A little bit of culture

And here is the second post I promised. Its a list of various things that I have learned directly or indirectly throughout the week.

Life fun facts.... 

- they have something call pico y placa to assist with the traffic here. It only exists on week days but according to your license plate, you are only allowed to enter the city on certain days or stay after certain hours. For example, some of the admin had to leave the happy hour early because they had to be out by 5:30. 

- most people wear their engagement ring on their left hand and then they move it to their right hand when they get married. 

- Its a city of contradictions. Lots of greasy, heavy food here yet it is a very health conscious city. Its quite the combination. 

- new fruits that I ate this week: maracuya, granadilla, and cherimoya. and I have a zapote on my countertops that I haven't tried yet. 

- there are rules for every little things-  over 220+ amendments to Colombian law

- laptops have a totally different keyboard. Zoom in and check it out.

School fun facts..... (I'm going to add in some more pictures of the school to beautify this otherwise wordy post)

- Colombia is the country with the second most public holidays. Here they call them puentes. The first one is next Monday. That's right... we are starting the school year off with a holiday.

- name games here can be tough because many students have the same name 

- I'm having an identity crisis... I'm not coach smith anymore. Should I be Ms. Kassie (culturally normal) or Ms. Smith? Let the students pick? 

- All schools are required to have a certain number of instructional minutes per week. This upcoming year, the school has decided to count the 4 minute transition time as instructional time because ,in local schools, teachers change rooms and not the students. Doing this allows them to create nearly an hour long lunch which is a combination of a lunch and an extra help period where kids can go find teachers for help. 

- the school tries to stay current. I have heard ' according to brain research' many many times. They read and try to act on it. (For example, max of 10-15 minute lesson, brain breaks, no extra help after school, etc) 

Many schools come to visit to try to attract the Latino population 

- the companies that parents work for actually choose their vacation time. What this means for the school is that students may be out for a week at a time if they want to have a family vacation that year. 

- School practices 

• generally no points off for late work- there shouldn't be an academic consequence for a behavioral offense 
• no 0s and no missing. They are starting this year to give IE's, meaning insufficient evidence. This aligns with the belief that grades should represent what students can do. Within the next year or two, the plan is to move to standards based grading using a 4 point scale. 

- Roger showed us a very neat website by Geert-Hofstede in order to compare cultures. Some big take aways: 

• Individualism in the Colombian culture is virtually nonexistent. They said many of the students look alike and even the majority choose to wear their uniform everyday. It is a P.E. uniform so they only have to wear it on those days but almost everyone wears it everyday. 
• Students are incredibly protective here of their group. For a teacher, that means never single a kid out or the rest of the class will make life difficult for you. 
• This means it can be hard for a move-in/ new student to the school. 
• It is a typically very competitive culture. Both students and staff are allowed to sell stuff at school. 
• they are much higher than the US in terms of indulgence. What this means is that they know how to chill out, relax, and have a good time. You can typically find people at all hours of the day sitting around, sharing a meal together, etc.

- Students fail years here not courses. You fail and must repeat the whole year if you fail 2.5 classes. 

Outdoor amphiteater 

- Some students come from very wealthy families... we were told that some may get dropped off and have body guards. 

- The school tries very had to keep students there K4-12. They have a foundation that supports families that have fallen on hard times with a scholarship. 

- They have a huge huge HUGE halloween party at the school. You'll of course be seeing some of it later. Think costumes, slip n slide, dance party, party bus, grease pole, etc. 

• Also kids go trick or treating in malls here... not neighborhoods. 

- I will apparently know when Novemeber 30th turns into December 1st. The city lights up in fireworks (that are illegal but it doesn't stop anyone). December is a big party month in celebration of Christmas. The city center does an fantastic job with Christmas lights. Roger said students are often distracted/ tired in December because of the late night/early morning parties. 

Alright, thats it for now. Talk to you next weekend!