First post as a teacher in Washington DC

I am now teaching at Carlos Rosario International Charter School. It is a very exciting opportunity. My students are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Togo, The Republic of Guinea, Morocco, and Vietnam. They are men and women aged 22 to 69 with a wide range of life stories and educational backgrounds. They are wonderful people and wonderful students.
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I found Pacaya (a kind of palm flower, not a volcano) at the International Food Mart. This is a traditional food in Guatemala. The cashier was from Mexico and she said she had no idea how to prepare them, “We don’t eat those”, she said but then she pointed out another cashier, “She’s from Guatemala…” This second cashier was more than happy to explain to me how to cook them and considering her enthusiasm for one of her national dishes, I was compelled to buy a jar- partly out of curiosity, and partly to show my interest in and appreciation of the cashier’s culture. Now I have a jar of pacaya palms in brine sitting in my kitchen. There are three students in my class from Guatemala. Today I’ll bring the jar to class and ask them to explain to their classmates the dish which I intend to attempt.

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So the curriculum has computer literacy objectives for the students. It is the life skills aspect of the ESL/adult education class. This means that approximately once every two weeks a “technology teacher” comes to my class and leads the class in some kind of computer activity using student laptops. Last night was the first time that teacher came to class. An objective to the course is being able to read maps, give directions and use Google Maps. With respect to this objective, I have observed that there is a wide variety in capacity in the class. I have done a few map reading activities with them, including a map scavenger hunt in which students found specific information on maps around the room such as fellow students’ hometowns, the maps’ scales, and other information indicated in the legend. I also had them do this. Some students had no trouble finding the information during the scavenger hunt and completing the city map activity but others struggled and had difficulty identifying the scale, legends, and coordinates. Likewise, with the computer lesson, many students are familiar with Google Maps and were essentially bored for an hour and half while others needed assistance typing in a URL address.