teaching haikus

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I spent last week in Jinotega, teaching English classes in their huge public high school. I taught 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, with an average class size of about 55 students. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. It was especially hard because I was still getting over the last of my dengue fever, so I was really weak and tired, which made it difficult to plan creative and innovative lessons. However, I did it, and I felt very empowered as a result.
We came back to our training towns on Friday and we've been back to work with Spanish classes, technical sessions, our grupo de jóvenes, and co-teaching.
Today I co-taught my first class in my training town. It was a lesson on reading and writing to a class of 10th graders, and I taught them how to write haikus in English. The current topic is Natural Disasters, so I gave them descriptive vocabulary and had them write poems that describe one of the disasters (hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, tsunami, Earthquake, etc...) It was a tough class, as I knew it would be because teaching reading and writing is challenging in any language.
My grupo de jóvenes has been especially challenging too. Last night we had a meeting scheduled at 6:00 pm, as usual, and no one showed up. It seems like our chavalos like to show up for our meetings to play games and do dinámicas with us, but when it comes to actually working on their community project, they lose interest. The community project is to create a manual of useful English phrases for the local artisans and shop owners who sell to gringo tourists. When we give them simple homework assignments, they blow them off. Last night, Kellie and Megan and I waited until 6:30 and we went home. I don't know whether the project will get done or not, but we only have a couple of weeks left in this town, so I guess we'll see.
On a more exciting note, site assignment is tomorrow! Peace Corps is finally going to tell us where we'll be living for the next two years, so I'll email you all this weekend to tell you the exciting news. Next week is our site visit, so I will be spending five days in my site, getting to know my counterparts and my (potential) new host family. After that, swearing-in is only two weeks away...
Oh yeah, and I feel a lot better. The dengue effects are pretty much gone. I am able to walk again in the mornings and do my yoga workouts. Today I went and ran some steps (like bleachers) and did a good 45 minutes of yoga before my bucket bath and Spanish class.
And my Spanish has increased by two levels, putting me at Intermediate-Mid-Strong. But I'm going to keep learning. In two years, I'll talk like a Nica!
Ok, well I love you all. Thanks for the stickers, Joy! And thanks for the letters, Dad.