¡hola hola coca cola!
Hellooooo,
My name is Chelsey and I am the July Education Director.
For starters the month of July is vacation time for the kids here in Quito, so we have been working with them in the mornings from 9am-12:30pm. They are divided into groups by grade with some stragglers in between. Each group is then called by an animal name, myself and Jenny lead "los gatitos" (the cats/kitties) which are predominately 6-8 year old third graders. The other clans are: los tiburones (sharks), las estrellas (stars), los conejos (rabbits), los ositos (bears), and las mariposas (butterflies). We have laminated, or rather contact papered, cartoon style name tags of the animals for each student to wear thus identifying him/her apart of a group. Since we range from 60-80 kids a day this has been the best system of organizing them and giving them a sense of unity within each group. Many a times there are world cup eligible games of fútbol (soccer) between los conejos and los gatitos. ; )
The children have been great; friendly, easy to love, and eager to learn we have each fallen in love with them. I believe their most admirable quality is their unyielding ability to care for one another. Literally 6 year olds are watching over 4 year olds, holding their hands and guiding them through the day with patience and tenderness. A favorite clan of ours is the Changos/Calapiñas who live next door to the school. There is Erica, Henry, Brayon, Marco, Diego, and little Angelito. Full of energy and always wanting one more photo they run to greet us and give tons of hugs to anyone willing to receive one. They remind me of the simple things in life, of being able and willing to care for another person above one´s self. Diego, only 4 years old, is Angelo´s (2 years old) constant partner in crime and caretaker, making sure his little brother is in line for colada (a daily nutritional drink) or brushing his teeth well. Of course not all is perfect here, there are some family feuds and brotherly brawls but overall all of the children get along very well and truly help each other out with a very mature sense of comradery.
So far each group has been working on different skills concerning the group´s particular needs. Los gatitos have mastered their abc´s and are now working on comprehending stories once they have been read. The director has told us that all of the children are able to read and write with no major probelms, but they lack the ability to fully understand what they have just read or written. For example los gatitos follow our stories to their best of their attention spans (which is not very long for rambunctious children on vacation :) answering questions about details with flying colors. However, when we ask what was the overall moral or theme of the story they guess and kind of miss the point. Hopefully after a month of the phenomenal July tutors this obstacle will be cleared!
In the afternoons we help out at the clinic by taking care of any antsy kids waiting for their turn or some simply come to visit us. Thursdays and Fridays a nutrition class is being offered by the social workers and public health students so the tutors also lend a hand with the children during these sessions. I seem to be making many grocery runs for colada supplies and snacks for those other children (us) or we all go exploring the local areas. On the weekends we have been making amazing trips to Baños, Otovalo, Cotocachi, Pichincha, and this weekend we head to the jungle!
It has been an amazing experience and I cannot believe three weeks have already flown by. I know just spending time with the children helps them grow but I hope we can also leave something else behind for them. Perhaps hopes for a better future, some dreams that we have shared with them, or simply the experience of meeting a group of crazy Gringos willing to be their friends will be lasting memories for them to cherish. I know I will never forget them with their sunburnt cheeks and beautiful smiles.
Hope you enjoyed the mini-novel,
Chels =)
My name is Chelsey and I am the July Education Director.
For starters the month of July is vacation time for the kids here in Quito, so we have been working with them in the mornings from 9am-12:30pm. They are divided into groups by grade with some stragglers in between. Each group is then called by an animal name, myself and Jenny lead "los gatitos" (the cats/kitties) which are predominately 6-8 year old third graders. The other clans are: los tiburones (sharks), las estrellas (stars), los conejos (rabbits), los ositos (bears), and las mariposas (butterflies). We have laminated, or rather contact papered, cartoon style name tags of the animals for each student to wear thus identifying him/her apart of a group. Since we range from 60-80 kids a day this has been the best system of organizing them and giving them a sense of unity within each group. Many a times there are world cup eligible games of fútbol (soccer) between los conejos and los gatitos. ; )
The children have been great; friendly, easy to love, and eager to learn we have each fallen in love with them. I believe their most admirable quality is their unyielding ability to care for one another. Literally 6 year olds are watching over 4 year olds, holding their hands and guiding them through the day with patience and tenderness. A favorite clan of ours is the Changos/Calapiñas who live next door to the school. There is Erica, Henry, Brayon, Marco, Diego, and little Angelito. Full of energy and always wanting one more photo they run to greet us and give tons of hugs to anyone willing to receive one. They remind me of the simple things in life, of being able and willing to care for another person above one´s self. Diego, only 4 years old, is Angelo´s (2 years old) constant partner in crime and caretaker, making sure his little brother is in line for colada (a daily nutritional drink) or brushing his teeth well. Of course not all is perfect here, there are some family feuds and brotherly brawls but overall all of the children get along very well and truly help each other out with a very mature sense of comradery.
So far each group has been working on different skills concerning the group´s particular needs. Los gatitos have mastered their abc´s and are now working on comprehending stories once they have been read. The director has told us that all of the children are able to read and write with no major probelms, but they lack the ability to fully understand what they have just read or written. For example los gatitos follow our stories to their best of their attention spans (which is not very long for rambunctious children on vacation :) answering questions about details with flying colors. However, when we ask what was the overall moral or theme of the story they guess and kind of miss the point. Hopefully after a month of the phenomenal July tutors this obstacle will be cleared!
In the afternoons we help out at the clinic by taking care of any antsy kids waiting for their turn or some simply come to visit us. Thursdays and Fridays a nutrition class is being offered by the social workers and public health students so the tutors also lend a hand with the children during these sessions. I seem to be making many grocery runs for colada supplies and snacks for those other children (us) or we all go exploring the local areas. On the weekends we have been making amazing trips to Baños, Otovalo, Cotocachi, Pichincha, and this weekend we head to the jungle!
It has been an amazing experience and I cannot believe three weeks have already flown by. I know just spending time with the children helps them grow but I hope we can also leave something else behind for them. Perhaps hopes for a better future, some dreams that we have shared with them, or simply the experience of meeting a group of crazy Gringos willing to be their friends will be lasting memories for them to cherish. I know I will never forget them with their sunburnt cheeks and beautiful smiles.
Hope you enjoyed the mini-novel,
Chels =)
posted by Chelsey at 5:37 PM
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