A Day at the English Institute

So check out my picture link because I added several pictures from the English Institute today.

One quick story from the English Institute this week to add some humor to my blog. Christine, one of the team leaders, is teaching level 1 English. This week they have been learning the alphabet and she was going through and said what comes after O. One student raised his hand and said POOH and she said, is it POOH or it is PEE! Pretty funny, at least when she tells it in person.

So anyway, a little history about the English Institute. Orphanage Outreach has always taught English in the schools following some basic modules when groups have come down. One of the main goals of OO besides supporting the orphanage has been teaching English in town because it is such a valuable resource. So up to 2006, the only English they offered was some in the schools but nothing really teaching the entire language, just teaching individual words here and there and some literacy. In 2006, Nina, a friend of mine that I met while I was here for 2 months, started the English School in a house that OO rented. She started teaching local 5th graders and was still teaching this group when I came in spring of 2007. That spring, an old hotel was for sell called Coconuts (pronounced Co-Co-new here by the locals). OO bought this hotel and turned it into what is now the English Institute. They now offer classes to 5th-8th graders, so the level 4 kids are the same kids that Nina taught from the beginning. This is a free outreach that OO offers and classes are taught for 1 hour M-F. There are 2 classes in the morning and 2 classes in the afternoons, so several students are able to participate. It is amazing to see what was started 4 years ago grow into such a successful program now.

The English Institute is also used in the spring and summer to house additional volunteer groups. I stayed here my first week in March 2009 with a health group. In the summer they offer camps at the Institute, usually English camps but with a theme such as Art or something else.

So this morning I took off from health stuff and went to see what goes on at the English Institute. Christine and Vivian teach level 1, Heather teaches level 2, and Julie teaches levels 3 and 4. It was pretty neat to see them all teaching and watching the kids be so engaged. They all have a class name such as Silly Spiders, Terrific Teapots, Lovely Ladies, Mighty Mice, etc. They also all have a chant about their team and they say this at the beginning of each day and it typically ends by saying something about "Learning English is the best". These chants date back to the beginning of the English School so it is pretty neat that they still exist although the names have changed.

I walked around and checked out what was going on and helped Sarah who was working in the library. The library opens for students that want to come for the hour before their class or stay the hour after their class depending on when their class is. It is just extra English help, typically with a lesson or game to further develop their skills. The first hour we only had one boy who spoke English pretty well. He is in level 2 but apparently has learned a lot of English from watching cartoons at home. Sarah worked with him for a little while, and read a couple of books with him and then we played dominoes, a staple here in the DR. The second hour she had about 6-7 students, who were level 1 students, and she played Bingo with the alphabet on the cards trying to teach them the alphabet better. They had a lot of fun with this, and love getting stickers as a prize for winning.

After this we returned home for lunch. Coco made lasagna, this is only the 2nd time they've had it here. She is teaching the kitchen staff how to make it and while it was very good, it wasn't as good as my moms! After lunch, I played outside with some of the kids in the playground. They got/found a new puppy today that is tiny, probably about the size of my foot and they were all following it around and entertained by it. Later in the afternoon, one of the older boys Odalis who is very creative, had made a cape for the dog and he was wearing this. It was cute!

I rode into town with the group to drop them off for afternoon classes but didn't go for the afternoon. Instead I came back and worked on finishing up the health camp stuff. It is almost done, just needs to be revised by others to see if things need to be added or omitted and Bryson has to help a little with some translation of things.

After working for a couple of hours, I went back out to play with the kids on the playground again. They have a rope that hangs down from the monkey bars (which are about 8 feet high) and the kids have designed a swing by placing a stick in the bottom of the rope that is tied into a loop and then sitting on the stick and swinging. So the piece of wood they had this afternoon was pretty big and they were fitting 4 of the little girls 3-5 years old on this piece of wood and they were all swinging together. It was super cute but unfortunately I didn't have my camera out there. I wish I had because it would have been a great video to catch!

For dinner we went out to a local pizza place in town. This is nothing like American Pizza but the owner is from Milan so the pizza is pretty good! We had Mediterrian pizza which was cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil that we saw them get from the backyard. It was tasty! We did our closing then with Sarah because she leaves at 3:30am to head to the airport. Each week we have a closing with the groups to reflect on the week and share anything.

After dinner I sat with some of the younger boys, tickling them for about 30 minutes. One of the boys, Carmelo is 9 years old but about the same size as he was in Esperanza in 2005. He kept telling me, okay now I'm not ticklish, try again and he would try so hard to keep a straight face but after about 10 seconds he'd die laughing again. It was super cute because I'm sure a 9 year old boy wouldn't do that back home! One of my favorite little boys, Luis Alberto, who speaks a few things in English was out there. When we had to leave, separation time from the kids is at 9pm, I said good night, I love you and he said I love you back and gave me a peck on the cheek. He is soooo cute, I wish I could bring him and his twin sisters back with me!

We came back to the room and played Phase 10 and I lost big time. So sad but oh well it was fun! After that I tried to kill a massive cockroach in my room but only got some guts on my shoe and it disappeared. Hope I injured it enough that it won't jump in my bed tonight because I would probably scream bloody murder! We do have a large cricket that lives in our room and comes out at night. He has been named Jepedo (not sure the spelling). He jumps so far and is so loud when he lands it is crazy but he is harmless. He went next door into Julie's room (ours are connected like a hotel by a door) and I think she hurt him, he looked to be missing a back leg when he returned so hopefully he'll regrow a new leg (if they do that) and be okay.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Saturday and I've been here a week. It feels like I've been here a month but at the same time feels like I just got here. Time is so weird down here. The days last forever but fly by at the same time!

Tomorrow we are going to the Institute to do some deep cleaning in the morning. Things get dirty quick here with all the dust! I know I am just going to love this as I'm sure you all can imagine with my love of cleaning! :) I guess it is good for me! I'm also getting my Dominican drivers license tomorrow from Coco. She is going to teach me to drive here in the DR so we'll see how that goes. All the vehicles are stick shift which is okay but the roads are horrible with large dips and potholes and crazy drivers and motos everywhere so hopefully I pass. The roads have large dips in them to mark who has the right of way. If you have to go thru the dip, you don't have the right of way, if your street is straight with no dips, you have the right of way. No stop lights here in Monte Cristi, just huge dips that scrape the bottom of the cars if you don't turn the vehicle to the correct angle. It's like trying to get Dad's Corvette out of their driveway before they cut the curb out. Not sure I'll tackle trying to drive the bus, but at least the little minivan thing.

Go CATS! Hopefully this game will be better than the last!