Just call me Profe

The school is an awesome place.  It provides so many opportunities for work and there is always a captive audience guaranteed... Well maybe not the captive part.  But having an audience guaranteed is fabulous, well unless it rains or is one of the seven thousand Paraguayan holidays or the teachers on strike. A lot of the work I do as a first time volunteer in my community is getting people acquainted with the weird blondie that dropped out of nowhere and understanding the type of work Peace Corps does.  So a lot of meetings and clubs and lessons I put tons of time and energy into and then nobody comes.  Which weighs on you.  So the school has been a pick me up in that way.

My life skills personal development class is going okay.  The way I'm teaching in the form of games and conversations definitely has the kids thrown off and they are still nervous to talk and engage but each week it gets better and better.  

The seventh graders making up a game with just a rock and a card to try and spark some creativity :-)

My English class is fun.  The one I started in August is in full swing now and there are 9 kids that come almost every class and really have a passion for learning.  We play fun games and have competitions and its a great way for me to look really guapa in my community because for some reason learning English is super super valuable.  I also just started a class for the 4th 5th and 6th graders which is absolutely nuts. Almost 30 kids attend and trying to get 30 10 year olds to learn a foreign language is quite the endeavor.  It's exhausting but luckily two of my older kids have been helping me which is awesome to see!

Practicing English in groups

Studying 

I also have been going to a school in my neighboring community which is about an hour walk for me to teach computers. At first I thought I would have to do a lot of research and preparation because I dont know too much about computers but then you realize that these kids dont understand how to move the mouse...and the class becomes instantly easier.  

Drawing her name in the program Paint

And lastly this week I started my dental health program in the school with preschoolers to 3rd graders.  And its a whole lot of fun.  I spend a good portion of the time telling them I love them too because they cant tell me "Arianna, te quiero" enough apparently. But my favorite memory thus far is their a answer to the question: for what do we use our teeth?  "For biting".  So I'm not sure what's going on at home but hopefully their will be less biting after my two years is over.  New goal. 

Showing off their smiles :-)