TEFL Con Ticos

Thousands of miles apart and connected by a spotty satellite Internet connection in rural Costa Rica, I still obsessively followed this year’s Iditarod. A congratulations goes out to Kotzebue’s John Baker for winning this year’s race in record time. It was great that a musher from Western Alaska crossed underneath the Burled Arch first. Never during the four years I covered the race for the Anchorage Daily News did I expect to follow it from where I am today – a hot, humid climate where people never use meteorologists to predict weather forecasts or dogs for outdoor recreation. Over lunch one day, I tried to explain the Iditarod to a few of my colleagues at school. I didn’t have my computer, which has Iditarod videos and pictures, so it was difficult for them to truly wrap their heads around Alaska’s biggest winter sporting event. Most people in our community have never experienced snow or felt temperatures less than 55-60 degrees, so the most commonly-asked question Megon and I rec...

It’s official. School has started and Kevin and I are finally doing what we came to do as Peace Corps volunteers! So far, the experience has been very educational. The Costa Rican school system differs from that of the United States in many ways. Here are just a few of the differences we’ve noticed at our schools so far: · Seventh and eighth grades are included in high school. There are no Spanish words here for freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. However, instead of saying tenth and eleventh grade, they say fourth and fifth year. · School is required for all kids until they turn 14. · Regular (academic) schools go up to 11th grade and technical schools go up to 12 th . · There are serious final exams at the end of each high school year. If a student doesn’t pass it in December, they have the opportunity to study up over their vacations and take the test again during the first week of school in February. While giving kids an extra chance to be promoted to the next grade, ...