On Wednesday Sara and I had English scheduled all day. We taught English all morning (7 am - 1030 am) but after that our focus shifted. In the afternoon (10:30 am - 1:30 pm) a teacher was not available to teach the grade nines due to a soccer tournament. This meant that Sara and I were able to teach the class. We were not give a specific lesson or even a topic to teach about, which gave us a lot of freedom when choosing what to teach. We began the afternoon by teaching and playing basketball and volleyball. Sara taught volleyball, while I taught basketball. I was able to show some of the students proper shooting form when shooting a basketball. The impact was instant and the students were making a lot more of their shots, while also shooting a basketball with correct form. After playing basketball we moved into a classroom and played Heads up, Seven up (or Cabezas Arriba, Sieta Arriba in Spanish). It took a few practice rounds before the students understood the game but soon enough they were understanding and enjoying the game. Whenever a boy who picked a girl (or girl who picked a boy) was guessed correctly the students would all say "oooOOooOOOooooOOooo!" This was really funny and I had a great time playing the game with the students. After this we took the students down to the computer lab to work on some computer programming. They asked Sara and I for a topic, and we choose Canada. The students designed a web page including pictures and information about Canadian culture, geography, animals, and other information about Canada. The students seemed very interested in learning about our home land, especially about the animals in Canada. A few of the students in the classed repeatedly asked if they could go play soccer. I told them if they worked hard we could play sooner. I feel I can relate to these students since I also would much rather be playing sports than working in the classroom.
On Thursday Sara and I joined Dana and Andrew at the Inca Campus. We taught English to a very shy group for the first two periods. The teacher broke this class up in to four groups and we each worked with one group. To start the class it was difficult to get any of the students to speak in more than a whisper. By the end of the class (thanks to a bit of encouragement) the students began to open up, work harder, speak louder, and speak English with more confidence. It was amazing. This was the first class were I felt a noticeable connection with EVERY student I worked with (thanks to the smaller groups). I also observed a very noticeable increase in the students motivation and self-confidence. The rest of the day was Physical Education classes. We walked over to a park for these classes. During the walks to the park and back to the school I was able to have a few simple conversations with the students. It was a great chance to get to know each other and form a bond with these students. Once at the park we played soccer and taught the students how to play handball. They had not played handball before and they really seemed to enjoy it. The students in physical education class on this day were far more active than they were on the days we observed them. It is very nice to see the students enjoying physical activity. Not just the students who love to play competitive sports like soccer, but all of the students. Even the most shy students can not resist the Canadian teacher peer pressure to come join the game.
On Friday Sara and I were once again at the Inca campus. It was a short day due to the election in Quito on the weekend. This meant that school was over at 10:30 am. However the teachers requested that the students stay from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm and that each one of us (Andrew, Sara, Dana and I) teach a class during this time. We agreed, happy to have the opportunity to work with the students. The day began with a physical education class with the very shy group of students. We taught them how to play dodgeball. I do not think that they have ever played dodgeball before. This did not stop the kids from having a blast. We played about seven rounds of dodgeball (including two rounds of teachers vs. students). Although the class was a shy, and there were a lot of screams as dodge balls whizzed by, the students definitely had an awesome time playing. I will never forget the huge smiles on each and every student's faces. After this class we went to teach English. The students were reviewing for a test and we were there to help them with their pronunciation. Some of the students in this class had really, really good English. One of the students(Patricio) even challenged me to a game of chess. I will keep you posted on who wins when we play. After this we prepared to teach an entire class by ourselves. This may seem like a daunting task, however our group is tremendous and we all made it through quite well I think. We read the students "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss. We also had the students write down the story, and underline words which they did not understand. We then taught the students the meaning of the words they did not understand. The students all listened and were well behaved. While going over the story I was able to display of my silly humour and the students laughed a lot. I love the class atmosphere here. Although the students are often shy and lack confidence it is clear that the students respect their teachers, value their education and appreciate having students from Canada in their classes. It is very refreshing to be in a classroom in which the teachers are respected and a classroom in which the students do not have the 'too cool for school' attitude. Also, whenever a class or the day ended and we had to leave the students would all say "Noooooooooooo!" Today the students seemed to really enjoy being around us. We finished the day off by teaching the students a line dance to Boot Scoot'n Boogie, followed by some volleyball. Dana took a few pictures of this so here they are:
The Students Boot Scoot'n
Andrew and the Students Dancing
Playing Volleyball With the Students
This weekend we are heading to the markets. I am looking forward to haggling with the shopkeepers and making a couple of purchases. I hope you are enjoying my blog, have a great weekend everyone!
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