The Big Feria

  

The big day of the school Feria was on the 27th November.  It's so long since it happened, but I think because the experience was such a culture shock to me, that I couldn't bring myself to writing about it on the the blog.    But I think the photos tell the story of how spectacular the day really was. When Glenn and I walked into the school on the morning of the show, we discovered the feria was bigger than Ben Hur.   In other words it was a huge event and only 2 weeks for preparation.  Neither Glenn or I took part in the work, I was not well with a bronchial infection, couldn't understand anything the Spanish teacher wanted me to do and Glenn knew he wasn't needed.

My classroom was a show all of its own.   The Spanish teacher, had stripped my classroom and filled it up like a museum with a beach with real sand, a wooden bridge that stretched right across the classroom, potted palms, posters and a fishing net stretching across the ceiling decorated with fish.  Nothing had been done by the children.  The teacher had stayed at school until 10.30 the night before with her daughter, 2 of my students, and a mother.   They all worked like slaves from 12am.  I helped for a couple of hours but anything I did just wasn't good enough for the Spanish teacher who had her own agenda.  She spoke to me so rapidly in Spanish, most of the time I couldn't understand a single word she was saying.  It was good for my students though because she frequently asked them to translate for me when she needed something.

                                                                                        

This is one of my students who worked  without stopping  until 10.30pm.

Some of my girls were made guides for the day and learnt all their lines by heart. Every visitor who came into the classroom politely listened to their  accounts.

The boys in typical male Latin behaviour relaxed around the tables or posed on the bridge.

This student did a brilliant job as a guide.   She's relaxing on a park bench ( still in the classroom) for a few minutes before the next visitor comes.

A couple of my rogues on the beach.

There was a brilliant display of traditional Honduran folk dancing.

These are the Garifuna dancers.    Their ancestors came from Africa and they are now famous for their wild, rhythmic and exciting dancing, the original punta dance.   It was brilliant to watch.

Here are some of the secondary students in their bamboo thatched huts they'd built showing the wares of

their Honduran province.

Grade 3 children dressed in the traditional Mayan clothes representing the ruins at Copan.  They're learning young on how to appeal to men!

Some of Glenn's Grade 5 students are here displaying the traditional foods of their province.  The visitors were given the different foods to taste.

The day was a huge success as far as publicity goes.   The television crew where there with their cameras and the school was shown on the news for a few minutes that night.    To us, the children in the classrooms did no schoolwork for 2 weeks and discipline went out the window.  We were told that it was very important to put on a big show like this because if we didn't, our school would not look good in our district and we wouldn't get the student numbers to keep the school running.    It's all about public image here in Honduras!