Thursday, June 2, 2011

The Costa Rican Community Culture


The elementary school we went into a few times, Santa Elena Elementary, was a much different experience than any field work I have done in Wilmington, NC.  The schools were very open and the children, especially before class and during break had a lot of freedom.  Both of the schools we went to in Heredia and the Santa Elena School in Monteverde were obviously allowed to incorporate their country’s religion into the school day. In the school in Heredia, there were a few statues of the Virgin Mary and in class, I was able to see a class in prayer.
Iglesia and the community soccer field

Comparing this to the United States where religion is kept separate from the school, the culture of Costa Rica is apparent inside the school walls. For break, the children “run wild” but there is a certain level of trust that is involved.  When I went to Rachel Freeman Elementary for instance, they could not go anywhere without adult supervision. Also, not just the first school we went to but every school we have had an opportunity to go into, the students are much more interested and engaged in the lessons we taught. At first, I thought they were only interested in us because we were “gringos” and were new to them. After observations of their everyday normal classes, I realized that the students pay attention to their normal teacher! When I started thinking about why the students seem much more attentive in class, even though they are somewhat wild when they have their free time, I thought about my first home stay in Heredia and how the family has a large impact on their child’s education. My first Mama Tica, Ana Victoria, was constantly telling her 10 year old daughter to “estudia, estudia!”
Our first week here we were told that there are four very important aspects of the Costa Rican culture: schools, churches, soccer and bars. While the bars do not seem to fit in with the other three, the culture is everywhere! The church is right next to the soccer field and the soccer field is right next to the school. Families walk as a group to and from school. The importance of family was reiterated for me again when I saw all the little children walking hand in hand with their father, mother, grandmother or any other family member. The people here are not worried about hurrying to get home to watch a television show or play Xbox 360, they spend their time talking with their families or with family friends. Both my familia ticos houses were very open and the relatives and friends of the family just walked through the door without knocking or calling beforehand. It is not a rude behavior at all, it’s just very welcoming. It makes me think about the future, not just as a teacher, but one day when I have my own house, I want it to be a warm and welcoming environment. People in the United States seem to be a little more closed off than the people of Latin American countries. For example, I am very close with my nuclear family but not quite as close with my extended family as the Ticos here in Costa Rica are.


Children playing futbol after school while the adults and teenagers enjoy the day

I have noticed my host family is not as protective of their children as well. One friend of the family has a 18 day old beautiful baby girl, Abril, and she was handed over to me to hold while the mother danced in the kitchen with my 12 year old hermano tico. You can see how much the families love each other but they do not “baby” their children. The children are very independent but at the same time, they are always connected with their parents, brothers, aunts…etc. For instance, the 12 year old that I am living with, Daive, walks around to other people’s houses alone at night but he is usually visiting family friends or relatives. It is interesting to see that even the young children and most surprisingly to me, the teenagers partake in this family-oriented lifestyle. The two teenagers I am living with now both act very much like regular teenagers but every night they are a part of the family and enjoy spending time with them. Teenagers in the United States however, seem to not want to be in their home and the parents expect that. I grew up eating dinner with my family every night and it was “weird” if I didn’t while on the other hand, I had friends that thought it was weird to eat with their family!
I will use what I have seen in these families’ homes by incorporating it in my classroom. After one class, we talked about ways to seeing the strengths of future students that are English Language Learners and use their strengths to benefit our classes one day. One method I plan on using that was discussed in the class is having the students write. This includes giving them the freedom to write personal accounts and stories that they want to talk about. This will really bring all the students together and form the Costa Rican community I hope to have in my classroom.

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