DSC00978DSC00990Greetings from the Dominican Republic and all the residents. It’s a another beautiful, sunny (a bit more than we would like) day in San Cristobal. Being a student leader on such a momentous day, in terms of teaching, meant that there was a considerable amount of pressure to ensure that our team excelled.

Bright and early, we woke up at our regular 7AM and ate another great breakfast at 8AM. We followed breakfast up with an academic seminar on education. During our seminar we reviewed the question(s) of the day; Is education a privilege in the Dominican Republic? What about in the US? Do you think universal access to education is possible? Do you think this is necessary? After receiving a few thoughts, we read a few facts about the Dominican Republic on education and discussed the possibility of solutions. This lead into an activity where all the students pretended to be part of different organizations that have provided assistance in education, one being a Community Technical Center. After that we headed to Loyola, a prestigious technical school that teaches kids from Kindergarten to their college junior year. There we met the head director of the exchange program and was given a tour around the zoological site on the campus with a brief summary of how it began with 3 priests and their contributions to the school. We were then given a tour around the school by 2 of our ambassadors. The tour included visiting the library, a display of the school’s pencil sharpener collection, and an art exhibit. At the end of our tour we meet Boris, the head of the English Immersion program at the school where they teach the students by only speaking English and a myriad of different techniques. Boris revealed to us powerful and new way of teaching, one that many found to be quite useful. This would be a opportune time to ask him for tips or techniques for teaching English as later on today we would. After, we headed to CTC for lunch and the a speech from Angelica, the head director of the center. Shortly after, we hosted a few activities at the center which included: face painting, singing and dancing, and arts and crafts. At 4PM we arrived at the school in Limon for our very first English tutoring class. To be continued…it’s lunch now!

Okay I am back again.

Today was the first step in our long journey and it was just the first class. Personally, there have been many instances in my life where I find myself on the teaching side of the classroom. However, today was much more impactful because we all knew that these classes will leave a huge impact in their lives. Even though my group didn’t follow our teaching plan we still managed to give our students necessary attention. I can’t wait for our next class because I’m sure there’s more to learn about out students and vice versa. At the end of the night all walked away with a better appreciation for the education we receive at home.

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