A full Tuesday at the Altagracia School
We spent the entire day Tuesday at the Altagracia school, and got a lot done on a long day of interacting with students and teachers. The opening ceremony was the regular flag raising, and then we divided into two groups, and each followed a different path. I was in the group that first paid a visit to the preschool, where we introduced ourselves to the 4 and 5 year-olds. They were curious and not the least bit shy. Many of them introduced themselves to us one at a time, and we returned the favor. They knew exactly why we had come, and we hope to see them again on future visits. We then went out to the courtyard, where the other group had organized some special presentations to a select group of 5th and 6thgraders. Jun Chewning, who is an accomplished origami artist, taught the group to fold several figures. Then dental hygienist Carol Dillon, who was also instrumental in securing donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste to distribute throughout the visit, gave a demonstration of good dental hygiene, using some wonderful props she had brought, including a gigantic set of teeth, a gigantic toothbrush, and some very clever bilingual flashcards. The two groups then each went to an English class being taught by Valentina and Meribel, the two fulltime English teachers. The fact that an underserved urban public elementary school has two designated teachers for English is a rarity. This has been a DR Projects initiative for five years, and we have provided all of the funding for books and materials. The school leaders and staff have seen the value of this, and it has always been our hope that this type of instruction will be replicated on a national level. We are making good progress in that respect, largely because the program has shown itself to be sustainable.
The success does not depend on our yearly visits, although these highly anticipated trips are clearly a source of inspiration for teachers and students alike.
We got right to work in the classrooms. I was in the group that visited Valentina’s third grade class, and we worked on colors. After introductions (important, because they were all in English) the students began working in their workbooks on correctly writing the names of all of the colors, and the DR crew circulated and worked with small groups of students. Our Spanish wasn’t perfect, their English wasn’t perfect, but together we did a lot of learning. Before long, the class was over and it was time for the students to change classes. We worked with a second group on the same lesson, this time with more confidence in our teaching styles. Lunchtime came quickly, and we hopped back onto our bus for the short trip back to the hotel. We ate lunch and before very long were back in school. This time, our group was working with Meribel’s 5th and 6th graders. These students impressed us with their ability to learn the English names for a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Meribel is a first-year teacher, and her fluency and energy helped the class cover a lot of ground. Our two class sessions flew by, and we left a bit early so we could catch the end of our other group’s outdoor session with Valentina’s 4th grade class. They were playing a matching card game that had been specially invented by Christine Taylor, who works in a Dartmouth game design lab. Last year, she devised a wonderful bingo game, and this year it was a matching card game with special decks she had designed. It was a game very much like “Concentration”. If a player matched two face-down cards, she would then perform the task on the cards. It could be “write the alphabet” or “sing a song” or “hop on one foot”. Simple commands, lots of vocabulary words, and fun activity. The game was a winner. Very soon, the students were leaving for the day, but not before crowding around every one of us to give us hugs and high fives, or in my case have a quick bout of thumb wrestling. That’s my signature recess game, and I had a rematch with a 6th grader who I had played last year, and that bout was a rematch of a bout we started in 2019 when she was in second grade. She recognized me last year, and then again much more easily this year. These cumulative friendships are a lot of fun.
On our way home from school, we stopped in downtown Cotui and had ice cream, and while we were there, Rita ran into the owner, an old friend. As you know by n ow, Rita has a lot of old friends. This one also runs a school for the arts that is right next door, and we went for a quick tour. Amazing. It was a lot like Ava in Lebanon. In just 15 minutes we saw a play rehearsal, watched a drawing class (and saw amazing works on the display wall), and listened to a musical group rehearse, The arts for youth are alive in Cotui! After supper tonight, we had our regular check-in meeting, and then worked for more than an hour to prepare gifts for every student in the school, as well as the Director and the English teachers. More on that tomorrow, when we present the gifts!
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