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Friday, September 21, 2012

Today was a Good Day (In Pictures)

Getting Ready
It wouldn't be a Boquilla event if there wasn't a little pre-event praying 
Awards
Set list
Dance break
3rd graders
4th graders
 Belting out Adele
Too cool
Last years winner singing Hillary Duff
Eyes closed and ready to go
WINNER!
Moonwalking to Billy Jean
Getting into some Aerosmith
"By the rivers of Babylon"
After announcing the winner...They agreed 
All of the participants with their certificates 
1st (on the right), 2nd (middle), 3rd (left) 
Giving the winner her two lollypops and trophy 
My little cuz getting in on the painting
Cuerpo de Paz
Getting a shout out via the mural
Finished product


























Today Was a Good Day (In Words)


Five weeks ago in one of my material development sessions with High School English teachers, where topics range from chatting about Friends to chatting about CSI Miami--oh and material development--, I was presented with the idea helping out to plan and judge the 2nd annual English Song Festival.  My initial thought was, “WOW! we are actually going to start planning for an event an entire month in advance!”  I immediately said YES and believe it or not we started planning that day--I am still waiting to wake up from this dream. 

After three weeks of planning we had the names of nine high school participants, two elementary school groups, balloons, american flags, american flag lollypops, a painted backdrop, and three trophies.  So we were more than ready for the event.  However, it wouldn’t be a Peace Corps project if things went exactly as planned.....so the High School teachers brought to my attention that September 7th, the scheduled day of the event, the Colombian national soccer team had a game and thus not all the students would be in school and they were worried that perhaps some of the participants may not show and that the audience attendance would suffer as well.  By the way it is totally acceptable to miss/leave school early to catch the game with no questions asked.  I LOVE this country!  

With this new knowledge we decided to push the date back to the following friday, the 14th.  But to be quite honest now that I have been here for a year I know better than to assume that one thing let alone all things are going to go as planned, so this little change didn’t phase me much.  Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to work on my newly gained appreciation for looking on the bright side--key for all PC volunteers.  So my bright side equated to me getting to watch Colombia beat Uruguay 4-0, hone in on my judging skills--writing numbers on paper, and most importantly practice more with my two elementary school group participants.  By the day of the competition I had no doubt in my mind that my 3rd graders were going to sing the Days of the Week song flawlessly and that my 4th graders were going to present their skit sin errores.

Two days before the English song fest, I was approached to participate in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of a sector of La Boquilla--Now thats more like it, last minute planning.  I never thought that a town as small as La Boquilla could be broken down in sectors.  However, I now know that the 40th anniversary of the sector, 14 de Septiembre, turned 40 on....... September 14th.  The celebration was going to involve food and drink (obviously), a drum circle, and the painting of a mural for peace.  Soon enough September 14th seemed to be shaping up to be one of my best days in the PC yet!

Both events exceeded all my expectations and I could not be prouder of all the participants in the English Song Fest!  Especially my two elementary school groups who preformed like ROCK STARS.  After the competition, three fellow volunteers and I walked over to the 40th anniversary party and promptly left our mark by adding a few designs to the already beautiful mural and called it a night.  

Just another day in La Boquilla.   
    

Sunday, September 2, 2012

4th Grade Fashion Show


Some of the 4th graders
I figured it was about time I write another post about how my English classes are going.  And like the title suggests I just finished a big unit on clothing in one of my 4th grade classes.  Like all of the units this was both co-planned and taught (way easier written than executed).  So after a few classes of drawing pictures, playing games, and working on plenty of pronunciation my co-teacher and I decided that the students were ready for a fashion show to end the unit.  The students were supper stoked about this because for once they could choose what clothes to wear to school instead of the usual uniform that consists of a white shirt and quasi blue sweatpants.

I had a few ideas of what the students were going to wear--i.e. glamorous dresses, button down shirts, soccer jerseys, etc.  However, there were a few surprises as well.  My favorite being the one student who clearly forgot about the assignment, went home during a break and could only find one wool glove, but insisted on walking down the runway nonetheless.  However, I was not surprised that the girls got way more into this activity than the boys.  And by into it I mean EVERY girl turned into a Colombian high fashion model and did the whole walking down the, 4th grade girl created, runway....pausing at the end...... sticking out the ‘skinny arm’....doing their best Blue Steel (Zoolander).... turning..... and walking back.   

After the students were done strutting their stuff they had to say both their name and a phrase we had worked on.  So it went a little something like this: Hello my nom es Edgar an I am werrin pant, a tee chirt, an a hut.  To date this has been the most fun classroom activity I have co-planned and taught.  If only everyday could be the 4th grade Fashion Show! 


'work it'
Blue Steel



Your a tiger!