First day of School 2016

The 2016 school year has officially kicked off! The first day of school was so interesting here. Students all seemed pretty excited when we talked to them leading up to that day. They had their new backpacks, school supplies etc…But the when the first day came only about 1/2 of the student body showed up. We were warned about this from previous volunteers, so while we were not super surprised, it was interesting to see it play out. Many of the students who we saw in passing told us that it was just a “limpieza” (cleaning) day and that they decided they didn’t want to come. Honestly—I don’t blame them much. But thankfully by the middle of the week we had full classes again.

Our walk to the high school

The start of a new school year has always been very exciting for me. Even in college, I loved buying new school supplies, labeling my binders and notebooks, and getting everything organized. There is a freshness in new supplies, new classmates, new attitudes and a new year. I can’t say it feels much different here. After a hectic ending to the school year last year, it was great to see teachers and students reinvigorated for the Ano Lectivo 2016. There is so much potential in so many of these students and I hope that even through (what I perceive as) “the craziness” of the school systems here, that they will be able to learn and grow as individuals, feeling empowered with new knowledge gained and relationships built. That’s my hope for 2016! And I hope that we can be a small part of that growth!

And while Kyle and I are definitely feeling the exhaustion of getting back into a new routine and schedule, we are feeling super excited and positive about this school year. While it was so great to spend the first few months here observing and learning Spanish, I think we were both feeling ready to jump into whatever roles were to come. With our skill sets, spanish levels and lots of conversation with the school director/the organic farm/and other important people here we decided on a routine that we are feeling really positive about. Of course, this can (and will!) change over the next few months and year. But it’s a good starting point with lots of variety so we can build relationships with many different individuals.

Our day to day schedule will look a little different everyday, and we are planning to spend a lot of our time in separate locations to really take advantage of our time and energy (and we feel like it will be a positive for Spanish learning, too!)  While we will continue our support of the high school in town, Kyle will be there Mondays and Tuesdays and I will be there on Wednesdays. We will be doing a lot of adminstrative support (word processing and computer work) and helping the teachers and director with whatever comes up. We will also be available to help in English classes as needed! We will also be working on some ideas with the director for how to use the library space and books most effectively. She has a lot of great ideas for how to mejorar (better) this school year. And we are totally up for plugging in wherever she feels she can use us. 

I have been spending time with Maria in Quebrada de Agua at a 1 room multigrade school (Mondays and Tuesday). I am supporting her in the classroom through small group work and some one-on-one work with students who may be falling behind. The students are grades 4-6 and have been so fun to work with already. I have already taught a P.E. class, as well a civics (or like classroom “counseling lessons”…a huge challenge with my Spanish level, but a lot of fun because I think the kids still “get it” through the activities we do together). Maria has also asked me to start with some English basics with them. So I think it will be a really good fit, and another way to get out into the communities around San Nicolas.

Here’s a picture of Maria and I

We are continuing our work with La Garnacha—the organic farm—where we will be helping prepare for Farmer’s Market by cleaning vegetables, and then supporting sales at the Farmer’s Market on Fridays. Kyle is also starting to talk some “accounting” projects around the community. So that will be developing over the next few months.

Cleaning veggies on Thursdays

Finally, We will be teaching a supplemental high school English course for the 2016 school year. These classes will take place Monday and Wednesday after the school day (2-4pm). This is probably the part we are most nervous about…planning, classroom management…but it should be another great way to connect with students and get to know them more. And hopefully they will learn some English along the way : )

A few other things we have been involved in: Kyle has been on the Mayor’s office soccer team so he plays in Esteli on Sundays with “the guys” : ) He also plays with the students after school. I am co-leading a women’s excercise class in the evenings with the Alcaldia. It has been so much fun! And I want to write another blog post about that soon. We also started taking Spanish classes in Esteli 1x/week. We are hoping to get more formal practice, as we definitely get by with our Spanish, but it’s not always pretty. And we are rarely corrected, so the mistakes are starting to stick. It’s definitely time for some more formal Spanish practice.

Whew! That kind of makes me tired writing it all out. But we are excited for these opportunities and feel that the San Nicolesenas are excited as well. Of course, we are focused on our goals of accompaniment and relatioship building…but are also feeling excited about having some more “formal” roles to continue this relationship development. We are already enjoying so many relationships here, and know that there are many more to come.

Much Love.