During the second week Sara and I were able to accomplish more with the students here in Quito. On Wednesday there were four Canadians at Zambiza school (Me, Sara, Dana and Meghan). That morning we taught our own English lesson to the 3rd year bach (graduating class, students ranging from 17-20). We included questions such as "Which University would you like to go to?, "Where would you like to travel?" and "What career would you like to have?" as well as other questions which would inspire students to think about their future goals and life beyond the city of Quito (if that was something they were interested in). It went over really well. It was nice to hear that a lot of the students had University in mind. While some students had career goals of working in a candy factory or other labour fields other students had goals of becoming doctors, veterinarians, and environmental engineers. Sara and I were very pleased to hear these career goals and we praised these students for their lofty goals and encouraged them to work towards them. Based on my experiences in the school so far it appears that the students are not praised very often and meaningful discussion about their future is not common. This leads me to believe our work is necessary and beneficial here.
For the second half of the morning we taught the grade nine class (students ranging from 13-18 years old) "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" in English. The students then taught us the Spanish translation of the song, and we all had a great time singing the song. These students for the most part do not have enough English to maintain a conversation but are very eager to learn and have a ton of energy. A lot of the students in this class have a passion for and love of sports. The high energy level and love of sports helps me feel a real connection with these students despite the language barrier.
Following the morning classes we played volleyball and dodgeball out in the recreation area. It was great to see a lot of students up and playing. In particular I have noticed a difference in some students who were too shy to join in the games when Sara and I first arrived. Students who during the first week I had to say "Juego!" and "Acqui!" (Spanish for 'Play' and 'Here!') while waving them over or essentially pulling them over to game to get them to come play were now playing confidently and asking others to join the game. There are still a few students who do not play despite our best efforts, hopefully next week we can get these students to join in.
The afternoon was a bit hectic. The computer programming teacher was away at a technology exhibit so Meghan and I taught the grade nine class, while Sara and Dana taught the 2nd year bach (students ranging from 15-19). Meghan and I had the students in the computer lab so we decided to get the students to make a web page about themselves (in English). Meghan wrote about herself on the whiteboard as a guide for the students to use. The students were unable to use the internet since the computer programming teacher needed to take the internet chords with him in order to give his presentation. The students asked Meghan and I a few questions and we were able to interact with the students about the assignment as well as other things. It was a good chance for us to see the students expressing their interests, families, and other things about themselves. The students may have relied on the template Meghan gave a little too much however, with a couple of the students claiming to live in "Winnipeg, Ecuador".
To finish the day Sara and I taught the 3rd year bach physical education class while Meghan and Dana taught the grade nine class an English lesson. Half of the physical education class was writing a test while half of the class was outside with us. We played a low organized tag game and did some dynamic stretching for a warm up. (As compared to other warm ups we have seen here; running laps, or unsafe deep knee bend jumps). We then played a round of doctor dodgeball. Once they finished the test we worked with the other half of the students while our original students went to write the test. We did the same activities with this group, noting that both groups had a hard but fun time with lunging, apparently not a common exercise for the students.
On Thursday Sara and I joined Andrew and Dana at Inca. The day began with English and helping the students with their pronunciation. We went through the entire alphabet practicing speaking English. From a-z we went over every word the students knew of (also adding a few new ones including supercalifragilisticexpialidocious). Our group worked well together, taking turns being the leader and also mixing in a lot of humour to keep the students attention.
We then had physical education at the park. We taught the Inca students some dynamic stretching as well as how to play dodgeball. Although I was having trouble keeping my energy level up I had a lot of fun, it's always fun to play sports. Next walked back to the school and I began to feel quite sick. Our next class was a double period of physical education at the park. I told everyone to go on ahead and that I would meet them at the park when I was feeling a bit better. About fifteen minutes later I was able to head to the park, however I had forgotten how to get there. It was about a twenty minute walk, and I had turned too early. I saw a few locals who looked like students. One was even wearing an AC/DC shirt and carrying a Harry Potter book. I asked them how to get to the park and they explained the directions, and when they saw the puzzled look on my face offered to walk me to the park. Once we got to the park we had a brief conversation and I learned their names, ages, school as well as some of their interests. Being able to have a conversation in Spanish was a nice confirmation that my Spanish is improving. This physical education class was similar to the previous one. I played when possible but due to my illness did some observing and cheering as well. After this we walked back to the school. The walks to and from the school are a great opportunity to talk to the students about their interests outside of school, share some of my interests and experiences with the students and if possible trick the students into practicing their English with me.
The final two periods of the day at Inca were Geography with their strongest English speaking class(That said they still speak and understand minimal English aside from a couple of very skilled English students who help translate a few words on occasion). Sara, Dana, Andrew and I were given the opportunity to give a lesson on Canadian geography. We split the class into four groups and rotated around the class. I taught the students about the animals of Canada. Of particular interest were Beluga Whales and their ability to sing underwater as communication, Bisons who are 2 meters tall, 4 meters long and weigh 900 pounds, Polar Bears who are also quite large, live in frozen conditions, and have black skin but appear white thanks to white fur, as well as Beavers who cut down trees to build dams which control water levels, tap their tails to warn other beavers of danger, and are Canada's natural animal. It was a bit difficult to explain all of this information and more about Canadian animals (in Spanish) but thanks to some hand motions and help from the students I was able to. At the end of class the students told us that Humpback Whales are the largest animals in Ecuador. After our lesson we left the classroom to a chorus of "noooo's!!!" from the students. (due to them enjoying our company, disdain for the upcoming test they had to write, or a bit of both). The students are generally interested in learning about Canada and seem quite thankful to have us in their schools. This makes for a great working environment for us and we have been having a great time working with the schools.
On Friday the sickness became too much. I will not go into detail on that, but I will say that I was too sick to make it to school unfortunately. My Friday consisted of rest, which was definitely needed to be ready for the weekend in Mindo (More on that in my next blog!)
Thanks for being patient, I hope you are enjoying reading about my experience!
Students Playing Dodgeball
Students Playing
Students Playing Dodgeball
Zach, One of the More Competitive, Passionate, Athletic Students at Zambiza
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