Week 3 with secondary!

This was the secondary teams final week of teaching in Punta Gorda. We are all disappointed to be finished our time with the wonderful teachers and students at Toledo Community College and Julian Cho Technical High School. We are excited to experience Belize City and eager to meet the students at the Sadie Vernon and Maud Williams, the two secondary schools we will be teaching at for the next three weeks. This week at Toledo Community College (TCC), Peter and Siobhan taught lessons on drugs, substance abuse, peer pressure, STIs and healthy sexual relationships. The students loved playing drugs and sex jeopardy and other interactive games. One of the week's highlights was an after school program with selected student leaders at TCC in forms 1 to 3. It consisted of 18 students who participated in important and empowering discussions on leadership, goal-setting and how to address prevalent issues in their community. Though sad to leave, Peter and Siobhan are grateful for the opportunity to teach such wonderful students and be a part of the TCC community for the past 3 weeks. A special thank you must be extended to Ms Vanna, the new Life Skills teacher, and Ms Darina, the counsellor, for their constant support and guidance. We will truly miss all the students and staff and wish them all the best! Samara and Nicole had a wonderful last week teaching the students at Julian Cho Technical High School (JC). It was a busy week filled with engaging and exciting lessons, as they continued to teach healthy sexual relationships including consent, risks and prevention, contraceptives, HIV/AIDS, and substance use and abuse. The students continue to giggle through the condom demonstrations, and show their competitive side during games like jeopardy, which have all been extremely well received. We are glad that many students have approached us with thoughtful questions and concerns to which we were thrilled to answer and discuss. We also donated a soccer ball to the school, which the physical education teacher was very excited to have! Finally, we would like to thank Ms Franese Roches and Mr Pedro for all of their help and guidance during our time at JC, as well as thank all of our students for their continued participation and engagement in the classroom. We are sad to leave JC but so glad to be leaving on such a positive note, we will miss everyone!!As we sit on our 7 hour bus from Punta Gorda to Belize City writing our blog, we are humbled by such a an amazing experience in Punta Gorda. We are going to miss the relaxed city of Punta Gorda, Miss Rhoda who hosted us, Miss Norma who owns the bakery next door, and the welcoming and friendly community who never fails to wish us good morning or good evening. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to meeting our new students and to get back into the classroom in Belize City. With numb bums but happy faces,Samara, Nicole, Siobhan and Peter