Teaching in Ecuador: Final Week!

The final week of my adventure was filled with mixed emotions. On one hand I'm very happy with the work we have done here, the connections made with the staff and students at the schools, and the knowledge exchanged. On the other hand, I am very sad that I will likely never see the kids again. All things considered I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to help such amazing people have a better school experience and gain some perspective about the world outside of their country.

Monday was an interesting day because Sara and I were given the opportunity to teach a geography lesson about Canada. We taught the students about our provinces; how many provinces we have, the capital city of Canada, our population density, and our animal/plant life among other things. The students used the internet to look up Canadian animals and were quite fascinated to see that the star nosed mole (arguably one of the world's most "interesting" looking animals) lives in Canada. At around eleven I began to feel very sick and was had to head back to the hotel to have a nap.

On Tuesday Blair (a retired teacher who is a facilitator for the program) was giving a presentation to the teachers at our school. This meant that Sara and I were in charge of the entire school of students for most of the day. In the morning we taught the students an English lesson, played sports with the students, and also taught the students the 'Boot Scoot'n Boogie'. For our English lesson we had the students create an "About Me" poster in English. Some of the students wrote "my happy birthday is..." or "I touch guitar..." which was kinda funny. However that being said their grasp of English has certainly improved during our time here. The students said I could keep their "About Me's" so that I will never forget them. During the Boot Scoot'n Boogie some of the students really enjoyed the dance while others were not very interested. They found the Canadian form of dancing to be fairly difficult. After these lessons the students worked on a webpage for a while then we had a group discussion. I asked the students to list off what they remember learning from Sara and I. It was amazing to hear them talk about all of the things they have learned from us. They were all shouting out that Canada has 10 provinces and our capital city is Ottawa, that they learned several different games from us, the different English lessons they learned, and other things which they have learned from us. All things considered Sara and I had a great day and did our best teaching a large group of students on our own (40-50 students each).

Wednesday was a day which I will never forget. After teaching English all day we had to say our goodbyes. Both the 2nd Bach and 3rd Bach had work experience on Thursday and Friday so Wednesday was our last day with them. The 2nd Bach was our first goodbye. In this class two of the students actually made me a card saying that they are very thankful that I came to Ecuador, that they have learned a lot from me, that I am a very funny nice friend for them, and that they like me a lot. They gave me this card and a hug, and all of the students wanted pictures with their Canadian teachers. It was a sad moment saying good bye, but a nice moment knowing that the students have learned from us and appreciated our help. Next we had to say goodbye to the 3rd Bach class. The students did not want us to leave. They swarmed us with a big hug, told us how much they enjoyed having us at the school, took pictures with us and then gave us a huge group hug. I have never felt so valued before in my life. The students were all so nice and the day was great. My cheeks actually started to get sore from smiling so much. They were such a great group of students and I will never forget them.

Thursday Sara and I went with Dana and Andrew to Inca and taught them English and Physical Education for the last time. It was a nice day, working in a classroom with the students for the last time. We taught all of the students a chant to get them ready for the Olympics we had planned for them on Friday and develop school pride. The students were a little timid with the chant at first, but after a few practice rounds we were able to get them yelling the following chant:

Every where we go-oh, (Repeat)

People want to know-oh, (Repeat)

Who we are-rr, (Repeat)

So we tell them, (Repeat)

We are H.M.Martinez! (Repeat)

The Mighty Mighty Martinez! (Repeat)

Once the day was done we took a few photographs with the students and a student named Patricio made short work of me in a game of chess. Only one day left which I will post about in another blog. Until then enjoy a few pictures of my final week at the schools;