to answer all the questions

I love being able to share my story and talk about what I'll be doing next year, but since I won't be seeing many of you and since so many people have been asking, here is some information on what I'll be doing in Honduras for 10 months :-)


Where will I be going?

I will be teaching in the department (like a state here) of Olancho right outside of the capital of Olancho, which is Juticalpa. My school, Centro Escolar Santa Clara, is right outside of Juticalpa in an area called La Empalizada. Juticalpa is about 2.5 hours away from Tegucigalpa, which is the capital city of Honduras and where I'll be flying into. Here's a map of Honduras to show exactly where I'll be venturing off to:





A map of Central America






Map of Honduras showing the capital, Tegucigalpa or Tegus, and Juticalpa where I'll be.






Here is a map of the area I will be in. I will live in Juticalpa and teach in La Empalizada


Where will I live?

The program has purchased several middle-class family homes in Juticalpa for the volunteers to use. Each home has space for 2-4 volunteers. Each volunteer will have their own bedroom. We will have a kitchen area for cooking and preparing meals, living space, bedrooms, and a bathroom. We will have an outdoor area with our pila for storing water, doing dishes, and washing clothes.


What grade will I teach?

I will teach first grade at Centro Escolar Santa Clara.


How many students will I have?
I will have two sections of 25 students.

What will I be teaching?

I will be teaching in the English classroom. I will be in charge of teaching the following subjects: English (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar), Math, and Science. I will teach the first half of students from 7:00-10:30 (with a half hour break for a “specials” class and a break for recess. Then, I will teach the same subjects to the second half from 10:30-2:00 again with breaks for specials and recess. When the students aren't with me, they will be with their Honduran first grade teacher learning Spanish, Social Studies, and religion.

How much English will my students know? Will I be teaching/using Spanish?

As first graders, my students will have a very, very, very basic understanding of English. Hopefully most of them will have had prepa and kinder (preschool and Kindergarten) at Santa Clara which means they would have already had 2 years of English only instruction. However, being that my students will so young and have not yet learned to read and write, most of them will still need to learn their alphabet and sounds in English. I will have a bilingual aid to help me work the students. I will try to only use English in my classroom to help my students learn it faster, but I will use Spanish when communicating with the other teachers and my students' parents.

What are the classrooms like?
The classrooms are larger, even compared to the US. They have cement block walls and tin roofs--very loud! Each classroom has windows to the hallway and to the outside and you can easily see into each others' classrooms. The school has three "wings" or buildings of 6 classrooms each. I will be in the 1st through 3rd grade building which happens to be the only building with electricity. Each room has fans and lights. Each room has desks and chairs for the students, and a desk for the teacher. There is space for shelves, a group work table, and hooks for backpacks, etc.

Each teacher has a science, math, and reading curriculum to use. Classrooms have some books and basic school supplies, but I am guessing I will need to get creative with how I carefully use them :-) Each classroom has internet capabilities for researching lessons and inputing grades.


What is the economic situation of the students?
Students come from a variety of backgrounds at Santa Clara. Some students are very poor and come to school on scholarship or have a sponsor in the United States who pays for their education. Other students have family members working and living in the United States who send money to the family here so that they can pay for a private education. In fact, the sad truth is that many students at Santa Clara are growing up in single-parent households or are being raised by an aunt or grandmother because either one or both of their parents have left for the United States. At the same time, we also have students whose parents are doctors, lawyers, and professors here in town.


What do volunteers do in their free time?
Volunteers at Santa Clara typically work until 3 pm each day and get home on the bus around 3:30 pm. Past volunteers have done a lot of reading, movie watching, playing games, cooking, and exercising. In the evenings and weekends, you might explore the town, go out to grab food or drinks, go dancing, and go hiking. Other things past volunteers have participated in are English tutoring, teaching ESL classes to adults at night, participating in Special Olympics at Nazareth, and helping out with projects in the office. There is a weekly gathering of volunteers for a meal and a discussion on spirituality, to encourage community. Non-Catholic volunteers typically feel comfortable at this ecumenically-minded gathering.
Past volunteers have also traveled throughout Honduras and other parts of Central America, on the weekends and on school vacations. Traveling can be very cheap in Central America, possibly as low as $20 a day. Guidebooks such as Lonely Planet or Moon’s are very useful for getting around.

What kinds of food are eaten in Honduras?
Red beans, tortillas from corn, and rice with spices are comida tipica (typical food). The most common fruits and vegetables include bananas, mangoes (sour and sweet), oranges, watermelons, cantaloupe, plantains (plátanos), bell peppers and native yams (yucca.) The national snack is the baleada (a medium sized flour tortilla filled with refried beans, mantequilla, a dairy product resembling bland sour cream, and sprinkled with grated cheese). Baleadas are commonly sold in the parques or in public markets. Fried plantain chips called tajaditas accompany many meals as a substitute for French fries or vegetables. For the intense afternoon heat, vendors sell charamuscas, which is frozen fruit juice in bags. Other staples of the volunteer diet include pizza and pasta. There are several supermarkets in Juticalpa that carry a broader range of food more towards North American tastes (for example, peanut butter).

What types of clothing should I bring?
Hondurans overall tend to value dressing well. Honduran style closely resembles that of Western trends. Dress slacks and a button down shirt of light material are custom for men. Women are diligent about appearances and the latest clothing trends, especially at special occasions (religious ceremonies, parties and other social gatherings.) A typical female outfit is a shin to thigh length skirt, or jean pants, with decorative top and high heeled shoes. In more rural areas, second hand clothing imported from the United States is common and t-shirts with English slogans are popular. Surprising to most visitors is that despite the heat, shorts are rarely worn in public by either sex in Honduras. For volunteers, it is recommended that you bring fairly dressy clothes to teach in, albeit in comfortable, light fabrics, but keep in mind your clothes will be washed by hand in a well. For female volunteers, high heels are certainly not required, but dressy sandals or closed-toed shoes will fit in more. Also important for female volunteers, clothes that are more modest will most likely cut down on the number of catcalls made by male Olanchanos (higher-necked shirts, skirts to the knee or lower, etc).

What is the climate like in Juticalpa?
Juticalpa is located in central Honduras, in a valley of the Sierra de Agalta mountains. Central-southern Honduras is characteristically warmer and drier than the tropical north. The rainy season extends from May to November and is referred to as “winter” by the natives. March, April and May are the hottest months of year, with temperatures that can reach highs around 105F.

Well, hopefully that answers a lot of questions! Let me know if you have any others, I'd be happy to answer :-)

"Aguantate tantito y la fruta cayera en tu mano" --Esperanza Renace by Pam Munoz Ryan