Today was an INCREDIBLE day!! I do love this place!!!
We spent the morning visiting schools! And what a difference there is. . . not so much in the students. . . but in the schools themselves. First we went to a high school and spent some time visiting classrooms. Then they had a lunch/breakfast break where we got to mingle and speak with the students.
The students all wear the same uniforms—throughout the country!!! That way if a child moves to a different school they can still wear the same clothing. It also makes it easy to distinguish which school a child goes to—primary or secondary. Secondary students go five years (our equivalent to grades 7-11). Although Costa Rica has a 93% literacy rate and compulsory education, many students drop out before the end of 11th grade.
The classes I observed seemed a little unruly. Students were talking and making jokes, cell phones were visible on many desks and others said they actually saw students using them in class. Some students also had mp3 players and some that we talked to had Internet at home. We saw a couple of boys playing a guitar during the break . . . and we were pleasantly surprised to identify the music as an old song called “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas.
Resources were incredibly limited. Classrooms were very bare. Most had OLD green chalkboards, a few had whiteboards. I saw one math class using a digital projector with a laptop but there were not computers in any other room!! I later visited the computer lab and found out that they actually had 3 projectors that teachers could use, a laptop cart with around 20 laptops, and one lab equipped with a laptop, SMARTboard, and Internet access. I did see a number of students with flash drives in the computer lab. Students had no textbooks—just a notebook for notes. If they wanted textbooks, students had to purchase their own. And teachers and students had to pay for any copies that they wanted to make using the copier.
During our closing presentation with the principal, we were treated to a 15 minute concert by the guitar players! This was really neat! One student had taught the others during their lunch time.
Visiting the elementary school was a whole different experience----I felt like I was famous!! The school gathered all of their children and sang their national song for us and we sang the national anthem and did the pledge in return. It was pretty neat! Then we met with the principal for a question and answer session that was very interesting! They have even LESS technology than the high school. They only have ONE computer and that is in the principal’s office . . .and I am not even sure that it had Internet access! We visited classrooms and then it was recess time. But instead of playing, the children brought us their notebooks to sign autographs!!! I don’t believe I have written my name so many times in one day in my life!!! It was sssoooo sweet! A few also liked collecting business cards!!
We spent the morning visiting schools! And what a difference there is. . . not so much in the students. . . but in the schools themselves. First we went to a high school and spent some time visiting classrooms. Then they had a lunch/breakfast break where we got to mingle and speak with the students.
The students all wear the same uniforms—throughout the country!!! That way if a child moves to a different school they can still wear the same clothing. It also makes it easy to distinguish which school a child goes to—primary or secondary. Secondary students go five years (our equivalent to grades 7-11). Although Costa Rica has a 93% literacy rate and compulsory education, many students drop out before the end of 11th grade.
The classes I observed seemed a little unruly. Students were talking and making jokes, cell phones were visible on many desks and others said they actually saw students using them in class. Some students also had mp3 players and some that we talked to had Internet at home. We saw a couple of boys playing a guitar during the break . . . and we were pleasantly surprised to identify the music as an old song called “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas.
Resources were incredibly limited. Classrooms were very bare. Most had OLD green chalkboards, a few had whiteboards. I saw one math class using a digital projector with a laptop but there were not computers in any other room!! I later visited the computer lab and found out that they actually had 3 projectors that teachers could use, a laptop cart with around 20 laptops, and one lab equipped with a laptop, SMARTboard, and Internet access. I did see a number of students with flash drives in the computer lab. Students had no textbooks—just a notebook for notes. If they wanted textbooks, students had to purchase their own. And teachers and students had to pay for any copies that they wanted to make using the copier.
During our closing presentation with the principal, we were treated to a 15 minute concert by the guitar players! This was really neat! One student had taught the others during their lunch time.
Visiting the elementary school was a whole different experience----I felt like I was famous!! The school gathered all of their children and sang their national song for us and we sang the national anthem and did the pledge in return. It was pretty neat! Then we met with the principal for a question and answer session that was very interesting! They have even LESS technology than the high school. They only have ONE computer and that is in the principal’s office . . .and I am not even sure that it had Internet access! We visited classrooms and then it was recess time. But instead of playing, the children brought us their notebooks to sign autographs!!! I don’t believe I have written my name so many times in one day in my life!!! It was sssoooo sweet! A few also liked collecting business cards!!
That evening we had dinner with some of the teachers from the schools so that we could continue to discuss education. We also saw a traditional dance where a small band plays and several guys dress in gigantic costumes (like 8 ft tall!) and dance around! It was very funny! I don’t know how they do it---holding those costumes on and dancing around would take real talent!
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