work, work, and more work

So…. I do a bunch of random things.

Like I don’t really have a job title. I just help everyone else that have their own programs or activites.

I would give you a day by day for what a normal week looks like, but I have been here a month, and I haven’t had a normal week yet. Things always change. Like I help with things that are once, twice or three times a week, but something always happens.

But I’ll try to explain.

So the main thing that I do is help at the school.

I go with Monica, an Ecuadorian American, so she is fluent in English and Spanish, but shes a volunteer, anyways I go with her to school. She teaches English to 3^rd and 4^th graders, and then 5^th and 6^th graders. Typically I just sit there and watch her teach, but the kids have to ask me if they have questions. Sometimes I write things on the board. I also am in charge of grading everything and have to turn all the grades in, in a couple weeks to the government. So I have all their assignments and have to keep track of them. I am also going to start helping her make curriculum for the rest of the school year and next year.

Typically what she teaches is some vocab that is reinforced for two weeks-ish. And on Mondays we do math. So they know the numbers and how to say add, subtract, etc. We do things with them that they might not get otherwise because there are only two teachers for six grade levels.

I help there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and school only goes until noon.

Leah, my American roommate, is the Librarian and is in charge of “library”. It’s a program for all the kids in the community. They have some free time where they play outside in the beginning. Then some kids read two books aloud for everyone else, and Leah normally has a activity that goes along with one of the books. Then its silent reading time, and they can read any book that they want. At the end of the program, they do another game with a ball, or play board games. And lately I’ve been in charge of figuring out a game.

             After Library, we have soccer practice. Which is a weird concept, cause no one has “practice”. Even “practices” for the mens team from the village, just consists of a scrimmage. So we do different drills for 30 mins, which is interesting because we only have like 7 balls, so we have to figure out how to do drills with 20-30 kids with that. But Monicas husband Kelvin, is in charge of that, so I help with ideas for drills, and help kick and throw balls at kids or let them kill me when they shoot.

Those programs are only on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

Leah and Cynthia, another American volunteer who is here with her family, run the preschool program. It’s just for the kids that are living on the property, and that don’t go to school yet. So the volunteers’ kids go as well as one of the Honduran worker’s kid, cause they live here. I help them keep the kids focused and participating. We are constantly teaching them colors and numbers and different vocabulary. We do different activities to help with sensory issues, and do lots of projects and crafts, as well as dancing to music and trying to help them get their shoes on the right feet. Preschool is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The rest of the time if I’m not grading papers or working on another project, I either clean and nap, or go find another project to do.

Friday night in the basketball court we have church that is geared towards the kids. Well more like a youth service, not a kids service. Some of the Honduran college kids that work here, sing and do the music, with a mixture of some other people. There is normally a game and then Kelvin or one of the college kids speaks.

Its open to everyone, and they are trying to fix little tweaks before they start sending a bus halfway down the mountain to bring more kids.

So that’s my week and on Saturdays I try to not die of boredom, if there isn’t a special event or we are going to town.