Last Day in Matagalpa

Today was the last day with the teachers at NCA Matagalpa. Each of the teachers took their turn to teach a 'mini-lesson' in their area of specialty. We had a variety of activities targeting different learning styles. Following each lesson the teachers reflected on the learning strategies used in the lesson. I had to balance how much I pushed my culture on them as we tried our best to stick to a schedule in order to get 7 lessons in today. This activity took most of the day, but I it went super well. It was a great learning experience for all of us. I'm so excited to hear how the beginning of the school year goes. I know this group of teachers is competent, ready to learn, and energetic to start the school year. 

The first day of school is on February 4. There are many details that need to be taken care of yet. The classrooms are still under construction and void of anything that might indicate it is a classroom, the curriculum is still in 'camino' (on its way), desks and bookshelves are still being made...etc. Praying that all these details will fall into place and that the teachers and administration will feel a sense of peace as the school year begins. 

This evening I'm travelling back to Managua to spend the weekend there visiting with friends. 

The crew I spent time with this week.

Learning to make books.

A few things that made me smile

I think I've been away from Nicaragua too long. I seem to have forgotten some of the crazy things I see people do and say. Here are just a few examples from the past couple of days:

1. Yesterday Carey, Patricia, and I went shopping for classroom supplies for the teachers. Earlier in the day one of the teachers had asked me about a poster with multiplication tables on it, but I hadn't brought one down. While out shopping I saw one, so I put it in with our other supplies. When we got back to our house, Carey saw the purchase and said, "Oh no I should have told you to look for mistakes on it before buying it..." Only in Nicaragua :)

2. Today I had the teachers participate in an activity which they could do in their classrooms with students. The idea was that I would give someone a topic and they would have to talk about it without stopping for 30 seconds. They could say anything related to the theme, but had to keep talking. The first person to go talked about foxes. She proceeded to tell us about different types of foxes... "and then there's a skunk. A skunk lets off a horrible smell which is very good to breathe in because it prevents you from getting a cold..." Now that's something I didn't know...

3. Before beginning our teacher training today one of the ladies was telling us that her doctor told her to wear a scarf everyday for a month or longer. This was the prescription for her persistent cough. She's come in the last couple days with a warm fuzzy scarf and a sweater over her polo shirt because her doctor suggested it. Did I mention it's about 30 degrees here?

Tomorrow is my last day of teacher training in Matagalpa. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing and hearing ideas from this great group of teachers. The plan tomorrow is for everyone to teach a 10-15 minute lesson which I've asked them to prepare incorporating specific components we've talked about throughout the week. Following each lesson, the teacher will reflect on the teaching experience and the participants will do a peer-evaluation. The purpose of the activity is to provide a form of evaluation for the teachers to use in the future. I'm just not sure what the 10-15 minute time limit will actually translate to in Nicaraguan terms.... tomorrow is going to be a very fun and interesting day.

Teacher Training in Matagalpa

I have been in Nicaragua for 5 days now. This week I traveled to the new NCA campus in Matagalpa. I've been working with the teachers in the mornings and helping with the library and other details in the afternoons.

Here are three of my favorite moments from teacher training so far:

1) By far the most exciting part of the training thus far is when I modelled a lesson. The teachers were my fourth grade students and I taught them about angles. They were highly motivated, eager to learn, and enthusiastic to participate. I had to remind them that they were 4th graders! The best is when I "assigned homework" several of the teachers wrote down the assignment in their notebooks.

2) One of the teachers has been coming into the 'library' each afternoon before he leaves for his house. He returns the book he took the previous day and selects a new one to take home to his girls. Children's picture books are not a resource that is accessible to most of the population in Nicaragua. Watching this teacher already utilize the books in this library, demonstrates to me the great impact the school will have in this community.

3) Today we shared with the teachers the resources we brought down for them to decorate their classrooms. They were  like children in a candy store as they looked through teaching resources they have never seen in their lives. Some of the teachers held up posters, pictures, and cut-out letters to examine and look at them very closely. Although the resources we took down are minuscule in comparison to the resources available to us in North America, to this group of teachers they hit a jackpot this morning. Tomorrow I hope to talk about how to utilize visual aids in the classroom and then have them begin to think about how they will decorate their own classrooms.

Below are a few photos from around the school:
 

Teachers at NCA Matagalpa looking through teacher resources

Patricia Bouma setting up the school library

View from the school building

First phase of the NCA Matagalpa campus

Back to Nicaragua

It's hard to believe that a year and a half has already gone by since I moved back to Canada; so much has happened in my life the past 18 months but also in the work in Nicaragua. Thankfully with easy use of the internet, I am able to keep up with some of the ministry in Nicaragua. Ministries continue to sweep the nation from north to south and east to west to help meet the physical, emotional, spiritual, and academic needs of the people.

Nicaragua Christian Academy continues to grow as well. In just a few short weeks, the doors of a third school will open. This school is located 3 hours outside of Managua in the city of Matagalpa. The director of this school is Carey Franklin under whom 8-10 local teachers are making preparations for the first students to arrive.

Tomorrow, January 11, I will fly out for a short trip back to Nicaragua. I'm excited to welcome the sites and sounds of Nicaragua, but most of all I look forward to seeing the people. After spending the weekend in Managua, I'll be driving to Maltagalpa on Monday to spend the week with Carey and the new teachers. I look forward to seeing the new school, facilitating teacher training, and helping teachers prepare their classrooms.

It is my prayer in the coming week that an easy connection will be made with the new teachers so the training sessions might be dynamic and fun. I also pray that the many details needed to fall into place in the coming weeks might happen smoothly so that students will be ready to fill the rooms in the school. If you're able, please join me in praying these next couple weeks for the opening of this school.