Respaldame

Junior high kids can be brutal.  This is no big news.  Giving junior high students free-reign to anonomously say what they really think about their classmates, and even worse--you, their teacher--seems like a bad idea.  Right?

There's a dinámica I sometimes use here with self-esteem lessons called "Respaldame" ("Back me up").  Each student gets a piece of paper taped to their back, and their classmates each write down something nice or positive about them.  Each student leaves with a list of positive qualities and hopefully a bit of a self-esteem boost.  That's at least the idea.

Today, at a special youth retreat organized with the village's Catholic Priest, Padre Elias*, we decided to do this activity.  But there's a twist.  Padre Elias ran this dinámica today (I was participating), and he changed it up a bit.  He instructed the students to write what they really feel about the person, be it a good thing or a bad thing.  Instead of boosting self-esteem, he wanted the students to see their faults for what they are so that they can change. 

[Side note: While Guatemalans tend to be extremely passive communicators, paradoxically, they have no qualms about telling it to your face if they think you're a flawed person.] 

So the activity came and went, and fifteen minutes later we all sat down to read what our compañeros had to say about us.  I was slightly uneasy, I will admit.  I know that my students like me, that's not the issue.  But Guatemalans can be blunt, and, well, I'm the weird Gringa that comes and gives them lessons once a week.  Who knows what they think.  However, to my surprise, I found myself holding a list of compliments. 

This is what my kids said about me:

1. Good vibes/Cool
2. Very kind
3. Friendly
4. Pretty
5. Responsible
6. Collaborator
7. Nice
8. Very pretty
9. Very responsible
10. Calm
11. You are very pretty
12. You are the best
13. Foreigner

And I gotta say, I was (and am) truly touched.  I get stared at, laughed at, questioned, hollered at, and otherwise tormented by students and villagers on a daily basis.  It's easy to forget that they think of me as a human when so often I'm simply The Gringa.  But apparently, when made to, my students do have some nice things to say about me.  And for me, that's enough. 

*Padre Elias is an amazing resource here in the village...he's extremely passionate about youth issues, highly respected in town, quite forward-thinking and tends to keep things pretty secular outside of the church, which makes it easy for me to work with him in youth development.