Back to School

Monday morning had been long overdue. We had been waiting to start the teaching side of things for a while, and finally we were ushered into our new roles as teaching assistants in a flurry of Mexican flag-bearing, lots of clapping, and 850 eager Mexican schoolchildren staring at us in all our pasty, exposed glory. Our baptism of fire was about as hot as they get: Guy and I almost single-handedly led 5 classes, utterly ad-libbed (the British Council would have been proud to call us their protégés), to children who wanted nothing more than to ask us if we had boyfriends/girlfriends/if this is my natural hair colour. The main thing that I inferred from their hesitancy to respond to questions but willingness to follow instructions, was that these children are keen to learn but have not as yet been equipped to acquire a new language, let alone speak English at any real level. The phrase ‘baptism of fire’ is also particularly apt because it was sweat-drippingly sauna-like in that classroom. Nerves and a hot classroom make for a very shiny teacher.

Over the following days things got progressively easier, as I found my feet on a very uneven surface of 3 different ‘grades’, ranging from 11 to 16 years, working with the two different teachers, Alberto and Sergio. I can already see so much promise in these fantastic little people, some of whom really want to show how keen they are and really do want to learn English and communicate with something more than the village they have lived in their whole lives. Zaragoza, where the school is, is a small municipality with a vibrant community life, very much rooted in tradition, with a (sadly) waning indigenous language, Nahuatl, and people with very humble backgrounds working together on the land or in the nearby refinery. The road to get to Zaragoza from Cosoleacaque is riddled with potholes due to the heavy rains, and it really does feel like you’re far away from the corruption of the outside world when you’re there, especially within the breezy walls of the basic but well-formed school. However, after 2 weeks here I’ve still only had 3 working days, and this week I’m set to have none due to bicentenary celebrations and pending immigration affairs.