Cursos Vacacional– Summer School!!!!!

Last week, I faced one of my greatest professional challenges to date. I’ve been looking for summer activities to keep myself busy, and one of the centros de salud (like a med center?) asked me to help out with a summer course that they were working on. For the last week of the course, they wanted me to teach English. I was all like

Then they told me it would be about 60 kids, mostly aged 10, some younger, some older.

I avoided planning for a while because, ya know:

Eventually I put together some of the most dynamic lesson plans I’ve ever put together. This is the first time here that I’ve worked so diligently on material creation. The challenges were also some of the most significant I’ve faced here. I didn’t know what sort of resources (like a white board, markers, desks and/or chairs for the students) I would have— turns out I didn’t have any of those things. So it’s good that I didn’t plan on having them!

As it turns out, it was more like 30 kids (thank god!), but the age range was 4-16 years. So, hm, age appropriate activities…? The first day went pretty well. We worked on introductions, names, and feeling words. I taped up some huge, blank newspaper to the wall. It stayed up for about an hour before falling. The walls are made of tile, and with thirty or so little ones running around, breathing and whatnot, the walls get a little moist after a while and tape doesn’t stick. No matter though, we just moved on to a dynamic name game that they enjoyed.

The second day was a hot, hot mess. No one wants to learn stuff in summer. The just got off from school and really want a break more than a lesson. As I was teaching days of the week and whatnot, they just looked at me like:

I wound up throwing out the lesson plan I had for that day about half way through the class. We just played whatever game I could think of from that point on. Heads up, Seven up. Split/Splat. Eye Spy. lo que sea. 

I decided to throw out the other lesson plans I had and start over. The next morning I woke up at 4am and started making a lesson plan for Bingo with the vocabulary from the first 2 days. While I making 35 bingo cards by hand at about 5 am, I had a realization:

Lots of PCVs get  hung up on this attitude

and that’s easy to do. I’m a volunteer. Officially the work I do is for the benefit of others– a benefit that others receive at zero monetary cost to themselves. Low attendance or lack of participation in a workshop that I have spent hours preparing can be very discouraging. Additionally, cultural ideas about professionalism and priorities are very different. Misunderstandings are common for all PCVs and their counterparts. For example, attire:

Or when everyone is all:

As a volunteer, sometimes you just get a little:

Nonetheless, it has always bothered me hearing other Volunteers talk about how unappreciated they are. I get it mas o menos. (In saying this I have to acknowledge that I’m a new volunteer, and I’ve only had 3.5 months in site to get jaded.) I understand the feeling– and I’m sure it gets worse the more times that you are disappointed by  your efforts not being realized. I think we are all guilty of jumping to this conclusion before fully analyzing the situation from time to time.

Anyway, as I was sitting on a cold tile floor at 5 am making this silly little Bingo cards, I caught myself thinking that “these little hooligans better appreciate all the work I’m doing for them!” And then, right there I started to laugh. Because, yeah, these Bingo cards are for the kids to use, but the experience of being heavily invested in something bigger than myself and growing stronger from challenges I never would have faced at home– that’s for me. It’s an incredible opportunity for me that I’m so grateful to have…  So, who cares if some of the kids don’t care that I’m there? I’m learning either way. Also, some of the kids do care that I’m there. It’s a big deal for them that I’m there and that they’re in this summer course. I have a responsibility to them, and I couldn’t be prouder to face that responsibility head on.

Anyway, I digress. Bingo went well. Everyone loves Bingo so I was super pleased with Day 3.

Day 4 was a series of random games. They liked some and really didn’t like others. Also, did I mention that while I’m teaching English in this tiny room that looks very much like an old-school aslyum (seriously, turn the lights off in there, add a little dirt, and it could easily be the setting of Saw or some other equally terrible horror movies), that there is also someone making chocolates and someone else painting pretty jewelry boxes? Also, on the last day there was like a baby and a few toddlers there. Thus during games where I had them all up and walking around, I may have lost a few (or half) to the various other distractions of the room. It certain points it was just a mess,

but that day ended well with hangman– again, like Bingo– who doesn’t like hangman?

Day 5 was just a little party day to celebrate the ending of the course. I’m really glad I did this. I would absolutely love to do it again, but I’m so glad it’s over. This week has been very much beast mode:

And, well,

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In an unrelated note: Happy Birthday Mom!! Love you!