Thursday, August 23, 2012

Back at it

Back to school!

I taught the usual morning class with the boys, Luis Felipe and Ronald were the only ones that showed up today. We went over some words out loud in the Nacho Book with the sounds T and D. After much repetition, I had them write down some of the words as I said them out loud and underline the sound of T or D. I wanted them to focus on the sounds and try to remember what they looked like. Then they read for a little bit, the usual. I want them to practice reading everyday but I also want them to understand what they are reading so from time to time I ask them to summarize what they have read so far.

In the afternoon, it was Art Day! Personally, those are my favorite days. I love teaching and seeing progress but art is so much fun and the kids are able to manipulate things with their hands and use other parts of the brain that are not always used with just reading and writing. Today we printed with different materials. We used leaves that we collected outside, paint, paint brushes, different pieces of cloth and regular white paper. The kids love art day as much as we do. We become kids again. The kids behave so well during these times. After printing we all created our own stamps with plates and pencils. We started by carving a pattern on the plates with the pencil by drawing on them but with some pressure to cause a dent on the plate. Then we painted the stamp and pressed firmly onto a white paper. The designs were beautiful. As you can see.



Amazing jersey ;) 



Printing with leaves 



Love.






Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Teacher Meetings Here and There

Yesterday was a holiday/rest day, but I was exhausted today. I am starting to believe that the heat takes a toll on my body. It takes a lot out of me, eh. I went to La Fundacion this morning with Rob and Will and taught a short reading class. As usual we headed over to El Rodadero for some delicious hot plates on a steaming hot day. Like I said, the usual. You begin to adapt to the heat and constant sweating.

In the afternoon with the preschoolers, we handmade crossword puzzles and bingo cards for the kids to play while simultaneously learning the meanings of words and pronunciation. They had a great time playing although some of them struggled to find the words but we were all there to help and make the experience as fun as possible. They often get so excited and start screaming out the words. It makes me happy.

We had a teacher meeting today at Ocean Mall in the food court area. We discussed new ideas for a new beginning for the foundation. Most importantly, we wanted to incorporate some rules that the children can abide to.

  1. Cuidar el espacio (take care of your surroundings) This may include: 
    • furniture
    • school supplies 
    • sports equipment
    2.  Hablar en voz baja y escuchar 
    • Talking low rather than shouting (which they love to do to grab your attention) and listening. 
    3.  Respetar a sus compañeros y profesores (respect your classmates and teachers).
 
    4. Responsabilidad (Responsibility).
    • help cleaning the classroom at the end of class
    • organizing the notebooks once they're done being used
    • be responsible of their belongings
    5. Actitud positiva (positive attitude)
    • always believe in yourself
    • believe you can accomplish everything you want to

We all input ideas on how we can incorporate the rules in all of our classes. Some said we can use theatre to demonstrate some of the rules. For example rule number one: 'Cuidar el Espacio'. I can ask the kids if when I stand on the chair and jump around like a monkey, is that taking care of the furniture?  It may be a little funny but they need to know that it's not right to do that. The chairs are made to sit on properly. Someone also said it would be nice to draw and color the rules. They can use their imagination and draw what comes to mind when they read each rule. This applies very well to my pre-schoolers since they love to color and draw. I also suggested to sing songs. In Barranquilla, I learned the song "La Lechuza" from the professor I was shadowing. The song says to keep quiet or whisper. My posts from Barranquilla have some videos on us singing those songs ha ha. So I thought, why not teach these kids the song! It definitely applies to rule 2 and 3, speaking low and respecting others. 









Another awesome idea to demonstrate respect is using gestures. We can all shake hands and give hugs to our classmates and neighbors. I was thinking it would be a good idea to give examples of clean vs dirty so that we can keep the school in order. Raising our hands when we want attention rather than screaming out our names. Teach the children to stay seated and only stand when called upon. These are only ideas that we all brainstormed, it's always different once you're there and actually try teaching. You have to be prepared for everything, some things may or may not work. Maybe they won't even show up but it is always better to be ready. 






