“Worldwide 780 million adults and 103 million young people (ages 15-24) are illiterate.” Today on Education Day, we were able to see the importance and power that attaining an education can provide. Glimpsers were able to differentiate the school culture between Nicaragua and America, and because of that, we were able to appreciate the privilege of attending school.
In the morning, Glimpsers woke up bright and early at 5:30 AM to head to Diocesano (a private school) where we shadowed students in their classes. This gave us the opportunity to learn the environment and culture of schools in Nicaragua and understand the school system. As we quickly learned, classes were rowdy and loud, and teachers did not regulate the behavior of their students. It was surprising to see the lack of a role model in the classroom which influenced the students to focus on other things besides paying attention. Teachers had a mentality of not caring if the students did not care about studying. This kind of mentality negatively impacts how a student can feel about studying and distracts them from paying attention.
Throughout the busy day, we were most proud of our group being proactive during the guest speaker questions. As we visited sites like Puedo Leer, Hotel Corazon, and Diosecano, most of us grew tired of constantly walking in hot, humid weather. However, we were able to remain interested in each session and be inquisitive. The energy of our group bounces off each other, and we continue to support one another. This kind of support gets us through long days that are packed with many activities.
We are both sure that out of the four speakers we had today, the Glimpsers could not pick a favorite one. We first met with Ana Elizabeth, who is a director of Puedo Leer, and a local librarian. They both told us about their goal of sharing a love for reading amongst local children because reading gives the children power. Later on in Hotel Corazon we met two speakers, Luis and Xiomara. Luis told us about his career as an illustrator (he specifically illustrated for children’s books) and Xiomara told us about her work with girls at risk for sex trafficking. All for of these people were just so passionate with the goals of their work and it was truly inspirational. Xiomara and Luis specifically told us about the importance of finding a purpose in life, and working towards a goal of happiness.
For both of us LDDs, being in this role was definitely something new. From having to wake up earlier than everyone to ensuring everyone was always drinking enough water, it was a new role neither of us had ever experienced. We faced a little bit of troubles with the rowdiness of the group when it was night, but we were both happy seeing them all keep their energy throughout the long day.
We both learned a lot about ourselves today. From learning to be more grateful for the education we are provided with at home to learning to be more loud as LDDs it was a very impactful day. It was also our first day of English tutoring, which is were not only us LDDs learned a lot about ourselves, but every student as well. Every Glimpser had their own experience with tutoring this first day, but overall it seemed everyone enjoyed it, and is looking forward to coming back in the days to come. Doing English tutoring definitely helped all of us to learn what kind of teachers we are as well.
This day was full of many adventures for the glimpsers. We all had the chance to go out of comfort zones when interacting with the students we shadowed and tutored. We are both looking forward to the next English tutoring sessions to come, and to also continuing to grow as leaders throughout the rest of the trip.
With speakers Xiomara and Luis at Hotel Corazon.
1st night of English tutoring!
Beginner Class
Good Evening Glimpsers! Today sure seemed like a very long day. It looks like you had a wonderful opportunity to get a first hand look at parts of the educational system of another country and that you had a fun and challenging day tutoring kids in English. I hope this helps inspire you all to pursue learning of secondary and tertiary languages!
Mito, te queremos mucho, hagan caso a los LDD y duermanse temprano 🙂
How wonderful that you had great speakers and role models today. As a teacher myself, I am so glad you all had the amazing experience of helping someone learn something new. Thank you for the detailed information again. Everyday I’m so eager to know how was your day!!? The pictures are great also, giving us an opportunity to imagine what you are all experiencing.
Stephanie I’m so proud of you and extremely thankful to Glibal Glimpse for giving you this opportunity! Hope you are enjoying every single minute!
Te quiero muchisimo y te extraño,
Tu mami?
Shay!! I’m so glad you took initiative and decided to become a ldd so early on your trip. I’m sure you set the bar with your partner. Sounds like you’ve had quite the day, hopefully you have enough energy saved for the rest of your journey 🙂 I hope you don’t miss playing volleyball too much, the grind doesn’t stop!!! Just to let you know, The Axidents released a new song called Shirts Off!! And I don’t know if you knew this already, but Homeshake is opening for Mac Demarco? I just felt like I needed to update you on these things happening back home. I can’t wait for the next blogs!!
Love,
Vicks
Patrick!!
Wow lucky you, you guys were able to shadow a high school student! They were on break during my trip. Oh and I see you guys started ET! You’re gonna love it. And that picture of the beginner class is of the same class I taught two weeks ago! Also, vbm yesterdag wasn’t that bad but I forgot how many games we won lol. Have fun!
Leila!!!!!!! I miss you so much!!!!!! I’m sweating the whole time and I smell like the people from PE but I’m loving this city so much! The people I’ve met are amazing and I finally found someone who is louder than me. By the way I got your hammock and got myself one too (ah-eh). Please kill it in volleyball madness and see you and happy place soon!!!!! – Patrick Romero
Hello everyone!
I loved hearing all about your day yesterday! How interesting it must’ve been to shadow a high school student in Nicaragua! I hope that you all found it to be an incredible learning experience . You’ve had the opportunity to travel around different areas in Granada, and I love seeing the photos of your smiling faces! I was so excited to hear that you’ve started the English tutoring. It must be such a great feeling to be able to help others learn a new language, and learn and grow in the process yourselves ! I love reading this blog each day and I am overwhelmed with enthusiasm for incredible experience you are all having .I hope you’re enjoying the food, getting lots of rest and enjoy each other’s company as well! Jared,
I hope you are loving every moment!! I
can’t wait to hear about where your journey took you today!!
Love you and miss you !
Mom
Awh you guys are all so cute!!!! Glad to see how you all understand how a teachers attitude towards teaching has an impact on how students feel. It’s great to hear that you took an interest into the guest speakers and what they do. Good luck teaching, I’m sure you guys will be great (: I miss you lots, jackie ? I can’t wait to read tomorrow’s blog!!
Totally love the pictures and posts.
Happy to see you got to tutor the English.
I can’t wait for you to get home and share more of you experiences in detail.
I also found it very nice that you all got shadow at the private High School.
What an experience and most of all I am happy you are all safe and having a great time!
I love you and miss you!! Mom
Hi Mariah & Hi Jackie!!
Reading Granada (1) blogs is becoming a real part of our daily life. As your journey continues, our heart follows.
SHANIA AHHH I’m so glad you’re having a good time. Education Day looks extremely fun. I’m looking forward to the rest of your trip’s pictures! I miss you Shay