Health programs and ponytails in Perú
Well it’s been an eventful couple of weeks! On the 7th the local teachers had the day off for Dia del Maestro (Sun 6th), so the vols ran both schools and did a fantastic job! 
At Triunfo grades 1 & 2 were introduced to the concept of adjectives, 3 & 4 were taught about pronouns and number patterns, and 5 & 6 developed their English vocab. 
At Maldonado great work was done on reinforcing mathematics and reading comprehension with all grades, and for science the vols carried out an experiment/demonstration on the water cycle for grades 1, 2 & 3. 3rd grade definitely got it, the other two grades will need a little more work!!
Tues 8th saw us all jolted awake at 4am to a strong tremor! Quite a few of us evacuated at least our rooms, some houses. But everyone is safe and sound.
We’ve also started our health programme, Doctor & Dentist visits and eye tests coming up soon! The process is going to be a long one, be extremely worthwhile. All the details will be in a later blog.
On Weds 9th there was a national strike (Paro), and the Ministry of Education closed all schools for the day, which along with the road blocks meant we couldn’t go in (we arranged for all the children to receive lunch at both Maldonado & Triunfo). So we used the day to do some planning and then playing cards took over. A few games of ****head brought out the competitive in one or two of us! This then lead on to Poker, with Thomas coming out as the champion!
Triunfo grades 5 & 6 re-sat their English test, with every child bar one (oh Jorge!) improving on last week. The most improved were Alberto, Nancy, Erika and Yeni getting a fantastic 29 out of 30! 3 & 4 also re-sat their English exam good improvements also, the most improved were Alexander going from 8/30 to 21/30, Alex 0/30 to 7/30 (it’s an improvement!) and Marisol 15/30 – 23/30.
The “lovely” voices of the vols have been helping the children at the Inicial & in grades 1 & 2 to improve their English, with head, shoulders knees & toes a firm favourite, and now Old McDonald had a farm! Quite interesting watching them trying to think up the sound a worm makes (the kids have to shout out an animal in English). At Maldonado the vols have implemented 10 new vocab words in English that will change every week, so as to expand the kids general vocab. It’s working great, even with Anibal (6th grade) testing the kids on them before he’ll give them any refresco!
We’ve also seen skipping fever take over Triunfo, when Bryn & Saori left they gave the kids a long skipping rope....they love it!! Great exercise and fun! In 1 & 2, Hector holds the record out of the boys (32) and Dayana taking it all way too seriously for the girls!!!
The Physical Education lessons are amazing! The vols have been implementing obstacle courses and catching with water balloons (soon teaches the kids to improve their catching skills!).
On Sunday 13th Maldonado grades 4, 5 & 6 did us proud by performing 3 dances at the 45th anniversary of a school in Huaranguillo. We were invited for the first time last year but due to the strike last year were unable to attend, so this year was the first time we performed there. 
The kids did such a great job and really enjoyed themselves no end.
The art lessons have been going great, 1st & 2nd grade at Triunfo have been making puppets, using their imaginations and sewing skills! At Maldonado the vols tied the lessons in with the kids Social studies where they’re currently learning about all the past cultures of Peru. The kids had pictures of the Nazca lines, then with cord, card and paint replicated the lines!
The other night we all got together for a “P” night...poker, pizza, pudding, pilsner and.... ponytails!!!! Don’t ask!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment