Not that long ago you had your 100th day of
school, but in El Salvador school just started. In El Salvador, the school year
is aligned with the calendar year. This means that students start school
sometime in the second half of January. Students get a week off of school for
Easter, which is similar to the time you have spring break. They also get off
of school for 1-2 weeks in August, for a Salvadoran Holiday celebrated on
August 6. The school year ends in November. This means the children don’t have
school for part of November, December, and half a January. This is like our
summer break.
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| This is my godson looking at his classroom for the first time. Just like you can drop off your supplies before school starts, he was able to meet his teacher and see his classroom before he started kindergarten. |
School only lasts for half a day in El Salvador. Families
need to decide if kids will go to school in the morning from about 7:30-12:00
or in the afternoon from 1:00-5:30. Since kids only go to school for half the
day, they are able to help their families the other half of the day. Kids who
live in rural areas can help their parents farm. Another reason that school is
set up this way is because there are too many kids and not enough schools. If
kids were at school all day, there might be 50 kids in one class! Since the
kids come at two different times, there are 2 classes with only 25 students.
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| These students are using their classroom for arts and crafts during their August vacation. |
Just like you do, students in El Salvador get homework from
their teachers. Even children in kindergarten often get daily homework.
Teachers in El Salvador can’t make copies of worksheets and there often are not
enough textbooks for kids to use. This means that students have to copy down
worksheet questions their teachers write on board. If the teacher assigns 10
math problems to the students, she writes the problems on the chalkboard. The
kids have to write down the questions in their notebook, bring their notebook
home to answer the questions, and then show their completed notebook to the
teacher the next day. The students learn many of the same things as you do in
school. They have math, science, reading, and social studies time. They also
have gym class, and some schools have computer class and music class too.
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| These kids play soccer with their gym teacher. |
All students in El Salvador wear a uniform to school. It is
really important that students take care of their uniforms. Even young students
at about age 7, are in charge of washing and ironing their uniform each day.
Many times, there is even a special uniform for gym class.
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| All students, in both public and private schools, wear uniforms. |
Do you think you would like to go to school in El Salvador?
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| Many public schools are painted white and blue, which are the colors of the Salvadoran flag. |
See if you can compare and contrast schools in El Salvador and in the United States. Use this Venn Diagram: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B91xK8CIpJ_tVnVscFczWWJxSkU/view?usp=sharing
