First Day of Class

The class and grade structures are only slightly different than we are accustomed to in the States. At the school here, there are the following groups of grades: Preschool, Kindergarden, Primary (Elementary), and Secondary (Junior & High) Schools. They don't have 12th grade and students graduate around 16 years old.

English Equivalent Grade/ Peruvian or Santa Cruz Grade/ Age of Students
Preschool - Preescolar - 3 yrs old (yo)
Kindergarten - Inicial Jardin - 4/5 yo

Primary - Primario
First grade - Primer grado - 5/6 yo
Second grade - Segundo grado - 6/8 yo
Third grade - Tercer grado - 7/8 yo
Fourth grade - Cuarto grado - 8/9 yo
Fifth grade - Quinto grado - 9/10 yo
Sixth grade - Sexto grado - 10/11 yo

Secondary - Secundario
Seventh grade (Junior High) - Primer (1st) grado Secundario - 11/12 yo
Eighth grade (Junior High) - Segundo (2nd) grado Secundario - 12/13 yo
Ninth grade or Freshman year - Tercer (3rd) grado Secundario - 13/14 yo
Tenth grade or Sophomore year - Cuarto (4th) grado Secundario - 14/15 yo
Eleventh grade or Junior year - Quinto (5th) grado Secundario - 15/16 yo

There are typically two or three sections of each grade, A, B, C, with approximately 30 students per section. Most of the Primary grades have 3 sections while the Secondary has two.

Yesterday was my first day of class with the students. In the morning, I helped Jennifer with the 2nd graders (Primary) which was cute, but I didn't have to do much as they mostly reviewed flashcards. In the afternoon I had two classes with the high school students. Esther selected between 5-10 students that have more advanced English skills for me to work with doing special projects. Almost all of these students attend a linguistics institute where they study English, French, or both outside of the school here. Some of the students go everyday after school to the institute while others attend on the weekend.

I'm planning the same lessons and activities for the 4th and 5th grade secondary students. I have two sessions each with the 4th and 5th grade secondary students, for a total of 4 classes. I work with the other teachers on 2nd and 5th grade primary and kindergarten, but here I just help with pronunciation and I'm not responsible for lesson planning/grading which makes it much easier.

Below are pictures of Primer y Segundo Grado Primario (1st and 3nd grade elementary):


I need to take more pictures of the younger students. They are so precious and give me stickers, share their snacks, and LOTS of HUGS! Below is Abigail who is in the 3rd grade: