Lani's blog part 2
Friday 23 June 2006
If you've ever fancied taking a gap year abroad, n2k reader Lani's blog is a must read.
In this second instalment, the differences between the background she's used to and the culture she's now experiencing become even clearer.
Did you miss the first instalment? Catch up with the story so far and read the latest entry...
Week 3
I'm having a good, but tiring, time here. I arrive in the school in the morning, often with lessons planned, especially for the afternoon when we were without teachers. For much of the day I run a class of four to eight- year-olds with another volunteer, allowing the teacher to focus on the older children.
Long days
Much of the work is alphabet based but we work hard to make the lessons exciting with alphabet games, drawing math sums in the playground and sponge painting with numbers etc. I am often preparing work for the next day’s lessons until 10 or 11 pm .
It is so worth it, though: the improvement in many students is already visible, particularly with the younger and slower children, and their confidence and ability is growing all the time.
Week 4
It is Semana Santa (their equivalent to Easter) this week, so I finish school tomorrow for a long weekend.
We are going to Baños in the central sierra - the volcano there is supposed to be spilling out a lot of ash at the moment which will make for some good photos.
Week 5
Everything is still going great although, as I keep saying, it is hard work. There are only two teachers employed to work in the school – and they only get paid about £6 a day.
Attention please
The teacher in my room has to teach two different classes in the same room at the same time. The lower grade would face one direction in the room while the older class face the other way. This meant that only half of the room of children has a teacher with them at one time - which is why volunteers in my school are so essential.
But, unlike the volunteers, her work has made her more distant and less caring towards the children (whereas, my love and care just keep on growing). As a result, the slower, younger kids just seem to be getting left behind.
After hours
The teachers leave at 12 and we stay until 2 pm, although often it is hard to keep all of the kids there as many of them have to go home to help their parents in the fields. Also, they can be very tired as some have to walk for a couple of hours to get school, and so get up at five or six in the morning.
Coming up
In the next and final part of Lani's gap year blog, there's drama as one of the children is injured and Lani has mixed feelings as her two month stint in Ecuador comes to an end.
Read the third and final blog entry.
