Teaching in Ecuador: 2 days of teaching in the books!

Hello everyone! So far we have put in two days each at our schools. There have been some triumphs and some challenges so far, but we have all stayed positive and we have all made progress at each of our schools.

Today is my birthday! Today being my birthday made today a very interesting and wonderful day at the school. We'll get to that later. Our first day teaching was Monday May 2nd. On this day there were no English speaking teachers present in the school. Because of this Sara and I found the day to be a challenge. For me personally it was also a very frustrating day. We have been mainly observing classes for the first couple of days, in order to get a feel for the school atmosphere, students, and teachers. During our lunch break we have been running activities. On Monday we observed biology, chemistry, anatomy, as well as computer programming. Due to the difficulty of these classes and the lack of communication with the teachers I was not as involved as I would have liked to have been. I also felt some potential resistance from the teachers in the school to our presence. Our school day at Zambiza campus ended at 1:30 pm, however our driver was unable to pick us up, and about an hour later his son arrived to pick us up. He tried to explain the problem but Sara and I did not quite understand. Later we found out that there was a large landslide and the roads were not open for our driver to reach us. Finally we made it to the Inca campus to meet Dana and Andrew and help with the accelerated program (for students who had dropped out and were returning to school). This meant we were in the schools from 7 am until approximately 5 pm. After this day along with our exciting weekend I was drained. I was also concerned due to the frustrating day. I was able to remain positive thanks to some discussions with the group as well as a very relaxing Monday night.

Now for my birthday, Tuesday May 3rd. The day started off well when one of the teachers who I had thought was not happy to have us in the school allowed us to observe his class. He was teaching a math class on patterns and solving pattern equations when different variables were known. Sara and I had some positive discussion with this teacher and I now realize that he is glad to have us in the school. The next class was anatomy, however the teacher was not at school today due to a meeting. Luckily our translator Carlos was at the school. He asked the class to share with us their names and ages so that Sara and I could get to know the students. After telling us their names the class told us that they were learning reproduction/sexual education. They had prepared a skit for this class and they decided to show us their skit. The skit covered everything about relationships from courtship, to dating, childbirth to divorce. What was very interesting about it was that it went from a drawn out marriage scene, to the students saying "then they went on their honeymoon, and then they got back home from their honeymoon and the girl was pregnant." There was very little information about sex, but a lot about relationships and the responsibility involved in having a child. That being said the skit was very funny, and after the skit we were able to play basketball and volleyball with the students. The first day at the break approximately ten students played with Sara and I. Today approximately thirty students played with us. It is nice to see increased participation. Although it has only been two days I feel as though I have witnessed some of the student's confidence increase.

In the afternoon we observed biology. The class was discussing respiratory diseases with their teacher. This class had not heard of cystic fibrosis. They said that they did not think cystic fibrosis was a disease which affected people locally. Thanks to Carlos I was able to explain to the students what the disease was as well as what steps the University of Manitoba have taken to fundraise (Shinerama) for research into a treatment/prevention of the disease. Our next classes were with the youngest students(grade 9 students). These students were very eager and excited to learn. The class was very loud, but on task. Near the end of the class a few of the teachers and staff members of the school entered the class and said "We have heard it is your birthday. We know it must be difficult to be away from your family on this day, and we want you to feel like we are your family and you are comfortable and feel welcome." They also brought in a birthday cake, and got the students to sing happy birthday to me in English and Spanish. It was really nice of them to do this for me and I am very grateful for how nice they have treated me. Although I do miss some of the people from Canada I would not say I am homesick. The people in Ecuador have treated us all so well. Everyone here seems to have such a positive attitude and it is a refreshing change from a lot of the negativity I have experienced in Canada. I have also been living in the moment, really enjoying the city and all it has to offer. Nearly a week into the trip and I am happy to say that I love the city of Quito!

As promised last blog, here are some pictures from our awesome afternoon at the farm, catching, gutting, and cooking our own fish.