas. This time I was standing up on the bus.

I then went to the garage and got a sandwich, coke and chocolate. I find Veronica doesn't have things sorted out before the lesson and is doing like the cutting up of worksheets for each student in the lesson. She gave me material to work with but she basically did nothing to help me or the pupils. She may have helped a little in the first lesson. She just sat there at her desk marking other work. One of the students gave her some work to look at and she indicated to the student to give it to me. The first class did some work on school equipment, the second class did some work on feelings and the last class school equipment again. She was 20 minutes short for the last lesson of work to do and she just left the children to their own devices. I said should I write some words on the board and she said nope its fine. Well the children were fighting. She just sat with her back to the class. I felt it wasn't really my problem. I almost wanted something to happen just to prove more what Veronica was like. I felt sorry for another teacher when she came in and had to stop the fighting. We then went to lowering of flag. I realised that I may not be a good teacher but I am just as good as Veronica and she is getting paid for it. I would always try and do something with the children in 20 minutes. Very glad I don't have to be a teacher assistant again for her. She is lazy, can't be bothered and has lost all motivation with teaching. I walked back to the house and I did have a chat to veronica (co-ordinator) about Veronica (the teacher) saying that I was quite disgusted about it.

17th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

I was annoyed when I got to the school as I didn't have a lesson to teach. The children were having another sexual education talk instead. Walking in doesn't really bother me but the time doing my lesson plan and worksheets last night did plus the price of getting photocopies done. After having lunch, spending sometime in the house I then walked to the square and took photographs of Posadas. A street seller saw me taking photographs so came up trying to sell his things. I then walked to the photocopy shop in town to get photocopies for tomorrow. On way back walking I went in a bookshop to see whether I could get the first Harry Potter book or a simple book in Spanish. I failed but I talked to the shop assistant a little. After dinner I spent the rest of night sorting out paperwork, finishing the rest of my packing off and putting all the spare photocopies together that I hadn't used. I also did notes for the teachers so they would know (if they ever get to read them) what I had taught the children.

18th May 2012 Posadas, Argentina

Well I didn't sleep too well last night but it was my last day of teaching at the school today. I am not as anxious now as I was when I first began teaching. Today was the Dia de Marscapela so the children did a longer assembly so my first lesson was very short. Again it was nice to see this the culture of Argentina, the singing of the national anthem and the state anthem (Misiones). It did seem very similar to last weeks though. My first class I gave them the wordsearch of weather and seasons to do. A lot of them seemed to quite enjoy doing that and it kept them quiet. I realised that they hadn't had their milk so I asked some of the students that I trust whether they usually take milk in the morning. One of them offered to come and get the milk with me. I knew it was probably really to get out of doing the wordsearch but I was grateful for the help as I presumed it was from the kitchen but I didn't know.

My second lesson they first played bingo, then I looked at flashcards of seasons and weather for them. Ideally my flashcards could have done with being bigger as really I needed to do the flashcards in small groups so they could see them. This is what I attempted to do but it was difficult as while I was teaching others, others in the class would become louder. I've just realised I could have gone round individually while they were actually doing the wordsearch. I had some trouble with two of the girls messing around and giggling. As they finished the wordsearch early and I could sense the lesson becoming out of hand so I got them to write down the words for clothes. I think at the back of the room are students training to become teachers and they stepped in to get the children disciplined to do it.

My third lesson I tried to teach them family words with the Simpsons sheets. I then used the worksheet for clothes to get them to write the English word underneath the picture. It is a problem in that class when some finish earlier than the others. I feel quite sorry for some of the others as they hadn't finished but I got them doing the clothes sheet due to others becoming disruptive. I wish I could just tell them to do some work for another class when they finish. That class I didn't have a teacher with me so that made it harder. It ended up running a bit late due to the class not getting on with their work. I was quite glad to get out of that lesson as I was feeling tired.

They were supposed to be doing an announcement to say it was my last day today but they never did so most of the students didn't know it was my last day. I managed to tell some of them individually. I had two of the staff (headmistress Graciela and Christina) trying to say goodbye to me at lunchtime and I had to explain that I was only go out to get my lunch and I was supposed to be returning in the afternoon to teach again.

Again my fourth lesson was short due to the extended assembly. One of the classes did a good puppet show so that made it more interesting. As usual parents dogs were in the hallway with them walking around while the children did the assembly. My fourth lesson went ok- I played bingo and did the wordsearch with them. I think some of the classes are longer than others even on a a normal day. One girl decided she didn't want to work any longer but she wasn't being disruptive she was just drawing on her folder. I tried to get her to go back to doing her work but she had hid it somewhere. In the end I just left her to it and then she began colouring her worksheet from the other day. My fifth lesson went ok and most of them did some work in it which is always an achievement. I played bingo with them, I showed them flashcards of seasons and weather then they did the wordsearch. I don't think any of them copied the words down that I had put on the board for clothes in case they finished very early. At break I got some photographs of the school grounds and some pupils and teachers. My sixth lesson went well. I like that class when the teacher is with me but when she is not it is probably my worst class. 5th and 6th class competed for the worst class for me. I played bingo with them, showed them flashcards and got them doing the wordsearch. They then took the flag down at the end of the day and no announcement was made that it was my last day. Most of the students don't realise that it was my last day. I only really got to say goodbye to Christina in the office as I gave her papers to give to the other teachers saying what I had done with the children and gave her spare copies. They will probably end up just throwing them away knowing the school but you never know they might get them. I was a little disappointed that I don't think any of the teachers thanked me for teaching the children voluntary. Ok I know I needed the teachers in the room most of the time but I did do lessons that otherwise one of them would have had to lead.

I then began the walk back to the house when I remembered that I needed to get thank you chocolates for Veronica and Marcelo. I moved all my bags out of my room and then walked to the tenpin bowling place. I was surprised with the tenpin bowling place I thought it would be heaving on a Friday night but it wasn't. They only had about six tenpin bowling lanes and we had no trouble getting on one at 9:00. We also made the comparison that usually at home the children would be in bed at 10:00. Elizabeth won the game and then we had a drink at the bar. I was that busy discussing with Elizabeth how to get us back home that we forgot to pay so the waiter came hurrying out behind us. I felt so bad forgetting. I don't think I've ever done that before. On saying that it was probably obvious that we just forgot as we would have been quieter going out otherwise.