Primary has One Week Left!
Only one week left! It's unbelizeable how fast our time here has passed! 14 schools down, and 2 to go! We can't even begin to tell all of you how much fun we're having teaching and learning from the kids all over Belize. Here's a recap of week 5 before we hit the final stretch.First and foremost, all those friends and families out there worried about us during our time here in beautiful Belize can stop there worrying! No fear Anna is here! Our Belizean mom, Anna, the owner of the Smokin' Baläm where we stay, is taking fabulous care of us. She reminds us to bring our raincoats, put on bug spray and sunscreen, and is full of helpful safety tips for navigating the big city. She really looks out for us! She even gave us a cooking lesson yesterday and taught us how to make a popular Belizean meal of fried plantains, potato salad, and rice and beans. It was delicious! She is going to give us a test on Wednesday to make sure we have learned it all!Teaching this past week was a great experience all around. Erica and Kathleen continued to teach at Central Christian Primary School. They taught a thorough lessen on puberty to standards 3-6, sexually responsibility to standards 5-6, and stress and conflict resolution to standards 3-4. Erica and Kathleen experimented with the conflict resolution lesson with the standard 3s by having them prepare skits about good ways and bad ways to deal with common school conflicts. They worked out very well, and the students really seemed to grasp the lesson. Even though it is the end of school year and summer jitters are high, students seemed really interested in their lesson material and asked many insightful questions. Highlights definitely included the pleasantly chaotic Games Day the girls ran after school on Wednesday and the Girls Day on Friday. Erica and Kathleen bonded with the standard 4-6 girls over bracelet making, nail painting, and warm and fuzzy self-esteem posters where every student received a poster with their name on it and their classmates wrote positive and uplifting comments on them about that student. See pictures bellow! Erica and Kathleen even got their hair done by some of the students. Beautiful!
To top off a fantastic week, Erica, Emily, and Kathleen attended a tea party fundraiser for the school to honor the mothers of Central Christian on Saturday. They got to mingle with some parents and try some delicious Belizean pastries like Johnny cakes, coconut tarts, and more. Erica and Kathleen couldn't have asked for a better week!Alex and Emily divided their time between a few different primary schools. Wednesday and Thursday morning, they went to Calvary Temple Primary School and taught puberty to standard 6, drug and substance abuse to standard 5, and bullying to standard 4. A fun new teaching strategy the pair tried was having the students prepare bullying skits about situations that were relevant to them. Another highlight was practicing saying no to drugs with the standard 5s by pretending to offer them dog poo. Lots of laughs all around! On Friday morning, Alex and Emily taught at Trinity Methodist Primary School. They taught about puberty and sexual responsibility, which is a hard task in just one day! Despite the short visit, the students felt comfortable with Emily and Alex and asked tons of questions. Guards went down and all of the embarrassing and silly parts of puberty were addressed! They got to clarify lots of things the students had been wondering about and introduce some valuable new information as well.Alex and Emily spent all their afternoons at Bethel Primary School. The small size of the school let them reach almost every class and make some close connections with students there. They taught nutrition and hygiene to infant 1- standard 2. A memorable moment Alex and Emily will take with them was when a young boy they taught nutrition to the day before came up to them and said, "I had tortillas, and eggs, and melon, and beans for breakfast!" He went into detail and explained what food group each of the parts of his breakfast belonged to. A proud moment for the two! They taught puberty, sexual responsibility, drug and substance abuse, and goal making to standards 4-6 as well. The kids also taught Alex and Emily some cool handshakes, games, and songs, and Alex got his hair braided too! A very busy but memorable week for both of them.Belize City has been a wonderful home this week! Anna and her family at the Smokin' Baläm have been extremely helpful and welcoming. We have had lots of opportunities to try new foods and see new things. Each day is long but worth it! We are loving every minute of our time here! This coming week Erica and Kathleen are teaching at St. Luke Methodist Primary School, and Emily and Alex are teaching at United Presbyterian Primary School. Stay tuned for an update!Until next week, primary out.Snow White, Juicy, Lone-wolf, and Book Worm