We apologize for taking the week off last week - the Internet was very spotty, and it would have been nearly impossible to post the pictures below...
I'd like to start by telling you about my English students' Earth Day project. We did an idea I found online called a Council of All Beings, where each person chooses a plant, animal, or other part of the natural environment, creates a mask or costume to represent their character, and represents their character in a round-table discussion. Since these are beginning English students, rather than a round-table, I had them create a statement in English answering these three questions: who are you? Why are you important? How do humans make you feel? That last question takes a lot of imagination in some cases, and I was hoping it would inspire students to think "outside the box." I was not disappointed! Each person had to present their statement in both languages in costume. Some chose to do it in front of the whole upper campus at the weekly flag-raising ceremony on Earth Day for an extra 10 points. Here is a photo of a few students and me (yes, I thought it would be good for my Spanish, so I did it too!) making our presentations that morning:
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| L to R: Evelin (tomato), Ismael (bird), me (wolf), Valeria (Mother Earth) |
I will try to get a copy of the group Forest and post it next week - my camera battery was dead!! There were four students - two trees, a parrot, and a flower. They each presented their own statement, then each had an extra sentence about how they fit into the forest. It was very cool! Above you can see a star, a bee, a tree, water, a sunflower, another flower, and a bird, plus a close-up of my wolf mask. Standout presentations talked about pollination, photosynthesis, and hydrography. One of the boys was a bunny rabbit, complete with a sock tail! His was meant to be funny, and it was! Bunnies are important because they bring chocolate eggs on Easter and they are soft and cuddly to pet. :) LOL
This week my students had the chance to introduce themselves via the blog page of a group of students coming from Siena College in New York state on May 22. It was a great chance for them to practice their main skill sets so far - personal information and descriptions of people and places. A few students really stand out when they have a chance to write. You can see the 6 bios of the US students, then my students' posts are below: Siena Global Service Internship
Jeff is continuing work on the library project - he finished the garden this week. We'll get you a picture next time, once the plants have settled in. The wood for the trophy display area is in process, and the holes are all spackled so we can re-hang the chair rail at the right height for the tables, so things are progressing. Thank you very much to the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church youth group for their generous donation to start this project. Padre Emilio has committed some UAC funds to the project as well, but as you all know, the loss of USAID funding means that finances are pretty tight here, so if anyone else out there would like to send some money for a very worthy cause - encouraging reading and literacy! - it would certainly be greatly appreciated. We are working to turn an echoing, cheerless room of plain tables and chairs into a welcoming and inviting place where students and staff are encouraged to read for pleasure, as well as for schoolwork. There is not a tradition of recreational reading in this culture, and encouraging it as a way to a literate, knowledgeable public is something many agencies and organizations are trying to do at every level. While adult literacy is far greater than it was 10 years ago, it is still an uphill battle. I see that some of my students can barely express themselves writing in their native language, and many have difficulty reading for information and thinking critically. These skills are all related to a culture that reads regularly, so welcoming libraries are IMPORTANT. Thanks so much for your help. :)
That's all for this week - God bless you all!
Peace,
Susan
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