Monday, August 20, 2012

A Day Off


Colombian National Holiday! Shocker. Colombians are so lucky; there are holidays every other weekend. Their lives are already awesome as it is and on top of that, always have holidays. So far, I have been part of four national holidays. On July 2 Saint Peter and Saint Paul, July 20th Colombian Independence Day, August 7th Battle of Boyacá (this is when Colombia acquired its independence from the Spanish monarchy)1 and today. Today is the Assumption of Mary in Colombia, also known as Assumption Day2. “It celebrates the day that god assumed the Virgin Mary into Heaven following her death, according to popular Christian belief.”

I met with Cerys in town and we had lunch at a restaurant called Lulo. I had a delicious chicken Panini with tomatoes, onions, red pepper and pesto, delicious. This was my first meal in three days! I also had a banana, strawberry and mango juice. We walked by the beach, which was full of people, and of course pictures were taken.

At 6pm we had a Teacher Development Meeting at Lisa’s apartment and everyone went to discuss the following:
  •  School routines 
  •  Handling student behaviors
  • Lesson planning

Lisa has been living in Santa Marta for two years now as her blog states: http://www.teachingspanishinenglish.blogspot.com/. She had been teaching in the states but decided to start teaching in South America. She got a job at a bilingual school as a full time middle school English teacher. She says that while being in Colombia, she has learned a lot about the education systems and after two years decided she wanted to work with non-profits education rather than private schools. She is now dedicating her full time to Colombia Sin Fronteras and bringing her amazing teaching skills with her. With her, we will get so far! At the meeting, everyone participated and many ideas were brought to the table. The foundation is fairly new and slowly developing. It has been functioning for a year now and things are still being sorted. It is not easy making a foundation and there is a lot of paperwork and legal action to take care of. I feel that I am beginning to be a part of the growth of Colombia Sin Fronteras and I am definitely proud to be here. 

Sunday, August 19, 2012

SierraMar Festival

I put my mind to it and I feel better already! I know that I was not 100 percent but I went to the festival. Since I had the ticket already I felt I had more of a reason to go. How can I miss out on the first alternative music festival ever in Santa Marta? This is history in the making and I wanted to be a part of it. I went to the festival on my own. I asked people how to get places and I went about my journey. I took a cab to a bus station that goes to Mamancana (a town). I bought a roundtrip ticket and waited for the bus to get full to head out to La Reserva Mamancana. I met up with some of the volunteers at the entrance and we went right in. It was at such a beautiful location, on the mountain top with a beautiful ocean view. I was so happy that I made it out there that I completely forgot how sick I was the day before because I felt great. The festival was amazing with different music groups from Colombia and other countries. The famous colombian bands were Bomba Estereo, Monsieur Periné and Voodoo Soldiers among others. 




I loved it. I felt like I was in a haze, like my surroundings were dancing with the music, moving with the wind and sounds. It started raining in the midst of it all and we were all just dancing away in the rain. Then it was cold but we let the breeze enter the pores of our skin and kept on dancing.  It was such an amazing night! This is the first year that they do The SierraMar Festival and hopefully it continues in the years to come for all the people in Santa Marta. I am very grateful to have been a part of the inauguration of this festival! 




Bomba Estereo <3

Monsieur Periné <3





Saturday, August 18, 2012

I Feel Blue


I am so sick. Literally sick to my stomach. Last night we had dinner at Claudia’s apartment with all the volunteers. Claudia is a Colombian woman that rents out two rooms to foreigners. At the moment, Naomi and Charlotte are living there and they wanted to have a potluck so they made tofu for everyone. Will and Rob made some delicious appetizers, little crunchy pieces of bread with tomatoes and cheese on them. So good! Cerys and I decided to make desert. We went to Olimpica (a supermarket) to buy ingredients for Banofee Pie, an english dessert. Some of the ingredients were not available so we had to improvise with colombian products. We also celebrated Wills birthday! 


Banofee Pie in the making! 


