I would like to continue my travel stories from Guatemala by specifically touching on the children that I spent time with during my trip. As I previously mentioned, I volunteered at an after school program where children ages 2-9 could resort to after class and get help with homework, as well as spend time with their peers.
The other volunteers and I would structure the short 4 hours that we were there each day by distinguishing “work time” from “play time”. What I mean by this is that often the children would not want to do homework immediately after class, so we would spend the first hour or two playing soccer in the field and eating snacks that we supplied to the students. This allowed the kids to get their energy out before being able to focus on their school work.
The other part of the afternoon was spent helping the students with learning their English and practicing school objectives. We found it extremely beneficial to create interactive activities for the students that were on the younger side. For example, the 3-6 year olds had trouble writing English words, so we decided to implement a buying and selling game instead. We bought fruit at the market on the way to the village, and then we used it to pretend play a grocery store. Not only was this extremely helpful for socioemotional development in the younger children, but it was also a great way for them to practice their manners in English, their English fruit words, and their understanding of English monetary values. For the older children, they benefitted most from writing words out on paper and pencils that we supplied to them.
It was through these activities with the students that my eyes were immediately opened to the kids’ access to a solid education. Coming from the United States, I felt well equipped with teaching skills that came from my own experience in American education to help these children with their schoolwork. However, I noticed that the Guatemalan kids did not have the same experiences as me. They did not have the same access to qualified education experts or additional help for schoolwork (besides volunteers such as myself).
I hope that one day the children of Guatemala and other developing nations can have access to an enjoyable and effective education system just as we do in the United States. Every child should grow up feeling worthy of a good education.
Thank you.
I love how you played to the strengths of the children and you recognized how some of them best benefitted from writing words whereas others needed to have those interactions and the pretend play. I also like how instead of punishing the children for having energy and not wanting to do their homework, you created an alternative where everyone got to play together and it was probably beneficial to you as the volunteers as well.
I liked how you described in detail about what you noticed between children in Guatemala and how different each child is in understanding words. I also liked how the volunteers and yourself created great valued alternatives for the children as well helping each child in very unique ways. I found this really nice and unique read about your experiences in Guatemala.