Sheila and Deborah are also Becarias de Buena Voluntad (Rotary Scholars), and in this photo they’re picking mandarins It looks a bit institutional, but the classrooms at the very back of the school, down in the little valley, are very cool and quiet, especially since there are only four students at the moment!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Friday, September 7, 2007
I have arrived at the house of David and Alejandrea Hinojosa. David is my Rotary host counsellor. They have been so lovely and welcoming, inviting their daughter and grandchildren over to meet me. Luckily my luggage arrived only 12 hours after I did!
Tomorrow it’s language test day at the institute. I’ve fallen back into Spanish pretty easily, in between the jetlaggy tired periods. I find that I can chat away well for an hour or two, until I get to a point where I need to use some difficult verb tenses, and then my brain just freezes.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
At Hiefer International Village, in Perryville, Arkansas, Colorado middle school students experience firsthand the living conditions typical of developing countries.
I’d be interested to see what sort of long-term evaluation they’re doing of this project’s effect on the kids who participate, and how they are supporting the schools involved to continue this thread of teaching and learning throughout these kids’ schooling.
Activities like this can be valuable consciousness-raisers, but unless they are complemented by sustained and well-considered programs that delve into ways to take positive action I suspect that these experiences, for most, fall by the wayside.
That said, I’d love to find out whether any similar programs are being run in Australia.
