The Teaching Part Of It All

Last week someone asked me if I was actually doing any work while I was in Guatemala, or just playing.   I have to admit, it is a very valid question!  Yes, we play a lot on the weekends!  But we do work during the weeks!  Weekdays are spend at this place:

Colegío Mesoamericano Patzicía.  It is a private school, teaching grades pre-kinder through 10th grade.  The public school system in Guatemala is really not great.  Many Guatemalan children don´t go to school at all. They have tried to change that at this school.   

Colegío Mesoamericano is funded through the Rose Education Foundation, aiming for a better education for Guatemalan chindren.  A large part of this is their English education, knowing that the opportunities for them will be so much better if they can speak English.  

 They try to recruit volunteers throughout the year to help students with their English, working on getting down the pronunciation and accent of speaking English. 

Since there are two of us volunteering at the school right now they split us up with Krista teaching the older grades (5th through 10th) and I teach the younger grades (pre-kinder through 4th).  It worked out well because Krista prefers working with older kids, and I would take the younger any day!

Kinder

Prepa

First Grade

Second Grade 

Fouth Grade

It is a VERY different teaching environment than I am use to, and it was quite the struggle in the beginning!  There are still some parts of it that are not my favorite, but it has gotten better, and I do LOVE these children!

Honestly, how can you not?  Are they not the cutest little things ever?

So to answer the question, yes, we are doing some work while here in Guatemala!  And it is wonderful!  We are just filling our free time with all the adventures we can!