Monday, July 20, 2015
Rafting Rapids y Visita a la escuela, Cristo Rey
Written by Helen Birney
Written by Helen Birney
Every day seems to surpass our wildest dreams, and at the
most unexpected times. After breakfast, we set out to raft in class 2-3 rapids
with two apprehensive members of our
group. Not only did we all go rafting, but we all smiled doing it…at least some
of the time. While rafting was memorable, and caught on camera (keepsake photos
will be brought home on DVD) it was what happened around rafting that takes the
40th birthday cake (Happy Birthday, Briar!) Upon arriving at the
beginning of our “river trail” we saw our first sloth…as Becky put it, the
complete awe and oo-ahhing made this sloth move faster than it had in its life
to get away, but fortunately for us that was still slow enough for us to get a
picture with it.
Another rafting-not-rafting highlight was being pulled into
the raft after we jumped in. Jumping in was lovely, don’t get me wrong--the
cold water was refreshing, the feeling of rushing water exhilerating—but being
pulled into the boat by our life jacket shoulder straps created a BC teacher
pile in the middle of the boat, stuck like turtles on our backs and fish out of
water flopping to get back to our seats to paddle. Our guide kept it a
light-hearted ride, but we knew how to handle jokes about pirhanas and being
left behind with a grain of salt.
Half-way through our ride, we stopped and waded in the water
a bit, with a group of cows looking longingly at the fresh-cut pineapple and
watermelon cut for us as a mid-ride snack. After skipping our watermelon rinds
across the water like stones (it’s awesome, try it) we fed the sweetest cows
the rind of our pineapple. Who knew cows even liked pineapple?
The frequency of cormorants was like spotting herons on the
Chesapeake Bay. Our guide’s knowledge about all Costa Rica animals world was
extensive, and I feel like in general all of our guides are this way, even
though they are specialized in rafting, chocolate, or the rainforest. They know
it all.
In the afternoon, we went on a school visit in Cristo Rey.
We were provided with the idea that this particular school is set in an area
known for crime and drug use. The children that attend the school all live near
the school, and for some children, the meal they get at school is the only meal
of the day. Climate affects everything about school, from absenteeism due to
rain, to the inability to hang charts on the wall because they would peel off
from humidity.
Despite being armed with this information, we immediately
saw how similar our children were to each other. One group of boys played
wall-ball the way they do in the cave on our roof for yard, huge groups of
children played soccer in the field, and others just wandered around talking
with their friends. We were received with interest, and many children wanted to
talk to us, but were nervous to try to speak
English. We were able to engage some children in a discussion about
traditional foods from USA and Costa Rica, and by the end of the lesson we all
finally felt like teachers. We didn’t realize how much we missed the feeling
until we had the opportunity to make a difference in the way that we know how,
and were sent off with hugs, smiles, and good-byes in both English and Spanish.
The classes are mostly taught with rote learning, where the
teacher writes on the board and the students copy what he/she writes. In one
math class, the kids just copied what the teacher wrote on the board; however,
at the same time, we also saw how what the teacher wrote scaffolded problems
and made connections much in the way we do number strings. The biggest
difference is that the kids are not involved in the construction of the answer,
so some inevitably just copy, and other more savvy kids might pick up on the
mathematical patterns that we often stop to discuss at Berkeley Carroll.
Lack of books, inconsistent internet, and classrooms without
windows and conditioned spaces are tempting to focus on, but truthfully
these are not the most memorable aspects of this school. As a team of teachers
looking to expand our global ideas and empathy, we have to ask ourselves, what
can we learn from this experience,
rather than what can we bring to it? Today, we learned that climate can affect
the way and frequency that kids come to school. We learned that the classes
take time to prune, weed, and care for a garden that is used to sell vegetables
for money for the school as well as supply some food to eat. We also learned
that it is possible to take five minutes between classes to let kids run around
and regroup in their next class. We learned that by inviting Spanish speakers
to our school, we can create a genuine interest in getting our kids to speak
Spanish, just as our presence conjured this up in the kids at the school. We
learned that all kids are kids that share similar likes and interests, and that
programming, presentation tools, and integration are common themes that can
relate our schools together.
Gotta go to finish Briar’s birthday celebrat
ion con pastel y
chocolate!
0 comments:
Post a Comment