The sunshine and heat have announced the arrival of summertime here in Poroto, and with the onset of summer comes summer vacation. Since I’ve arrived in Poroto a significant portion of my work has been facilitated through the schools, so now that school has ended for summer I’ve been attempting to start ¨vacaciones utiles” with the youth in my town. Typically there are no summer programs offered for the students here, so trying to organize successful opportunities for youth engagement has been a bit of a challenge. Before the school year ended I advertised within the school, going classroom to classroom explaining the programs I would be offering and why they should be excited. I also attended the school-wide parents meeting to talk up my proposed activities. I followed up with formal registration, personal reminders, and signs. However, single-handedly orchestrating summer programs with teenagers is not the easiest task. I started summer programs immediately following the New Years holiday, so participation was limited the first few days. Disheartened, I literally went door to door announcing my plans for the summer and inviting individual youth to attend my classes. Luckily things have been improving and attendance has definitely increased.
I’m teaching 5 days a week, including English classes, a culture/geography class, an environment class, a manualidades class (which consists of crafts and jewelry making), and various other topics integrated into these programs. We do lots of “hands-on” learning (or non-formal education methods, if you will) including nature walks, interactive games, art projects, etc. For the most part, the youth seem to enjoy the programs and each day I’ve had more and more youth join my classes. Considering its summertime things can be a bit chaotic and disorganized, but overall I think it’s been a productive start to summer vacation.
In addition to my classes and workshops I’ve began, I’ve had time to enjoy summertime activities with my host family and community. Now that the heat of summer is in full effect, I’ve spent various afternoons at the local swimming pool with my host sister and assorted youth. Never before have I felt so confident in my swimming skills before swimming with Peruvians. Not to generalize, but in my limited swimming experience here in Poroto most people can’t swim or if they can, it’s more of a crazy flailing of body parts in an effort to stay afloat. I’m a terrible swimmer, but I’ve found myself giving “swimming lessons” which have evolved into chicken fights and other pool games I remember from childhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment