Week 1: School daze

Adventure (n): a bold, usually risky undertaking of uncertain outcome.


It wouldn’t be much of adventure if we didn’t hit some bumps along the way. After speaking with the staff we decided to start the kids in the afternoon (English speaking portion) so they could get to know the other children in a more familiar environment. Because of the difference in the school year and their cut-off dates, they recommended placing Zoe in 3rd and JT in 1st grade. From what the kids describe of the lessons, I think this has been a good choice.



Immersion here is different from the model we know and love. The lessons during the English portion are taught in English in the 3rd grade, but focus on teaching English. On the first day Zoë sang and filled in blanks for the song “wheels on the bus”. She laughed about the experience because the kids pronounced the “u” in bus like the Spanish, the teacher used a funny hybrid and Zoë did it correctly.



Zoë is our little rock star. She seems to have befriended some of the girls in her class and I see her chatting with them in the playground. She was a little nervous about starting with the Castellano portion, but after an afternoon guest teacher taught a lesson in Castellano, she felt ready to handle the challenge.


JT has had a much tougher time of it. First, the kids can’t say his name. Then they don’t have enough vocabulary to confidently initiate all but the most basic of conversations, and frankly, neither does he. The other kids are fascinated by him, but confuse him. He didn’t understand why the little girls would come up and say Chi Chi then run away. We explained they couldn’t day his name and they’re playing tag—apparently second in popularity only to “futbol” at recess.


Day one – Zoë had to come in because he was a little sad. Day 2: he complained that the teacher talked in Spanish the whole time even though it was supposed to be English. He had a bit of a meltdown and felt really sad about the whole experience. Day 3 seemed OK after we smoothed some things over with the director and by day 4 he decided (Ok so admittedly some bribery was involved) he’d attend the Castellano portion. We stopped by mid-morning and he wanted to stay. Still he was clearly fried after 4 hours and losing it consistently by the end of the day. I don’t see full days in his future... which puts a little kink into my plans.


I remember how sometimes the second week can be harder—wish us luck



Okay, when's the last time you saw this? You pretty rarely seen the Police around town. Except at 8:30 and 4:30 when the many schools (there must be a dozen in the two square miles that is the suburbs of Bariloche) start and finish. At this time, the police (who look fit enough to excel in other than the 10 yard dash to the Dunkin' Donuts) turn up on their dirty bike (makes sense, right!) They then...(wait for it)...direct traffic for the 10 minutes it takes school to let out, then leave. No stop light required that screws up traffic all day for 20 minutes required effort. Pretty cool!