DAY 4..... Our First School - ACOINPREV

Heyyyy, it's Sam!

So yeah, today was the first day that we taught our English lessons. It was so much fun. We arrived at the school and I did not even know that we were there. It was off in a small alleyway in a small corner of Bogota. At least that is what it seemed. As we walked up to it, I was extremely intimidated. It was such a huge building, and it did really look like a prison. We had to ring a doorbell to get in, and as soon as we walked in, I recognized it from the pictures that I had seen. There was a big basketball court on the first floor and the building rose up, looking like a chimney. It reminded me of Mary Poppins...

Immediately when we walked in and began to gather our teaching things, I felt like it would have been better for me to just drop everything and run, I was so nervous. But when Molly, Jake, and I walked into the first classroom, and I had to face the reality that we were there, it was surprisingly easy to jump into character and teach some words. However, it was still so intimidating to have the language barrier and worrying about having them understand what we wanted them to do. But again, with God's incredible grace and miracles, it was so easy to have them understand and enjoy while (hopefully) learning some English. Even the first graders (the first class we went to) were willing and excited to listen. It seemed unbelievable that we had actually spent 45 minutes in that class, and it was so heartbreaking to leave them so soon.

After the first class, it honestly seemed like a breeze as we hurried from class to class, teaching and spending time with them. It became very apparent to me that all children in grade two, in nearly every country act about the same; energetic, have a short attention span, and so so lovable. We went through many grades, and then took a break for a snack. During this break, some of the guys on our team were invited to play basketball with some of the guys from the school. It was so entertaining to see the competitiveness between the two countries, and yet the friendships that formed so wonderfully between them. 

After the basketball game, we went back to teaching, and it was kind of sad to see how hot the classrooms were on the topmost floor. Our teaching group walked into a grade nine classroom and were all astounded to feel the wave of heat that hit us. And the fact that those students and teachers have to deal with that every single day kind of broke my heart. They are so grateful to have a school, and it is incredible, but it is not perfect and it made me so much appreciate our brand new school in which the toilets flush, the stall doors lock, and we have toilet paper. It may sound like a joke, but it really put things into perspective for me. 

When lunch came, we were brought up to one of the top rooms in the school. It was warm, but there was a wonderful breeze coming through. It also felt really nice to be able to sit down and rest a bit. After lunch, we went downstairs and were greeted by many children who wanted to high five us all, some even took time to make a special handshake for us. Some of us were told, "call me." It was so amazing to talk to some little girls that came up to us. We were all asked what our favorite colors, food, drink, and animals were. It was so sweet.  I was put to so much shame for my lack of Spanish compared to their English skills. They were so much younger than me! It is amazing to see how excited they are to learn English and to practice it. A guy from the school who had played basketball just had to have a picture with all of the Canadian girls. 

After we finished talking with the kids, we went back to the classrooms to teach one more lesson. Molly, Jake and I were in the grade ten class, which I was the most scared for because they are so close to my age, but they were so receptive and enthusiastic to what we had to say. It was just amazing. They got so into the games that we played and some of them even knew the game that we were trying to recreate; the Toad House game from Super Mario. It was incredibly amusing to me to see that grade ten girls scream just as loudly and excitedly in Colombia as they do in Canada. And it was so fun to see how much they were enjoying such a simple game and how interested they were in it. 

Anyways, we made it home all safe and sound, but there are some of us who have some pretty bad colds and coughs, so prayer for health would be wonderful. This was said by someone this morning, I do not remember who, but we know that God did not bring us here to be sick, but to bring His glory, so we trust that He will allow that. But prayer would still be great :) None of us have been lost or gotten too sick so far, so that is a wonderful thing. Prayer that that will continue would also be appreciated. Overall, it was an incredible day, and it is amazing to see what God is doing in this country. Thank you for reading this, and I hope that all who are reading this are able to keep warm. :) 

Bye for now!!!!

It's Autumn here!

Today we ventured into the scary world of language barriers and non-English speakers. At 7:15 am we left the guest house and bused over to our first non-English school, Acoinprev. When we entered the school building it felt as though we were walking into a prison. There was a small basketball court on ground level which acted as the main foyer, and up above that area were three different floor levels. We could see right up to the fourth floor from the ground level, and the entire building was made of brick.

Everyone was feeling very jittery and nervous as this would be our first time teaching English to non-English kids. We all split off into our separate teaching groups and began our teaching adventure. My teaching group is Emma, Mason and I.  We started out teaching a grade one class. Right when I walked in, the reality of the language barrier hit me hard and I became very nervous. We had to teach English using only English to non-English speakers. Thankfully, both Emma and Mase are quick on their feet and jumped right into the lesson. We started with puppets to teach them occupations and they seemed to really enjoy it. The 45 minutes we had to teach went by really fast, and I don't know how much they learned or understood, but either way we all enjoyed it.

After the first class, we all felt a lot more confident and we weren't as worried for the next class. We got better and better the more we taught, and we started reusing the lessons that would go really well. The puppets were always a hit, as well as the "winter mannequin" lesson we came up with. Some classes were great listeners and some were more rowdy, but all in all it went well. I can confidently say that every class learned at least one new word... except maybe the Pre-K's. Throughout the day we had a chance to teach almost all of the different grades.  By 12:00 we were ready to eat and relax. 

During our first morning break and lunch break, the Colombian students asked to play a basketball game with some people from our team. Mason, Jake, Kenneth, Mr. Yeo, and Molly all played  basketball with the Colombians, and at first the Canadians absolutely destroyed the Colombian team. It ended up being pretty unfair because we had Mason, Jake, and Kenneth who are all over 6 feet, and Colombians are generally quite short. They ended up mixing up the teams with both Colombians and Canadians, and they played long enough that all the players were sweating buckets by the end of it.

After lunch we had the chance to talk to more of the High Schoolers, who still unfortunately did not know very much English. When we went to the ninth grade class we just ended up having conversations with the students rather than teaching them, and they asked us about Canada and told us about Colombia. The language barrier was definitely a challenge, but we made it work. One guy from the ninth grade asked if I would come over to his house and watch Netflix with him.  Other students were also invited to hang out with them after school, which of course we couldn't do.

One of the coolest things about being in that school was that we felt like actual celebrities. Everywhere we went there were kids following us, waving at us, high-fiving us, and hugging us. It was next to impossible just to walk up the stairs because we would be bombarded with children. There were a few different kids that were asking me questions about my favorite things, and I was able to converse with them a little bit in Spanish. Many kids and teenagers told me that they loved me, and there was no doubt in my mind that they did. Everyone was absolutely wonderful and I couldn't help but be a bit sad when we had to leave. I am falling in love with this place and the people who live here. All in all I think it was a very successful day, not only for teaching English, but also for bonding with the Colombian students. 

Until next time,

Adios!