English, tareas and a revamped PE schedule in Perú

Monday was the giving of the jumpers to each child, thanks to volunteers Georgina, Andi & Nadja raising & donating money. The kids went crazy for them, and have worn them all week as they now have a warm jumper and some pretty cool hoodies during these cold times in the middle of the desert, over 2000m high.

We also celebrated birthdays for June this week. Alvaro, Ayda, Alberto & Lucy (Inicial) at Triunfo, and Maricruz at Maldonado. Gifts incl. shoes, story books, books on animals, T-shirts & socks.

The children are making excellent progress with their English, it’s "poco a poco" but they’re getting there! All thanks to the great work the volunteers have been doing to create fun and interactive lessons.

Fernando at Maldonado now knows all the colours in English, and the vols at Triunfo this week incorporated Twister for grades 1 & 2 to teach left & right, colours and body parts in English, absolutely hysterical for the children (we may have chuckled a few times).

The older grades at Triunfo sat a test this week in English, with the girls coming out on top - Maribel, Ayda, Marisol, Julia, Yeni & Irene.

Tarea (afternoon classes) at Maldonado has seen the volunteers take charge with grades 1, 2 & 3. They now decide what the children require re-enforcement in from teaching them in the set lessons during the day, then use this to structure their “tarea” so as to help the kids more. At the moment they’re focusing on silabas (syllables), comprensión de lectura (reading comprehension), sumas, restas y multiplicación (adding, subtraction and multiplication).

The “use your imagination” art lesson was used at Triunfo this week (i.e. the kids are given materials, then a brief brainstorming session on what they think they could make, and then off they go!), with fantastic results. Julia made a mini furniture set, Gabriella a vase with paper flowers, Estefani a boat, Jorge & Jon made great houses (the vols efforts were also pretty impressive with a dinosaur from Patrick & a NASA space ship from Georgina).

We also have a new member of the Triunfo family in 6th grade. Sylvia has moved to the community, from the Sierra, to join her family (Alex in 1st grade & Mayli in the Inicial). Understandably she was a little withdrawn and nervous to begin with, but she’s already making great friends.

We had a workshop on lesson planning and how to make PE lessons more constructive for the children this week. This lead to the vols at Maldonado revamping & carrying out fantastic PE lessons, grades 1, 2 & 3 loved the warm up, relay races, captain ball and much more. Grades 4, 5 & 6 are going to take a little more convincing but determination is not something we lack!

Friday saw both schools celebrate Dia del Maestro (Sunday 6th July). Both schools held a party with the children putting on dramatisations, poem recitals, songs & dances. Ruth, Anabel, Yovana, Ivan, Anibal & Jonathan put on a pretty impressive dance to Daddy Yankee, choreographed by Pablo! Ivan’s splits did make us flinch slightly though!!

English, tareas and a revamped PE schedule in Perú