8th Grade Visits Costa Rica
Debbie's Note

In March Ginny, Fran, Linda, Leslyn, and I traveled to Costa Rica with our 8th grade students. Each year the Mary McDowell Center 8th graders spend a week there in a Spanish language immersion program.
It is the culmination of the middle school's Spanish curriculum and one of the highlights of being a student at the Mary McDowell Center.

Our hotel was located about a half hour's walk from the school where the students were taking classes. The walk ran along the beach and every morning we were able to gaze at the incredibly blue water as we made our way to the school. Everyone agreed that it was a much better way to commute than taking the subway! On our first walk to school we saw a few dead snakes in the sand, which is quite unusual. Although no one wanted to get too close to them we were all fascinated by their lifeless bodies. Later that day a few of us adults looked them up on-line and discovered that they were poisonous. We didn't want to alarm anyone, so we decided not to mention it to the group.
But the next day when we went souvenir shopping, a student went right up to the book section, found the snakes in question, and announced to the group that they were poisonous! For the rest of the trip the kids talked about their encounter with the deadly creatures, embellishing their stories more and more every day. The extent of their escapades and the depth of their bravery increased exponentially, much to the delight of all. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you heard that we were attacked by giant vipers and just narrowly survived perishing from their venomous bite!

Although the students were in different Spanish classes, all of them focused on learning verbs, nouns, and pronouns and creating both oral and written sentences with them. They also learned beginning dialogues and practiced answering questions about their families and interests. By the end of the week their skills had improved dramatically. They were so proud to be able to speak in Spanish to their teachers and understand what was said to them, and I was thrilled by their confidence.In addition to taking Spanish classes the students took a Latin American cooking class, where they made arroz con pollo for us, and a Latin American dance class. The students enjoyed showing off their moves while those of us who are less coordinated admired their skills.

When the kids weren't in class, we spent our time playing ping-pong, swimming at the beach and pool, and eating ice cream. One day the kids went surfing. On another they went snorkeling.
While on a boat ride down the Tempisque River we saw an abundance of wildlife, including crocodiles, iguanas, bats, monkeys, and an Amazon kingfisher, which was correctly identified for us by one of our students. Speaking of identifying natural objects, we were amazed to discover a worldclass astronomer among us. Our very own Leslyn knew all about the constellations and happily shared her u with our curious students. Actually she could only pick out one constellation-Orion-but that didn't stop the kids from asking her about them. They also brought her all their questions about the earth and ocean and, though we are not sure how, she somehow managed to answer all our questions

Throughout the week we ate a steady diet of rice and beans, punctuated by the occasional hamburger. The kids never complained, though. One night as a special treat we went to
an Italian restaurant. We were supposed to have two family-style salads and then individual pasta entrees for each of the kids. Instead the waiters brought out these mind-bogglingly huge salads, which kept coming and coming-certainly a mistake in translation somewhere! We ended up bringing home 14 salads and giving them out at the hotel, the school-wherever we could get rid of them!

All of the students were amazing. They helped each other with their Spanish homework and volunteered to carry things or help clean up whenever we needed it. There were many funny moments, of course. We discovered one student was using a liquid other than shampoo to wash his hair. And another student had us in stitches with his solution to the slight odor in his hotel room. The odor came from toilet paper, which couldn't be flushed down the toilets and so needed to be put in the wastebaskets.
To combat this problem the student simply used the toilets in the other students' rooms! And you can only imagine what their suitcases looked like . . . on the whole, though, the group was thoughtful, responsible, and well-behaved. They kept us laughing and we had a great time watching them help each other throughout the trip.

After the last day of classes we took a five-hour bus ride into the mountains of Heredia, where we spent our last two days in Costa Rica. One of the days we went on a zip line tour. Everyone participated except Fran and Linda (but Fran still gets points for bravery for killing a HUGE water bug in one of the girl's rooms). The kids were incredibly supportive of those who were scared, convincing everyone to try it and offering encouraging words as we went along. On the first line a few of us got stuck in the middle and needed the guide to push us the rest of the way. We soon got the hang of it, though, and were able to enjoy the views without any fear. There were six zip lines of various lengths, heights, and speeds to carry us through the trees. There were also three very narrow bridges that we had to walk on while still being attached to the zip line. One bridge was a tightrope, one was a log, and one was mesh. Ginny and I definitely found them scarier than the zip line itself. At one point Ginny lost her balance and slipped off the tightrope.
Because she was still attached to the zip line, though, she didn't fall far but only hung from her armpits and had to pull herself back up. Most of the kids walked cautiously across the bridges, although two brave souls ran onfidently across them. Crossing safely to the other side emboldened the kids, and they started shaking the bridges for those of us who still had to cross! When we finished, we ate a delicious lunch of rice and beans and chicken prepared by the mother of the family who owned the place. After visiting the central market in Heredia and enjoying our last taste of Costa Rican ice cream, we held our 3rd annual Mary McDowell Costa Rican Talent Show. The kids put on a terrific performance and had so much fun. Everyone received an award for something.

We all had a wonderful time in Costa Rica, and I was so proud of our students. As always, this trip is one of my favorite MMCL events, an opportunity for me to spend a little time with our 8th graders before we bid them farewell (although, with the new high school on its way, soon it won't be a farewell trip but a culmination of middle school). My sincere gratitude to Ginny, Fran, Linda, and Leslyn for all their support and work on this trip and for being such wonderful, good-natured, and fun chaperones.