Our Learning Centres

Recently at La Esperanza we have launched our new learning centre initiative, with centres located in both Sabaneta and Escudo. Children attend our centres voluntarily before or after their school day and the theory behind this is that these extra couple of hours each day will not only help the children improve their progress at school, but also their confidence and abilities generally. For 3 hours every morning our volunteers teach English, and for 3 hours in the afternoon they teach a mixture of art, mathematics and Spanish.
Both Marie, 22 from Germany and Blake, 20,  from the USA are English teachers in the centre and both previously worked in our initiative within Nicaraguan state schools.



Marie are there many differences between working in the centre and the school?

In my first week, I was in Pablo Antonio Cuadra school and there were 50 to 60 children in each class. It was a very different experience. Whereas here (in the learning centre) you have more space and the classes are smaller. So, because you have more time to teach a smaller group of children, they learn a lot more easily.

Is the learning centre beneficial?

Yes, I think it is beneficial and I do think it really seems to help. The children come here voluntarily and it’s good to see that the children really want to learn. It’s a good start because they are pushing themselves to achieve and this extends to school as well. It is character forming.

How could we improve in the future?

It could be better if we had more long-term volunteers (longer than a month). I think you need a month to get to know the children and to understand their level of English. When new people come they need to repeat this cycle and this takes time.

Blake, how was your experience?

I was lucky enough to work in both the school and the learning centre in the same neighbourhood, so I had the same students. And after having helped the same students in the learning centre you can see the difference. They are excited to come, they participate more because they learn much better.

How does the centre compare to the schools?

On my end, it is easier to teach because of the student-to-teacher ratio, because in the schools you only have 1-2 teacher per classroom (of 50-60 students). Also, here they are in groups seperated by levels, so you are able to help them advance. Before in the schools it was difficult to change the theme, for example from learning about animals, because whilst some children were desperate to change others were still struggling to understand even the basics.

How do you think we could improve?
Because it is new, it obviously still needs work, but it is night and day compared to the schools. To be honest, where we need work is in participation of the centres. At the moment, we have a points system; you receive points for coming to the lessons, then there is a store where you can trade in these points to buy things like books and pens. So currently the office staff are really working on the focus of motivation.







Katherine, 10 and Marcela, 11 are two of the students at the learning centre in Sabaneta.
What school do you both go to?
Katerine & Marcela: Merced Mondragon.

And where do you live?
K&M: Sabaneta.

What is your favourite subject at school?
Katerine: Maths.
Marcela: Me too.

Why do you go to the learning centre?
M: I come to the centre because I
can learn english and computing here.

Do you like it here?
K: Yes. I like it here because it is nice and the teachers are very good.
M: I like it because here we learn.

For you, what are the differences between the learning centre and your school?
M: In the learning centre there are loads of classes and we learn english. There are more people in the schools than here.

Is education important?
K: Education is important to learn things and to become more valuable.

What job do your parents have?
K: My dad works in a bank and my mum is a housekeeper.
M: My mum stays in the house and my dad is a taxi driver.

What do you want to do in the future?
M: I want to be a business woman.
K: I want to be a dentist because it is a good job.





.........................................................................


Aquí en La Esperanza Granada lanzamos nuestra nueva iniciativa en los centros de aprendizaje recientemente, con centros ubicados en Sabaneta y Escudo. Los niños van al centro voluntariamente antes o después del su día en colegio, y la teoría de eso es que estas horas pequeñas cada día no solo va a ayudar a los niños para mejorar su desarrollo en la escuela, pero sino su confianza y capacidad. Por tres horas cada mañana nuestros voluntarios enseñan el inglés, y por tres horas en la tarde enseñan una mezcla del arte, las matemáticas y el español.

Tanto Marie, 22 de Alemania y Blake, 20, de los EE. UU. Son profesores de inglés en el centro y ambos trabajaron anteriormente en nuestra institución dentro de las escuelas estatales nicaragüenses.

 Marie hay muchas diferencias entre trabajar en el centro de aprendizaje y la escuela?

En mi primera semana, estuve en la escuela Pablo Antonio cuadra y había entre 50 hasta 60 niños en cada clase. Fue una experiencia muy diferente. Mientras que aquí (en el centro de aprendizaje) hay más espacio y las clases son más pequeñas. Así, ya que hay más tiempo para enseñar un grupo más pequeño, los niños aprenden fácilmente

¿El centro de aprendizaje es beneficioso?

Si, creo que es beneficioso y pienso que los centros ayudan en serio. Los niños vienen aquí voluntariamente y es bueno ver que los niños realmente quieren aprender. Es un buen comienzo puesto que los niños se esfuerzan demasiado para tener éxito y esto extiende a los colegios también. Esto forja el carácter.

¿Cómo podríamos mejorar en el futuro?

Sería mejor si tuviéramos más voluntarios de largo plazo (más que un mes). Creo que se necesita un mes para conocer a los niños y para comprender su nivel de inglés. Cuando las personas nuevas llegan es que necesitan repetir este ciclo y eso se lleva un tiempo.

Blake, como fue tu experiencia?

Tuve la suerte de trabajar tanto en la escuela como en el centro de aprendizaje en el mismo barrio, así que tuve los mismos estudiantes. Y después de haber ayudado a los mismos estudiantes en el centro de aprendizaje, puede ver la diferencia. Están ansiosos por venir, participan más porque aprenden mucho mejor.

¿Cuáles son las diferencias entre el centro y la escuela?

Por mi parte, es más fácil enseñar debido a la proporción de estudiante a maestro, porque en las escuelas solo tienes 1-2 maestros por aula (de 50-60 estudiantes). Además, aquí están en grupos separados por niveles, por lo que puedes ayudarlos a avanzar. Antes, en las escuelas, era difícil cambiar el tema, por ejemplo, aprendiendo sobre animales, porque mientras que algunos niños estaban desesperados por cambiar, otros aún luchaban por comprender incluso los conceptos básicos.

¿Cómo podríamos mejorar?

Debido a que es nuevo, obviamente todavía necesita trabajo, pero es de día y noche en comparación con las escuelas. Para ser honesto, donde necesitamos trabajo es en la participación de los centros. Por el momento, tenemos un sistema de puntos; Recibes puntos por venir a las lecciones, luego hay una tienda donde puedes comerciar en estos puntos para comprar cosas como libros y bolígrafos. Entonces, el personal de la oficina está realmente trabajando en base a la motivación.




Katherine, 10 y Marcela, 11 son dos estudiantes en el centro de aprendizaje en Sabaneta.

Hola chicas; ¿A qué escuela van?
K & M: Merced Mondragón

¿Y dónde vives?
K&M: Sabaneta.

¿Cuál Es tu clase favorita?
K: Matematica.
M: Lo mismo.

¿Por qué vas al centro de aprendizaje?
M: voy al centro porque aquí se puede aprender inglés y computación.

¿Y te gusta?
K: me gusta porque es bonito y los profesores son muy buenos.
M: me gusta aquí porque aprendemos.

¿Para ustedes cuales son las diferencias entre la escuela y el centro?
M: aquí reciben inglés y hay un montón de clases. Hay más personas en las escuelas que aquí.

¿Y la educación es importante?
K: Si. La educación es importante para aprender cosas y ganar valor.

¿Que trabajan tus padres?
K: mi papa trabaja en un banco y mi mama es una limpiadora.
M: mi padre es taxista driver y mi madre queda en la casa.

¿Que quires hacer en el futuro?
M: quiero ser una empresaria.
K: quiero ser dentista ya que es un buen trabajo.

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