A Day in the Life

The first thing we did when arriving in Tomalá (our village for the year) was play dobble with my host family. If you don’t know what dobble is, it is pretty much like snap but with pictures. However, do you know how hard it is to play dobble in a different language. My roommate and I playing in half English and half Spanish whilst everyone else is just shouting random words like “tree” in Spanish. 

Anyway, that was just to set the scene of my first few minutes in Tomalá. In this blog I am going to give an insight into my typical day in the life at the school and with my host family. I would like to add no day is ever the same in Honduras, one minute I could be teaching at the school and the next I am being driven by my host mum to another city to attend a wedding! But this will give you a rough idea.


All the children were so excited to finally meet me just as I was so excited to meet them. I taught from kindergarten to 6th grade (4-12) and getting to know each and every one of their personalities was one of the best parts of teaching (as well as trying to learn each of their 4/5 names- that was a challenge). They made me feel so welcomed and were so eager to learn English. It wasn’t just in teaching time they wanted to be with me but they all wanted to play with me at break times where I’d either read them a book, play tag or walk them to the shops to get a snack. Their parents would invite me back to their houses in the afternoons/evenings/weekends or even when I was out on a walk. This was very normal in Tomalá as the village is like one big family. It was a privilege to get to know some of my student’s families and have meals with them and day trips. It made me feel a part of the community.


My first graders


My third graders


Below is a photo of my teaching timetable I was provided on my first day in ‘la escuela’ (the primary school). As you can see it is a very jam-packed day with a quick turnaround. 


My Timetable

                                                     

I think it is important to just add that some days my timetable changed, living in Honduras you have to be very flexible. One time my host mom left me to teach her second graders for a week. Do you know how hard it is to teach maths, natural sciences and PE in Spanish?!

Remember I mentioned no day is ever the same in Honduras, well stay tuned for my next blog where I tell the very random story where the future president of Honduras took our puppy- that’s all I’m going to say for now.


Yo Soy Tomalá- I am Tomalá


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding Myself On My Gap Yah

Image
  Honduras  Now, after telling many of my friends that I was writing this blog, their initial reactions were “of course you are writing a blog about your gap year!” Yes, I am  that  girl whose personality trait is now her gap yah, but I’ve just accepted that this is the way it was meant to be. I set off when I was 17 years old to travel to a completely different country, experience a completely different culture and language with completely new people and it was the best year of my life! I stayed with a Honduran family who spoke no English and only Spanish to teach primary children English between the ages of 4 and 12 for one whole year (which ended up being 8 months as the pandemic had to ruin it   ). My village Tomal á, Honduras To begin, I have a question for you all to think about: what is the first thing you think of when I say Honduras?   Is it the lush greenery flowing down the mountains which surround hundreds of quaint little villages with cobbles...
Read more

Volcano Boarding Down An Active Volcano

Image
I read this quote today and it inspired me to write this blog post:   “the only adventure you regret is the one you didn’t take”   Sometimes I wonder how different my life would be if I didn’t take that leap of faith to go to Honduras. I wouldn’t have the best friends I have now; I wouldn’t be as educated in culture; and I believe I wouldn’t be as appreciative for everything.   During the Summer holidays whilst in Honduras I had the opportunity to further broaden my horizons and travel around Central America for two and a half months. Their holidays are middle November to beginning of February, so my friends and I wanted to make the most of living on that side of the world and take the bus around the continent!   Now, I could write a whole book on my travelling experience, so I am just going to highlight my favourite memories. First stop was Placencia, Belize. We had a few different stops in Belize and oh my goodness it is beautiful, and the locals are so lovely so w...
Read more

I was stuck in Honduras during the Pandemic!

Image
Welcome to my final blog and in my opinion, this is definitely the craziest thing that has ever happened to me.     It was very bizarre seeing Covid-19 slowly take over the other side of the world I wasn’t in, until it hit Honduras. Flossy and I were in our host brother’s hometown when we received the phone call to head back to the house immediately and (which was a 2 hour bus journey away) pack our bags as we were being sent home due to the pandemic. I began to cry as the pandemic became a reality and I was going to be leaving my host family and all of my students behind. I remember that whole journey back to our host family’s house Flossy and I just sobbed.   We told the news to our host mum, and she was very upset. We packed our things ready to go and then headed to church, wating for our lift. As soon as we left church, my host mum says, “oh no, the government have locked down the whole country, not allowing anyone to leave or enter the country for the foreseeable fut...
Read more