Student Orientation

Classes begin on Monday, and today is the last day of student orientation. All the new students have been put into groups and sent on a scavenger hunt of sorts. All the members of the group have to hold onto a long rope as they run around the campus to complete their "missions." This morning, they have been coming into the language department and giggling nervously when we tell them that they must answer some questions in English.
They are very cute and seem excited to be starting university. They are all about 18 years old, and many of them have grown up with Maya as their primary language. Most are bilingual in Maya and Spanish, and I am aware that their levels of English proficiency are generally quite low. I can tell this teaching opportunity will be full of interesting challenges...
We follow a cuatrimestre system here, so the new students will start at level 1 and be at level 3 by the end of the year. The returning students are all level 4 and will be in the same groups that they were in last year. I am teaching four classes this cuatri: Tourism 1A and 1B, Gastronomy 1B, and an Intermediate level TOEFL course that is for community members preparing to take the TOEFL exam. My classes are all in the afternoon and evening. TOEFL will not start up until the third week of September, which is nice. Since it is for community members, it is taught from 7-9 pm - kind of late, but I prefer it to 7 am!
Today I will continue planning for next week, and prepare a basic outline of my assignments through December. I am sure it will take some time to get into a routine, but I am looking forward to meeting my students and doing what I spent the past two years preparing for!