Top Pics: Children at Resplendor
Pics Below: Renee and Peter at their home
So Much to Write About-So Little Time
I am including a couple of topics. So much has happened since I last sat down to write. It is a busy time now. I have five classes this week, get out around 2, eat at 2:30, take a brief siesta, then prepare to teach the children before we leave around 5. Today, a young woman from Quebec will be joining us. Her younger sister has been attending classes with me. The older just flew in today. They have expressed interest in helping teach at Resplendor. We will all meet Jacquie today at OXCO, to be picked up around 5. We will be there until classes are over at 8 pm. Then, they will take us back to Academia. My first class is at 8:30 am. Usually I have been awakening early to study. As usual I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew. My reason for being here is to increase my Spanish skills and hopefully have a little free time in the process. The volunteering opportunity arose, one in which we had not known of prior to coming. Had I known, I would have brought some speech therapy materials, books, etc...Since I do not have those things, I am spending time developing activities. Once I arrive at the school and am adequately prepared, I do enjoy it. We go every Mon., Tues., and Thurs. Tues., I brought a Mexican memory game I purchased and then printed the English words on index cards. The children enjoyed finding the matches and learning the English words. We then did some additional vocabulary activities. I taught them body parts/directions prior to doing the hokey pokey. Later, I had a private speech therapy session with a young boy. It was all very rewarding. Children and parents were very appreciative. I guess that's what keeps me going. One parent came up to me to practice her newly acquired sentence: "It is very cloudy today." I complimented her and replied, "Yes, it is going to rain." Of course, she then immediately wrote down that sentence to learn. What a wonderful lust for learning! Man if we had a tenth of that in the states, right teachers? :) However, I must admit that if the two young women enjoy working with the children, I may back out a bit and serve more on a consultation basis. Curtis is taking fewer classes and having more time to enjoy class preparation, etc...He is great with the older boys. We are trying to make everything functional. The boys are learning names for farming equipment, car parts, etc... Of course, Curtis certainly has the background re: farming vocabulary. :)
Another topic:....Last night we had a very enjoyable evening. We had been invited to the home of a couple we met at "The Gringo Group." They were staying in one of their vacation homes, which happens to be here in Valenciana, very close to Guanajuato-phenomenal views of the city. The home was built by their now deceased parents, about 40 years ago, and is now shared amongst the siblings. The home was designed by a very famous Mexican architect from Mexico City. It was very Mexicana:boveda ceilings, lots of Mexican tiles, paintings, furniture, rugs, etc.... -beautiful! On the outside of the home was an original sculpture by Gene Byron, of the Gene Byron museum here. Peter and Renee are from Toronto, where he is a physician and she a high school principal. We spent about two and a half hours chatting and enjoying the wonderful views from the mountain of Guanajuato in lights. How kind of them to invite us to their lovely home!
Above are pics of Peter and Renee at their home and some of the children from Resplendor.
Third topic: Teachers/Classes
Teachers: If you have read my blogs at all, you know how much I love the school and teachers here. I want to share two examples of why, both which happened today. Magda has taught Curtis and me in the past. I currently have a conversation class with her. I had mentioned to her that we were looking for a specific t-shirt. She told me her sister who lives in Irapauto would look. Today, she told me that her sister had found the shirts we couldn't find here. She was asking our sizes, colors we wanted, etc...We have made plans to meet her sister. How thoughtful!
Another great teacher here is Eva. She teaches me my private Spanish lessons. Today she invited us to her home next Sat. for breakfast. She is a young, single woman engaged to a man in France. Eva studied there last year. How sweet of her to want to invite us to her home!
Gotta take a pic of our good looking dance teacher before we go too. :) He,(Emmanuel) also is a great, positive teacher who has made our private dance class lots of fun!
Classes: This week I have continued Latin Literature, dance, a special grammar class, conversation class, and my private instruction. I truly have enjoyed all of them. I must not forget to mention Carlos. He is a graduate of Univ. of Mexico and has actually attended lectures by the famous writers we have studied. Latin literature is obviously his love. He knows so much. I am getting a great education: Catalina en musica, Carlos en literatura, Emmanuel en baile....not to mention increasing my skills in the language. Tengo mucho amor por mis amigos en los estados unidos y en Mexico tambien.
