...with a bona-fide, full-blown, packed teaching curriculum

While I make no promises to avoid the negative attitude that permeated my previous post (example: musing that any serious automobile crashes in the next few days would be a cloud that comes with its own ready-made silver lining in that I'd have an excuse to not go to Honduras as planned), I figure that too much of any one thing will make this blog unreadable. I've already taken this stance in my interpersonal relationships: while I still may be inclined to piss and moan to anybody I talk with, I've determined that if I do that too much (especially considering that I'm bound to repeat myself copiously with a limited number of objections, however strong those may be), no one will want to hang out with me and I risk jeopardizing my friendships, which are one of the major reasons I don't want to leave in the first place. If you're still with me through that babble, I've decided to outline my actual job in Tegucigalpa, as well as some of the preparations I'm doing for it.

I'll be teaching 11th grade English at International School, a Christian Pre-K-12 (I believe there's pre-K, perhaps not) School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is affiliated with ACSI, for those of you interested. It is a bilingual school of around 1000 students, in which most of the subject matter is taught in English with the exception of Español and Estudias Sociales, which make sense (or are nationally mandated) to be taught in Spanish. Everything else is taught by English speakers, primarily North Americans, from what I've gathered.

I will be teaching 11th grade English in a class the structure of which closely resembles an average English class in the States. One interesting feature of the structure, however, is that I meet with each of my 3 groups of students for 45-minute periods, 7 times a week, meaning I will see a given section more than once per day. Each period is devoted to a different strand of English Language Arts: 3-4 periods a week are for reading and dealing with literature (more on that to come); 1-2 per week are devoted to writing skills, mechanics, and the like, much of which will be related to the current reading; 1 period each week will be spent dealing with grammar, vocabulary, usage, and so on (the students, despite having learned mostly in English for 11 years, are not native speakers, not to mention that most American students can always use more of this practice); finally the last remaining period is for practice in speaking and discussion, in preparation for such things as college/scholarship interviews as well as more general public speaking.

I have recieved a lengthy "syllabus" with general guidelines and course objectives for each of these strands, but I think I shall focus merely on the literature strand at this point as I know more specific information is forthcoming once I get down there, not to mention that it's what provides the most interest for the average English teacher, I feel--the books you get to teach generally are the centerpiece of a course, although each aspect is (or should be) equally important. So, here's what I'll be teaching:

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. A true story of Krakauer's participation in an ultimately fatal trek to the top of Mt. Everest. His group reached the summit shortly before an unexpected storm caught several of his companions, including his guides, unawares and resulted in their deaths. Krakauer had been on the expedition to write a magazine article on the commercialization of extreme mountaineering, but ended up with much, much more to say. I had not read this before, and I'm currently reading it - ~50 pages in at the time of writing. It's quite interesting and very discussable, but I'm wondering what sort of objectives should be associated with the book in regards to my students.





The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Taking place in Salem, Massachussets, Hester Prynne is alienated by her fellow townspeople for being an adulteress and is forced to wear a brilliantly colored initial on her clothing at all times. Despite Hawthorne being one of my favorite early American authors, I have never read this. Knowing it's a "classic" taught in many English curricula, I'm eager to finally have an excuse to put it at the top of my "to-read" queue.









Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Yet another ubiquitous English class choice I had not read before, Lord of the Flies tells the story of a couple dozen British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island after...something bad happened. (Golding doesn't care to fill his readers in on backstory, preferring to let them decide for themselves, apparently.) Simultaneously thrilled by the lack of outside adult authority and distressed by the grim, slim chances of rescue, the boys illustrate the inherent flaws in human nature as well as the unsteady footing the concept of civilation constantly stands on. I recently finished this, and was viscerally affected by certain points of the narrative, which says something about the power of the writing, coming from this generally disaffected reader
and viewer. I also appreciate the ability to watch clips from The Simpsons in illustration of the book!




To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One of my favorite books of all time, especially to teach, Harper Lee's only novel (to date, yet most likely ever) displays powerful examples of the Depression-era small-town South, the rampant racism thereof, familial relationships (of both astoundingly good and depressingly bad varieties), growing up, and of course food-related school play costumes. I hope I will get a chance to show at least portions of the nearly-equally-good film, but either way I am eager to revisit the centerpiece of my student teaching experience.








Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Yet another of my favorite authors, Steinbeck creates brilliant characters, including George and Lenny of this particular novel. It's been several years since I read this, but I look forward to exploring the relationship between the sly, smart, perhaps shifty George and the not-all-there, frighteningly strong, kitten-obsessed Lenny as they search for work in early 1900s California.









All right. I've spent far more time on this entry than I intended. I should be reading Into Thin Air as it is, so I will sign off here. Suffice it to say, when I emphasize less the Honduras part and more the teaching part, teaching in Honduras may not look less big and imposing, but it certainly looks more along the lines of what I should be doing. Don't think I'm coming around yet, though.