On our sixth day in Riobamba, we experienced various activities with the focus of education in mind. For the past few days, our delegation has been working extremely hard coming up with English lesson plans. Each person in the delegation was split into pairs or trios to work with Ecuadorian students with English levels of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Today, we put our plans into action. We went to UE Kolping, one of Riobamba’s mixed grade levels schools to tutor the kids for an hour. Even though I knew little Spanish, I was put into the beginners’ group. After English tutoring, we went to Carlos Garbay for a tour of the school. Carlos Garbay is an institution that specializes in helping the mentally and physically disabled. Finally, we had a seminar on our Community Action Project (CAP). Our CAP project is going to be painting the arrows at Carlos Garbay, fixing the ties, clearing the path so the kids can walk freely and easily see the path.

What stood out to me during the English tutoring was that I was nervous to tutor the kids because I know little Spanish, but luckily my peer, Merari was there to help me. Seeing kids of all ages wanting to practice English getting so excited too, really opened my eyes. They are not provided with the resources as we do in the United States. Sometimes, I take the education system for granted in the United States. Also, during the tour at Carlos Garbay, the school that serves students with special needs, I saw how the lack of funding from the government dehumanizes students with special needs.

The key takeaway was not only learning about the education system in Ecuador but looking at how much of a community they are. When a student was stuck during English tutoring, others would help. At Carlos Garbay, we were able to learn more about a disadvantaged community. We saw how hard it is with the lack of funding for kids with special needs. When one kid leaves, four to five more kids are added on the waitlist. It showed me the importance of prioritizing kids with special needs. We are excited to work these students, the Carlos Garbay institution, for our CAP Project; what we will do will help make the students’ lives a little easier at school.

Missing everyone at home,

Mi Le

P.S SORRY FOR THE FATHER’S DAY MISUNDERSTANDING. WE WILL DO ANOTHER SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE FATHERS OUT THERE NEXT WEEK! Con nhớ Ba voi mẹ nhiều lam!

RB1A at Carlos Garbay Institute.

Our nightly meeting where we had a powerful discussion about the US education system.

Our GG leaders, Anette and Gaby, visiting the Chimborazo volcano on their free day. We missed them!

Mi, Merari, and Kelsey preparing English tutoring lesson.