All aboard the Tuff Love 2!

This week we checked into the Chalenor hotel where we were greeted by the wonderful Chadwick and Eleanor. They quickly made us feel welcome and right at home here in Dangriga! We have been taking full advantage of the beautiful roof patio overlooking the ocean (along with the complimentary bananas) to lesson plan, and relax after long days of teaching.All aboard the Tuff Love 2! (The name of our school bus) Hop on this stylish bus with Jesse and Mario, who were headed to Georgetown Technical College this week. We've been starting our mornings off right with a fantastic Top 40 playlist, blasted throughout the bus at 5:30AM, courtesy of our favourite bus drivers. Georgetown has been incredible so far. In collaboration with the two school counsellors, we taught conflict resolution, substance abuse, effective communication and peer pressure. The students love to get involved, and have been showing an immense amount of passion for our lessons, and even got involved in some educational debates! On Wednesday, Georgetown held its annual Open Day, where the work of students was showcased to primary and secondary students from the area. Many organizations sent representatives to raise awareness for their programs and offer information to students regarding future job opportunities. We assisted teachers with the planning and facilitation of various activities throughout the day. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know the students and learn more about their projects in arts, science, social sciences, electrical and much more! Since it was Teacher's Week in Belize, we were on a shortened schedule most days of the week. However, we are looking forward to our first full week of teaching at GTC!James and Kathleen spent the past week at Ecumenical High School. The school is right in town, and only a 10 minute walk away from our accommodations! Though we would love to experience the "Tough Love 2", we are enjoying being able to sleep in! On our first day we were introduced at the schools' assembly and were given the opportunity to speak about QHO to the teachers and all 1000 students! Our time at Ecumenical has been amazing. We have been teaching Sexual Health, Peer Pressure, Values and Goal Setting to First, Second and Third Form students. The students have been extremely engaged and love participating in activities and group work. Everyday the students bring positive attitudes and tons of questions to the classroom! It has been fun chatting with students during breaks and lunchtime as well as running into them around town at the football fields, restaurants and local markets. We can't wait to get back into the classes next week!!   School Assembly     Peer Pressure game in action!Henry, the local BFLA coordinator was kind enough to invite the four of us to a Youth Group meeting on Friday evening. We met an amazing group of students and got to run some team building activities to kick-off their meeting. We a worked together to untangle ourselves from a human knot, lead each other (blindfolded) through obstacle courses and finally participate in our our personal favourite activity, the trust fall. We had a great time at the meeting & are setting up more sessions for the upcoming week!    At the Youth Group Sunday afternoon, we decided to shake things up a bit and venture out to see more of what the community of Dangriga has to offer. Our students had told us throughout the week that there are local soccer matches held at the Dangriga community stadium on Sunday nights, so we decided to take them up on their offer. Luckily there were no entrance fees for the day (score!) and the stands were impressively filled with the local residents. It was a match between the Mayan Kicks and the Police team. With reggae music in the air, some Belizean snacks sold at the stands, and intense commentating, the match was quite the experience. The constant breeze from the Caribbean Sea kept us nice and cool as well.     The match ended in a tight 2-2 draw.  Well that's it for this week. Back in the classrooms tomorrow. Si you lata!