Little People

Funnily enough this year has been somewhat surrounded, overcome, overtaken if you will, by children, and I realised on this day, the eve of May (it’s not May it’s not May it can’t be May!!)  that I am yet to write a blog post about them.

Dia de Niños

Okay so first observation, they are ridiculously adorable, all of them…some always, others until they open their mouths, but still. Hondurans are a beautiful race and the children with their big beautiful eyes, varied coffee colour skin, and big hearts prove this perfectly. I mean just look,

Juan, the eyes.

Secondly, granted, first graders were always going to be small but Catrachos (Hondurans) are generally a short race which makes me the token giant along with Mr Jake who stands at about 6ft4, as if our pasty complexion and light hair didn’t make us stand out enough as it is!

Rossy, the lovely lovely Rossy,
 of twelfth grade, One of the only
 twelfth graders who is actually younger than me.

Darwin and Edan, twelfth graders who are both older than me.

Their amusement in the simplest things is incredible. How many children at home do you know who would sit and play with rocks outside our house for a good two hours? Would put down their iphones, ipods, ipads and nintendos for a plastic truck with no lights or lasers, to go and play in the rocks and mud? Would stand in our house flicking a lightstwitch, saying ‘tis on’ ‘tis off’ until they had to be physically removed from the wall, simply because they didn’t have electricity in their own house?

Outside our house on our first days

A turtle out of stones

Picture making using rocks

The little little people working on the benches

This kid loves flags

While I have been teaching first grade about flags and different countries we have been looking at pictures on my laptop, some things that they have only seen in cartoons; the pyramids, animals in Kenya, the London eye, and even a field full of sheep in Wales. They come up to my laptop in groups of three and gawk at the beauty of things outside their imagination and it fills my heart with happiness and joy at their excitement. We have also watched Planet Earth, which granted makes people at home go ‘Wooooow’ but these kids, the little monkeys who find it physically impossible to sit still for longer than 4.58 seconds, sat in wonder and watched the dvd for the full 40 minutes. One of my most memorable days! For days after they ran up to me to tell me about the big tree fall down, and little tree and flower grow up. 

the best flag

Frog scinece project

The look of concentration

Stickers! Who knew that such a simple thing would work as a bribe for good behaviour for the entire year? Luckily Project Trust did, and I have benefitted from this wise knowledge every day! In first grade if their behaviour card is in green by my class, then they are in the running for a sticker! Children who used to be little devils sit obediently and quietly, put their hands up to ask questions and answer them, do not run in the classroom (a big deal) all simply because they could get a sticker. The end of my classes consist of tens of “Miss Rachel da sticker?” and a deathly silence as I get out the sticker sheet. Some have admitted that they don’t even breathe as I walk around trying to remember 1. Who has been good, and 2. Who didn’t get one yesterday. The power that stickers award you is priceless!

i-i-indian hats for Thanksgiving

Because they often haven’t seen us enough during the day, children flock to our house, either to ask for help with homework, to swing in the hammock or to play with us. There have been many fierce connect four and draughts wars been played on this floor.

Connect four

Playing football in our hall

Lastly, I would like to say how amazing their English is. Four Twelfth graders have such amazing English that they are going to study in the states. Two of whom have received the Walton scholarship, a full ride; food, accommodation, a living stipend and even flights home every year paid for, because their English is so incredible. Some might say that after 8 years of English education they should be fluent, but let me tell you this, these kids were never formally taught English as we were taught spanish or french in school. They are taught IN English and have to pick up the grammar and language as they go along, which makes their achievements all the more incredible.

Our Nivelacion Class on Saint Patricks Day

First grade, 6 and 7 year olds who, 8 months ago didn’t even know hello and goodbye, can now say full sentences. “Miss Rachel that dog has blue eyes” is one of my most memorable...just think of the grammatical fines that sentences took to form. This is one conversation that I have had over the course of the year,

“Miss Rachel, is God or Gad?”
“Well, when we’re talking both are okay Ana”

“Pero, is it g-g-goat o-o-ostrich or g-g-goat a-a-apple?”
“It’s g-g-goat o-o-ostrich Ana,”

“Pero Mrs Soto says Gad?” (American English)
“Well it’s G-O-D Ana, so you should say God”

“I say Gad”

“God”

“Fine, God”

she then proceeded to do a funny face and mock me as she walked off. A 6 year old!

Ana, said GOD student

Elephants Science Project

I can’t lie; there are days that I would like nothing less than to see a childs face, or hear the teeny tiny voice of one through our door saying ‘Miiiiiiiiss?’ but these days are becoming fewer and further between as our time here comes to an end. The majority of my days now are full of love and adoration for them. Any parent who reads this will feel like I am overacting and that, as an eighteen year old I can never understand the bond of love that exists between a parent and child, but I do, I feel it sometimes. I have seen these small people each and every single day, 9 hours a day for 8 months; I teach them, play with them, learn from them, eat with them, laugh with them, walk home with them, I have even been known to cry with them (when I hurt my leg). Leaving them in the not to distant future is going to be horrendous, even the thought of it is….well there are no words.

Where does Miss Rachel live?

WAAAAAAAAAAALES!

These kids are not just my students, they are sources of amusement, inspiration, amazement and even some days despair, but above all, they are my Honduran family, my little people.

 

With Leandro after the Christmas Play