Eva talks about her experience

My experience working with the kids at José de la Cruz Mena has been rewarding but also sometimes a struggle. First, I had to get to know the children, see what they already knew and what not. Some of the second graders couldn't read a short sentence in a book because they didn't know the difference between the capital and the lower case letters. So I practically had to start by teaching them the alphabet and go on from there.

Eva from Germany teaching her students at José de la Cruz Mena

Building a relationship and getting to know the kids better helped a lot to know how to keep them interested and motivated. Playing games, doing puzzles or coloring was fun for the kids and for me too. By doing this, they were improving their practical skills without even knowing. And they improved a lot! Some children need to be encouraged more than others but once you see the smile on their faces when they realize that they can do it, it's a great feeling.

Never stop encouraging and supporting the kids, even if work might be hard and exhausting sometimes, because you get so much in return!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

House building project Families for Families

Image
Since 2011, La Esperanza Granada is building homes for families in the neighborhood of Nueva Esperanza. This project is called ‘Families for Families’ and is part of a school attendance incentive program. We reward the families whose children have good school attendance. We want to thank them for caring about their children’s education. So far 37 homes have been built and we are planning on building 2 more very soon. We renovate or rebuild houses for families who live in bad conditions. The houses only have plastic sheeting or corrugated iron for walls. Many of the homes don’t have a toilet or a shower. There usually is one in the neighborhood for many people to use, but it doesn’t give them much privacy. We visited three families in the neighborhood of Nueva Esperanza. One of them recently had their home rebuild. The two other families are next in line, and they are excited! A member of the family who recently had their home renovated says it made their li...
Read more

A Big Day Out

The end of year tour might be second nature to primary school children in Europe and North America. But, here in Nicaragua, such treats were unheard of around Granada until La Esperanza Granada began to bring the children from half a dozen schools on annual excursions three years ago. CIARAN TIERNEY joined the second graders from the Angela Morales and Juan Diego schools for the first of this year's excursions, which will take place on 12 separate days. My God . . . what excitement! As the big, old American styled bus pulled up outside the gates of the Angela Morales school, on the road between Granada and Rivas, the sense of anticipation in the air was palpable. As the 11 youngsters piled on board, even their teacher seemed to be excited by the prospect of a day out and a break from the schoolbooks. Joining us were a group of young volunteers, from Peru, Germany, England, France, and the United States, reflecting the variety of nationalities who come to work with La Esperanza a...
Read more

Why we left the classrooms: by Pauline

Image
One of the hazards of being here and involved in all that is happening is the tendency to forget that not everybody knows, and how important it is to effectively communicate what is going on to our supporters.  I guess there have been bits and pieces in the newsletter, but not a full explanation, and especially not sufficient for someone like yourself who is out there gathering more supporters for La Esperanza Granada.  So I will try and explain in a concise fashion, and hopefully this will help both update your 'spiel' and offer answers to any questions that anyone may have. Our move to the learning centers from the primary schools was planned, however it progressed more rapidly than we had expected as we had groups who came and built our third and fourth centers.  The first small center in fact we were running for a couple of years, and had taken it over from another group called Amped who were unable to continue.  We later, through Amped, received the fun...
Read more