Sunday Aug. 22nd
Linda… a fitting can for such pretty flowers.
After a bustling trip to San Juan to use the internet and buy vegetables I came home to teach my first English class. I had asked the students to bring either 5 pesos or a fruit to help me pay for the copies of handouts I make for the class. I now have enough bananas and chinolas to meet my weekly requirement of potassium and vitamins. Not to mention two beautiful bouquets of freshly picked flowers from the youngest of the bunch. How sweet, they made me really feel like an ol’ fashioned teacher getting apples from her kids. English class was fun; we worked on pronunciating basic greetings and introductions. Naturally starting an hour later than scheduled, patience continued to be the word of the day as education levels of the students varied from no schooling – up to about 10th grade. This means the majority of class has to be done orally, as many aren’ even reading in Spanish.
That being said… I have been continuing to think a lot about the purpose and intention of teaching English in an area where many still are illiterate in their first language. I’m not sure entirely how much they will learn, retain, and then use again. Afterall, many of these kids will be very lucky to finish 8th grade, and likely will live here in Las Auyamas – far from any English speakers for the rest of their lives. Some of the older volunteers have also advised against it…However, how many things have you learned and not used in your life? And was it a waste of time because you never found an opportunity to apply the knowledge? A professor I had in college was big on focusing on the process of learning, and that sometimes the material learned isn’t what counts but how you learned about it. Dominican public education systems, especially in rural areas, are struggling in the worst way. As I said before many will not continue past 3rd or 5th grade, and given that half of their parents didn’t attend school, the value of education is not always emphasized in their homes. English is popular and interesting to them; a type of class that gets kids excited about learning. I think for now I am going to capitalize on this and encourage them to take the time and effort to explore learning something new. And perhaps learn some new ways to learn. Also, it’s not to say that a literacy class or club may not happen in the future…
Secondly, even after only one class – it has been a fun way to get to know a younger demographic of people in my community. Many of the same kids also came to my youth group meeting, and I hope to be able to strengthen these relationships and interactions through the teaching of this class. Plus… it was pretty fun and who doesn’t want some fresh-cut flowers for the house every once and a while.
*Note on Education: According to the interviews I completed in the first part of my service, about 51% of the adults represented (around 200) never attended school, because their parents didn’t send them. Most of the boys stayed home to help with the agricultural work, while the women were needed to help with cleaning, preparing food, and other housework. Some were lucky enough to get the chance to complete some schooling (usually those from a slightly younger generation), and their stories from these interviews tell me that it was nearly always cut short because of parents needing more help. Another struggle was the access to school. Here in Las Auyamas, school only goes up to 3rd grade. If kids want to continue, they have to walk about 30-40 min to the next community to complete 8th grade. To continue with highschool, requires significant monetary/transport resources to get themselves to San Juan – a 40 min motorcycle ride – or Las Zanjas – a 1.5 hour walk/20 min moto.
