Balancing the Social with the Science - from Jake Pinkston on teaching mission in Honduras

It has been an extremely busy week here in La Ceiba as final’s week approaches for the first term. I have been running around, frantically trying to hunt down the students who have not turned in labs or homework. It is amazing how quickly they can disperse when I pull out my grade book and start calling names to see me after class. Momentary deafness and restless feet syndrome suddenly reach pandemic levels and the stampede is initiated. You would think that I was trying to improve my grade, not theirs…

The typical complaints have started pouring in since I handed out the review sheets for the classes. “We have to know all this for the exam.” Well, yes, that is what we covered in the last 9 weeks. “Mr. Jake…” At this point, the sob stories start pouring in. I then ask them what they do between the time school gets out at 2pm and they go to bed. The usual answer is eat, but nobody really elaborates further. The idea of spending 45 minutes a night reviewing for the upcoming exam is too distasteful to justify debate.

Mike and Betty summarized when I first I arrived a key cultural difference between Hondurans and Americans that I have found to ring pretty true in the last 10 weeks I have spent in La Ceiba. Americans for the most part are task oriented. A goal is set and pursued, and professional relationships are built around that end. Hondurans are people oriented. The relationship always takes precedent over the goal and the goal itself is often influenced and even changed by the relationships.

This weekend, I got to see this cultural value in action. The civics teacher, Ms. Olga, had a birthday last week. Birthday’s are a huge deal in Honduras so we sang to her in school and many student brought her homemade cards. But instead of celebrating her birthday at home with her husband and children, Olga and a couple parents threw a party for almost half of the secondary school and included Mike, Betty and me. They reserved a space at a private picnic / park down the road near the ocean, rented one of the buses that can fit 10 comfortably but always cram about 30 in them, and bused most of the 7th, 8th and 9th grade down for a Saturday of swimming, soccer, music, and barbeque.

The students spent hours playing in the stream running through the park, which has been dammed with sand bags to a depth of about 4 feet, throwing each other in, tossing around the soccer ball, and having a good time with each other outside of the classroom. Mike, Betty and I served as the supervisors but they encouraged us to join them in the water. I played soccer with the boys as well, who decided that pulling out my chest hair was the funniest game ever created. Wonderful. Olga’s husband brought his DJ equipment so the most popular Latin pop hits were blasting all day. The students were quick to find the microphone and while they urged their classmates to dance, it seemed as if the real goal was to hear their voice at 80 decibels. Olga and another mom were happy to run the traditional Honduran barbecue of beef, chicken, refried beans (always), tortillas and chimol, a fresh tomato salad. However, they too found time to play in the water and walk out to the beach.

While I cannot remember anytime in my educational career that a teacher threw a party for 25 students on a weekend on her own time, this is very typical at Trinity. Hondurans love to plan and throw special events for any reason. In class, the attitude is very similar. The students love the opportunity to chat, hang out, and plan events and activities. On music day, I spend my lunch break with the 8th grade boys, jamming and singing songs on guitars that stay in tune for about 5 minutes at a time. It is a congenial social atmosphere that makes working at Trinity very enjoyable. However, this makes getting things done more than a struggle at times. When I remind them that I need to check their homework so that we can begin the class lecture and maybe finish the chapter, they give me a look of shock and almost disdain, as if my priorities were completely ridiculous.

My goal has not been to break the cultural values that the students have but to try to find some middle ground. While I still hold high expectations, I build into my lesson plans time for talking about last night’s soccer game or how funny I sound when I speak Spanish. My biggest focus and challenge has been convincing my students that they are capable of working hard, they are smart enough to master the material, they can be strong students if they put in the time and effort. If they do that, there will be more time to hang out. While I don’t think they like it very much, I think that they have at least begun to accept and buy into the idea. I look forward to next week’s results to see where we are and where we will go from here.