La escuela de Bustamante

Last week the Bustamante group (there are four of us - Dan, Jacob, Steven, and myself) headed over to the Escuela Bustamante to learn about the Costa Rica education system. As we ended up actually giving an English class instead of observing one, we got more than we bargained for! We arrived on time at 8am, but typical to Tico culture we were invited to take cafecito before entering the class. When we were finally ready at 9:15, the school director starts off by showing us where they are in the English book! (The idea was to see the everyday classroom life.) Well, we took it in stride and made a presentation of the family tree thrown in with a repaso of food vocab. It was a learning experience because instead of being just a few children, we had the whole school! (Granted it wasn´t huge - about 40 kids, but it´s the principle of the matter.) Kids in general can be shy at first, but Costa Rican children are the most timid I´ve met! We had the "stand up & say you name" ice-breaker, but some would barely lift their heads to whisper! They were adorable nonetheless and a few brave ones did muster the courage to ask when we would be coming back!
Afterwards we had an interview with the director and got the low-down on education organizations, books, and funds. Then it was time to go, but the Tico hospitality hit us again and we all stayed for lunch at noon (though we´d all brought our own because the whole appointment was supposed to end at 10am)!