Teaching in Larcacunga

Last Monday Hauna met me at my house and dropped off some plastic drawers (not living out of a suitcase anymore!) and then we started a 40 minute walk uphill to Larcacunga, the community where I am going to be teaching until the school year ends in the beginning of July. I almost passed out on the walk up, uphill with the altitude is tough for sure, but when we got there there was a beautiful view looking down on Agualongo, where I am living.

A view from the beginning of my walk. Larcacunga is on the left, it is a small building you can barely see up the hill.

Lucila is the main teacher and she works with Sisa, who is a volunteer that is paid by an NGO of some sort in Switzerland or somewhere random. Sisa works with the 1st-4th graders and Lucila is in charge of the 5th, 6th, and 7th graders. There are 30 students in total. It is crazy because Ecuador passed a law saying that if a school has fewer then 40 students they only get one teacher regardless of how many different ages they are working with. Sisa told me that she is waiting to hear if she will continue to be paid next year otherwise she is going to leave and Lucila is going to be in charge of the whole school on her own.

Lucila and me in front of the older kids classroom.

It feels really good to be teaching and have a purpose here. Sitting around doing nothing made me feel totally useless and I am much happier having somewhere to be every day. I am going to be teaching every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I just hope that what I am doing actually helps.

After leaving my house at 7:00am and arriving a few minutes late (school starts at 7:40 every day) I help Sisa out in the younger kids class. There are four first graders, ten third graders, 3 fourth graders, and one lonely 2nd grader. I feel so bad because it is impossible for her to give them all the amount of attention they need, especially the one second grader. They all sit in sections in the classroom and having a teacher divided between four grades has made them really good at working independently. I basically just fill in wherever I can, helping with math worksheets, reading questions, learning to tell time, etc. Sisa discovered that I am an art minor and asked me to teach an art class once or twice and week. Today was my first class and I had them make name signs which went pretty well. At least it gives Sisa time to work with the first graders separately.

The view of Agualongo from the end of my walk. My house is almost out of view but you can see the rest of Agualongo.

After we have a meal made by one of the mothers from the school, usually soup or rice with beans, they have recreo (recess) and then I teach my english class. I'm teaching the 5th, 6th, and 7th graders together because they are all basically at the same level. They had a volunteer here a while ago so they remember a little english but not much. We've done some basic introductory conversations and started numbers today. I have about six more weeks with them so I am hoping to get a lot done. Lucila, the teacher, has been participating in class too which is really fun. They are all enthusiastic to learn more english and, I think, to have a different structure to their day. Lucila wants the seventh graders especially to solidify their english because next year they venture to another school where kids will be coming from all over and probably have been learning english for a while.

Being so closely exposed to the lack of resources and teachers in Ecuador definitely makes me thankful for the amazing education I have received for my entire life. Teaching is hard, but teaching four different age levels simultaneously is a whole different beast. I have so much respect for those teachers and what they are doing and I hope that they are glad to have me there helping out. I am always afraid of being an obnoxious foreigner who comes in and tells them how to be better, but I hope I am not coming off that way. I am trying to just support them with what they do, even if it means taking a point of homework for sloppy handwriting, and just make their lives a little bit easier. I am also glad I will be with them until the end of the school year, but it still makes me sad to think that I just come in, teach a bit, then bail. I know that they will not continue with their english if another volunteer doesn't take my place. It is an imperfect system. However, I am leaving a record of what I taught each day in hopes that another volunteer can come and build on what they already know so it is not all for naught.