First Day of Teaching in Beja!

Monday, 27 September 2010

Thought for the day: “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” Walt Whitman

The day begins with marmalade (a Portuguese word), morning chatter, meeting. Off to library to meet teachers. Leonard and I go to Dom Manuel H.S. with Maria João, get schedule. In first class, we are supposed to talk about teenagers back in the 1950s and teenagers today. Rehearsed some memories over lunch about life in the 50’s—much laughter.

Then Leonard and I went to teach our 2:30 class with Maria João. Each of us spoke briefly about the categories on Senhora Joao’s handout which included entertainment, dreams and anxieties, signs of rebellion, fashions and styles of American teens in the 50’s and early 60’s. Students very polite though, as expected, hesitant to speak English. One boy asked me if I went to Woodstock, (answer: no) another about what women did back then if they didn’t go to college. Teacher made valiant efforts to elicit feedback from students about what they learned and assigned a composition topic for homework that asked them to summarize what Leonard and I said. It would be fun to read them, but we won’t get a chance.

Meeting; language, culture lesson, dinner, bed…

Barbara