Update: Just returned from Resplendor. When I try to talk myself into a less active role, I begin to question it after an evening there. The children were so good and so eager to learn. They listened as I read an Eng. book to them, first telling them the Spanish sentence equivalent prior to reading the printed Eng. sentence. Then, we reviewed the English word, providing the Spanish palabra. The children then made up sentences in Spanish using the Spanish palabra and later after I modeled the English equivalent version, they would repeat the English sentence. They also enjoyed the review of the Spanish/English memory card game I made. We then went outside and played luz rojo, luz verde/red light, green light and discussed los semaforos-traffic lights. You know, I don't think I have even seen any here in Guanajuato. :) Of course, the stop signs only mean slow down and look, here. :)
After my session with the group of children, I changed hats from Eng. teacher to speech pathologist and worked with a deaf boy and his sister who is also very hard of hearing, on Mexican sign language. As previously stated, all the children are so eager to learn. Dominique, the young woman from Quebec, is delightful. Glad she arrived to help with the kids. Curtis's group of boys enjoyed learning/seeing the different parts of the pick-up truck Jacquie drives. Curtis asked her if we could pop the hood tonight. Of course, it is now 10:30 pm. and I haven't done my own homework for tomorrow. I will arise early to do so. Buenas Noches, Joy
I am including a couple of topics. So much has happened since I last sat down to write. It is a busy time now. I have five classes this week, get out around 2, eat at 2:30, take a brief siesta, then prepare to teach the children before we leave around 5. Today, a young woman from Quebec will be joining us. Her younger sister has been attending classes with me. The older just flew in today. They have expressed interest in helping teach at Resplendor. We will all meet Jacquie today at OXCO, to be picked up around 5. We will be there until classes are over at 8 pm. Then, they will take us back to Academia. My first class is at 8:30 am. Usually I have been awakening early to study. As usual I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew. My reason for being here is to increase my Spanish skills and hopefully have a little free time in the process. The volunteering opportunity arose, one in which we had not known of prior to coming. Had I known, I would have brought some speech therapy materials, books, etc...Since I do not have those things, I am spending time developing activities. Once I arrive at the school and am adequately prepared, I do enjoy it. We go every Mon., Tues., and Thurs. Tues., I brought a Mexican memory game I purchased and then printed the English words on index cards. The children enjoyed finding the matches and learning the English words. We then did some additional vocabulary activities. I taught them body parts/directions prior to doing the hokey pokey. Later, I had a private speech therapy session with a young boy. It was all very rewarding. Children and parents were very appreciative. I guess that's what keeps me going. One parent came up to me to practice her newly acquired sentence: "It is very cloudy today." I complimented her and replied, "Yes, it is going to rain." Of course, she then immediately wrote down that sentence to learn. What a wonderful lust for learning! Man if we had a tenth of that in the states, right teachers? :) However, I must admit that if the two young women enjoy working with the children, I may back out a bit and serve more on a consultation basis. Curtis is taking fewer classes and having more time to enjoy class preparation, etc...He is great with the older boys. We are trying to make everything functional. The boys are learning names for farming equipment, car parts, etc... Of course, Curtis certainly has the background re: farming vocabulary. :)
Another topic:....Last night we had a very enjoyable evening. We had been invited to the home of a couple we met at "The Gringo Group." They were staying in one of their vacation homes, which happens to be here in Valenciana, very close to Guanajuato-phenomenal views of the city. The home was built by their now deceased parents, about 40 years ago, and is now shared amongst the siblings. The home was designed by a very famous Mexican architect from Mexico City. It was very Mexicana:boveda ceilings, lots of Mexican tiles, paintings, furniture, rugs, etc.... -beautiful! On the outside of the home was an original sculpture by Gene Byron, of the Gene Byron museum here. Peter and Renee are from Toronto, where he is a physician and she a high school principal. We spent about two and a half hours chatting and enjoying the wonderful views from the mountain of Guanajuato in lights. How kind of them to invite us to their lovely home!
Above are pics of Peter and Renee at their home and some of the children from Resplendor.
Third topic: Teachers/Classes
Teachers: If you have read my blogs at all, you know how much I love the school and teachers here. I want to share two examples of why, both which happened today. Magda has taught Curtis and me in the past. I currently have a conversation class with her. I had mentioned to her that we were looking for a specific t-shirt. She told me her sister who lives in Irapauto would look. Today, she told me that her sister had found the shirts we couldn't find here. She was asking our sizes, colors we wanted, etc...We have made plans to meet her sister. How thoughtful!
Another great teacher here is Eva. She teaches me my private Spanish lessons. Today she invited us to her home next Sat. for breakfast. She is a young, single woman engaged to a man in France. Eva studied there last year. How sweet of her to want to invite us to her home!
Gotta take a pic of our good looking dance teacher before we go too. :) He,(Emmanuel) also is a great, positive teacher who has made our private dance class lots of fun!
Classes: This week I have continued Latin Literature, dance, a special grammar class, conversation class, and my private instruction. I truly have enjoyed all of them. I must not forget to mention Carlos. He is a graduate of Univ. of Mexico and has actually attended lectures by the famous writers we have studied. Latin literature is obviously his love. He knows so much. I am getting a great education: Catalina en musica, Carlos en literatura, Emmanuel en baile....not to mention increasing my skills in the language. Tengo mucho amor por mis amigos en los estados unidos y en Mexico tambien.
Update: Just returned from Resplendor. When I try to talk myself into a less active role, I begin to question it after an evening there. The children were so good and so eager to learn. They listened as I read an Eng. book to them, first telling them the Spanish sentence equivalent prior to reading the printed Eng. sentence. Then, we reviewed the English word, providing the Spanish palabra. The children then made up sentences in Spanish using the Spanish palabra and later after I modeled the English equivalent version, they would repeat the English sentence. They also enjoyed the review of the Spanish/English memory card game I made. We then went outside and played luz rojo, luz verde/red light, green light and discussed los semaforos-traffic lights. You know, I don't think I have even seen any here in Guanajuato. :) Of course, the stop signs only mean slow down and look, here. :)
After my session with the group of children, I changed hats from Eng. teacher to speech pathologist and worked with a deaf boy and his sister who is also very hard of hearing, on Mexican sign language. As previously stated, all the children are so eager to learn. Dominique, the young woman from Quebec, is delightful. Glad she arrived to help with the kids. Curtis's group of boys enjoyed learning/seeing the different parts of the pick-up truck Jacquie drives. Curtis asked her if we could pop the hood tonight. Of course, it is now 10:30 pm. and I haven't done my own homework for tomorrow. I will arise early to do so. Buenas Noches, Joy
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