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| Our house that is converted into a school |
It is my second week at Mariposas Amarillas. The first week I went around to each class and saw where I would best fit. There are two barrios that Mariposas Amarillas works out of, Fundadores and Oasis.
Fundadores is a barrio that is easily accessed by a bus, but Oasis is very isolated. The first 2 days I was in classes in fundadores and then the other days of the week I was in Oasis. I discovered that what they say is true on the website, most cabs aren't willing to take you there. I haven't quite figured out why since there are several cab drivers that live in the barrios (nearly the only cars inside of the barrio). After trying about 10 cabs we finally got someone to take us.
When my cab arrived, one girl started running with us saying "profe profe!" short for Profesora. I was a totally new face, but it was obvious that I was with the foundation since I am a gringa.
Well the first day was very difficult. In Oasis there are 3 different classes, a 1, 2, and 3 divided on ability. I was placed in the number 2 class shadowing another profesora. Her name is Larissa and she is from Switzerland. She had a nice lesson plan for the kids, and they did their work, but not in the way that I wanted to see. They were hitting each other for the glue sticks, pulling things out of each others hands, generally just a lack in discipline. That experience with that class is why I decided to stay in this barrio.
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| Working |
I am now the "long term" profesora for the Oasis 3 class. Oasis 3 is unique. Just before me, a girl named Natalia, who I met as she was leaving for home, was the teacher. She must have worked wonders because this class was attentive, understanding, wanted to learn and grasped concepts quickly. People have told me that Natalia's class wasn't always like that. They used to make her cry and they were as undisiplined as 2. What she did that really seemed to work was implent a rewards system instead of a harsh punishment system. The kids would be rewarded for sharing, doing extra work, cleaning up without being asked and so on. At the end of the week, the people with the most stars (what they received for those good actions) got stickers. I have kept a reward system, but the one bequethed to me was a bank system with fake money. Each day a new person was able to be the banker and people who did good things got more money and everybody is rewarded for coming to class. I really like the bank system, I think I'll keep it.
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| Ana Teaching about Simon Bolivar |
Anyways, it is my first week with the class as one of the teachers and I am so impressed by them. Of course there are interruptions from other people in other classes who just pop in to cause trouble and the occasional dismissal for in appropiate language but overall they are great. One boy is always on time (even though the volunteers aren't always) and helps set up class and ALWAYS does the work, even if he wants to put up a fight about it. A lot of them are like that though, but I am definatly happy to see some of the same faces everyday.
Monday was holiday so we did not have class so on Tuesday Ana and I started full force. We did a geography lesson on Colombia having to do with the main rivers and mountain ranges. Colombia has the 2nd most fresh water in the world, so I thought that this was important for them to have pride in their country. This is also nice because Ana had prepared a lesson on the water cycle. We talked about why water was important for this class. Today we decided to teach history. We taught about Simon Bolivar, San Martin along side with what a democracy was, an election for banker, and what they would do if they were president. It was beautiful what they wrote. It seemed like they really recognized the problems of their neighborhood. I am planning on transcribing them for my own memories. It was also quite nice that they provided a perfect example of political parties. When we decided to vote on the banker, one of the tables worked together
