Week 2 in Punta Gorda with the secondary team!

The Belize secondary team is feeling more comfortable teaching and are getting to know their students and the community better. We really appreciated the huge rainfall this week, as the weather has cooled down quite a bit. This week there was a national holiday on Monday, which gave us a chance to do some extra lesson planning and prepare for the upcoming week.It was an awesome week at Julian Cho Technical High School! Nicole and Samara had the opportunity to teach five classes each day, primarily to students in forms 1 and 2 (grades 9 and 10). They taught lessons on healthy sexual relationships, risks, prevention, consent, contraceptives, pregnancy, STIs, and HIV/AIDS. The games that were played with the kids such as contraceptive jeopardy or HIV/AIDS jeopardy were very well received and the kids enjoyed it as much as we did. There was lots of interest and even more giggles as we demonstrated how to use male and female condoms. Finally, many students contributed very thoughtful questions in our question box which we had the opportunity to answer in class, as well as discuss personal issues with other students. Overall, they had a terrific week at Julian Cho and are looking forward to teaching more lessons on HIV/AIDS and Drugs/Drug abuse in the upcoming week!Siobhan and Peter had another productive and fun week at Toledo Community College! They taught 4-5 classes per day in forms 1 to 3 (grades 9 to 11). Their lessons covered healthy sexual relationships, STIs, HIV/AIDS, consent and pregnancy. The students were very receptive to the lessons this week, particularly a new game on healthy sexual relationships, and are more confident participating and asking questions in class. Students were most attentive when we answered the question box in class, and we loved being able to provide relevant information and advice! Lunch and breaks were spent on the school grounds, talking and getting to know the students! Dr Arzu (Vice Principal) and Ms Darina (counsellor) worked with Peter and Siobhan to take the first steps in creating an after school program starting next week with student leaders at TCC. Finally, sad goodbyes were said to Mrs Palma, the Life Skills teacher we've been working with, as she retires! This week, the secondary team ate a lot of local fruit and found some of our favourite local vendors. It is Sunday and a lot of the town is quiet, so we ventured to the waterfront to wrap up the week and lesson plan for our last week 5 days of teaching in Punta Gorda. Looking forward to another exciting week in the classrooms. Still Sweatin' (but a little less),Nicole, Samara, Siobhan and Peter