All done :) 




The dinner was delicious. I ate the whole thing and it was amazing. After a great feast we went to El Mirador in Taganaga. El Mirador is a small dance club where you may drink, dance and have a good time with an amazing view of the ocean. The night started off pretty well. We were all having a great time until I started feeling sick. I went to the restroom and vomit everything that I ate. I have no idea what made me sick but it was not pretty. I had some water with lime that a colombian girl recommended, which made me feel a little better but I was not myself. Today everyone is at the SierraMar Festival and I am here in my hotel room feeling horrible. We had already bought tickets to the festival this week for both Saturday and Sunday so hopefully I rest it out today and wake up feeling better to go to the festival tomorrow. I have not eaten anything and I do not have any urges to do so. I have been drinking Powerade. I also took a Dolex (similar to Tylenol) for the fever and headache that is taking over my life right now. I am going to put my mind to it and wake up feeling great tomorrow. Nap time. : (



Friday, August 17, 2012

Come Out and Play!


It is Sports Day! On Fridays we do not have classes, instead all of the kids that come to the school throughout the week enjoy a day off to play sports and have a good time. Today we had a teacher meeting at 1pm at the school to discuss some ideas for the foundation. Most of it was lesson planning. Finally at 3pm it was time for some fun! We gathered all the kids at the pitch. I took responsibility of the little ones and did some improvisation. I remembered all the games that I used to play with the Gainesville Soccer Academy and tried doing it with them. We played red light green light, simon says, and "El Lobo". They actually taught me how to play "El Lobo" (The Wolf). We all held hands and went around in a circle singing, “Juguemos en el bosque mientras el lobo esta. El lobo esta?” (let’s play in the forest while the wolf gets ready) then el lobo would answer with what he/she was doing. In other words, the wolf was getting ready to go outside to chase the kids. Once the wolf answered that it was heading out the door, we all had to start running away from it and whoever the wolf tagged became the new wolf.

The older kids played kickball and soccer. They always want to play soccer so we have to hide the ball until it is that time because if not, they will ignore the teachers and just start playing. They climbed trees, ran everywhere and picked up anything to play with it. For some reason, there is Styrofoam just lying around in the barrio and the kids pick them up and play with them. They have such an imagination. It was such a fun day! It felt great being outdoors playing with the kids.















Thursday, August 16, 2012

Rain or Shine


“Being soaked alone is cold. Being soaked with your best friend is an adventure.” –Emily Wing Smith

The morning classes went well. We reviewed the numbers and then went over the vowels in English. I have been working with Luis Felipe, Jose David and Ronald. Some of them catch on pretty quickly but others do not. I will work on that. I had lunch with Naomi at El Rodadero, same place where they serve the meals for 6,000COP.

The afternoon classes were an adventure. It started off as usual, starting with the alphabet the letter A through E using the flashcards that I brought. All of the sudden, it started pouring! The kids jumped off their seats and ran out the door into the pouring rain! It seemed they had not seen rain in ages! They were screaming and singing and playing joyfully in it. As much as I wanted to run in there with them, I preferred staying dry to take pictures and videos! They looked so happy and free! It was chaos. Fun chaos. 






Look at that smile...



Some of the children went inside and got their notebooks and started doing schoolwork. I took advantage of this moment and sat down with them to work on the alphabet. I had them write upper and lower case letters and then draw a picture of something that started with that letter. I gave them stickers for their beautiful work.



Water going in the school :( 


Andres Felipe, Loraine and Karol <3


A new volunteer went today for the first time. He was already nervous to begin with and as soon as it started raining and the kids ran outside, he looked so scared. He asked if they were normally like this. Like how?! They were so happy and were having so much fun. The guy never came back haha.

Every Thursday people meet at a restaurant by the oceanfront called Punta Betïn for a language exchange. People from Santa Marta that want to learn English or perfect it, come out to speak to foreigners and vice versa. It is a great way to meet people and just have a good time and drink. Since I am bilingual, I can help in both languages so I mainly go just to hang out and have a drink or two. Who wouldn't want to do that? :)