Teaching at the Haitian School

What we've been doing: A few months ago my friend Michelle and I were talking about teaching.  She works at the private school in Santiago.  She also helps out with a Haitian school run by her friend Yves.  Michelle suggested we work with that school.  I went with her one weekend to bring them food for lunch, and I got to hear about the history of the school and church.

It used to be a night club with cabanas along the outside for prostitutes.  It went out of business, and Yves decided to turn it into a church.  One of the church's first members?  A lady who used to dance there when it was a nightclub.  Talk about a redemption story.  I love how God can change people and places from something sad and horrible into people and a place of worship.  Yves began to have Bible studies with the Haitians that moved into the little cabanas, but he realized many of them did not know how to read.  The building turned into a school during the week.

Michelle and I were talking about how it would be a cool opportunity for the boys and I to go and read to the kids there in Spanish.  Most Haitian kids know a little French, a little Creole, a little English, and a little Spanish.  Most are not fluent in any of those languages.

I met with Yves, and he seemed to like the idea so we set a date in the beginning of March for the boys and I to go and read with the kids.

The boys and I went to the little bookstore in Nacional (a supermarket) here in Santiago.  The boys and I each picked out a simple picture book in Spanish to read with the kids.  Then we created flashcards with the word and an image we drew.  The cards were laminated and we practiced reading.  Each flashcard also had a motion to go with it to help the kids remember and learn the motion.

We prayed for this trip for the month before as we prepared for it.

TRIP #1:

When we got there Yves showed Rosa and the boys the church/school.  He explained the history and why he created it.  Then, we got in a circle with the older kids and practiced names while throwing a giant inflatable basketball.

The kids sat down and I taught the vocabulary for my book, Yo Tambien.  We did the actions.  They loved running and jumping while learning "correr" and "saltar."  I would sat the word and they would do the action.  Then, I read my book with the whole group.  When I said the word while reading the book, the kids would do the action.  At the end, we reviewed the vocabulary and I quizzed each kid, giving them a Spongebob sticker when they said the word correctly.  Once that was done, we divided up the larger group, and each boy read his book and did the vocabulary with a group of 6-8 kids.

Then the little ones came in and I read my book to them.  We divided them up into smaller groups like before.  The little ones were not as focused, but some of them don't regularly hear Spanish.  I was so proud of the boys.

Afterwards when we discussed what went well and what didn't, the boys mentioned how nervous they were.  They also mentioned how some of the kids were talking when they were trying to talk (which made me chuckle a bit).  The walls of the school are just partition walls, they do not go all the way to the ceiling.  You can hear everything going on in all the classes, which the boys said was a little distracting.  Overall, it was great first experience and it made us excited to continue working with the school.

TRIP#2

We started off with the older kids, just like the time before.  We stood in a circle and practiced names again.  Then I quizzed them and reviewed the vocabulary that we all learned from my book.  The boys read in small groups, and then again as a whole group.  Joseph and Rosa had the best idea to hand out the flashcards to different kids, so that when they heard their word that they would raise it high in the air.  They LOVED doing this.

After we were done with the books, we played "pulpo" or octopus.  It's a tag game.  Joseph was inside with the littles, which was precious.  Andrew, Isaac, and I were outside with the big ones.

We ended the day by passing out cookies to everyone.

At the end I gave the books and flashcards to the teachers.  Next time we are going to do a play with them.  Thank you to Rosa for the awesome idea.  I figured animals would be a good topic that most kids like, so I think we will try to do Noah's ark.  The little ones can be animals.  They could make animal masks for the performance of the play.  Prayers appreciated as we continue to work with these wonderful kids.

Con mucho amor.