First week at GVI Escuela Victoria

GVI operates three schools from their base in Antigua Guatemala: two in Santa Maria de Jesus and the other in Itzapa. I teach first grade (age 6-8) at the school in Santa Maria called Escuela Victoria. I have one class of 12 students in the morning and another in the afternoon. Throughout my first week I shadowed veteran volunteer and professional teacher Emily, who departed at the end of the week to return to England. Emily is a lovely woman and I can't imagine a better person teach me "the ropes" at Santa Maria. I am disappointed that we only had a week of overlap before her departure.

At 7:30 each morning I meet the other volunteers at a coffee shop near the center of Antigua to catch a GVI shuttle van. A dozen (or so) staff and volunteers ride 20-30 minutes up a crazy bumpy dusty twisty roads past burros and chicken buses to the town of Santa Maria de Jesus, and are dropped off a the school door. Taking care to avoid the horse droppings, chickens and stray dogs, we file into the school grounds to set up our classrooms for the day.

Those who need photocopies or supplies for class hurry out to one of the two small office-supply/copy shops a few blocks away. From the storage room we each grab our morning class's canasta (basket), which contains each students' cuaderno (notebook), completed work folder, and balsita (ziplock baggie of crayon bits, pencil, sharpener, and eraser).


The school has around 200 students altogether. Morning classes are from 9 - 12 with a half-hour fruit/play break. From noon - 2 PM volunteers are fed a wonderful tipico (traditional) lunch at the schoolmaster's home nearby, and we have time to correct sheets, work on lesson plans, visit and relax. Afternoon classes are shorter, from 2 - 4 PM with a 15 minute fruit/play break.


A typical class for my kids starts with a short team competition to review prior lessons, a Spanish lesson before break (this is the letter N, draw pictures of words that begin with N, cut out 5 Ns from the newspaper and paste them into your notebook, etc.), and math after break (basic number identification, counting, "what number is before 8", etc.).

Academic classes are held Monday through Thursday, and Friday is sports day. The last Friday of each month is a huge party to honor the ancianos (town elders) and celebrate the kids cumpleanos (birthdays). Last week was a party day and we had great fun.

To begin the day, all the kid's grandparents were invited to a short ceremony to meet the volunteers, receive thanks from GVI supporting the school and allowing the children to attend, and then each elder is given a large bag with rice, oil, pasta, soap, and other household necessities to help them through the next month.

After the ancianos ceremony, we celebrated birthdays in two separate parties, one for the morning kids and another in the afternoon. All the kids were served amazingly good fresh pineapple juice and chocolate-frosted donuts, and then the birthday kids whacked at a pair of pinatas. All the birthday kids sat in a line to receive hugs and kisses from each of the students in turn, and then from the volunteers and staff. Each birthday kid got a different age-appropriate gift. For the remainder of the party everyone danced to Guatemalan music, and at the end the kids lined up to say goodbye to the departing volunteers. Finally, each kid received a small gift (pen and pencil) to take home.

I'm having a great time so far, though the lesson planning and classroom preparation takes quite a bit of thought and time. I expect it will get much easier as my Spanish improves and my confidence increases. The GVI staff and other volunteers are incredibly supportive.

P.S.
Packages are not likely to arrive so please don't send anything for the holidays unless you bring it in person :)