Day Two in Beja

Feeling more familiar with our school, we started our second day. Now they are ready for us, and we are ready for them. Funny how much they are like our students at home. The smile, the laugh, and so open to anything—that distracts them from their regular day! Nothing like having someone new in your class.

I feel humble when I realize these children know more English than I know Portuguese. I’m not sure who is going to grow the greatest from this experience—the children or me! After lunch we had our library time—thinking that it might be a bit lonely. That didn’t last. Before we know it we were surrounded with students eager to talk, listen and help us with our visitor’s map. We let them circle anything of interest as long as they talked to us. Needles to say, we have a map filled with a lot of circled museums, churches, etc.

Each day has been a bit like unwrapping a surprising package. We ask ourselves will today’s present be a treasured gift or unsatisfactory?

WORDS OF THE DAY: Anna Paula (teacher at Santa Maria) “How wonderful it is to be a teacher and to share knowledge and tenderness.”

Team Six's First Day

With wide open eyes we observed the white washed buildings, the mosaic like cobblestones and the blue tiles on the walls. We settled into our various rooms in the immaculate Residencial Bejense. The afternoon was filled with organizational meetings. Bonding has begun! Several of us went to a catholic church for a real local experience. The day ended with a family style dinner at the Tem Averdios. An evening walk for some of us helped to digest the food and the newness of our locale.

Due to a high dropout rate and relative low achievement of students, Portugal has revised the way teacher are evaluated. In addition, they are required to be more competitive to earn higher ratings and promotions—and one teacher called it the end of cooperation and the beginnings of “cannibalism”. Paula, the representative of our host, said there were many teachers who retired early due to the changes and that out of 150,000 teachers, 120,000 attended an anti government demonstration. More observations, more committee work, more time at school equal a great deal of tension at our schools.