Weekly Internship Post 4

Internship post for the week of March 18th (Monday)

Fevi/Muñequitos de Lumbisí

Once again, this week I was placed with the leonsitos.
It never gets easier trying to deal with the younger kids even though they are only a year younger.
Some of the kids really don´t want to pay attention nor follow directions yet I also feel that that is natural for kids that are only 3 or 4 years old.
I see the stress that the teacher is getting from the kids not participating in activities or making the same mistakes over and over again but I´m also starting to realize that that is just their mental and physical capacity because of their super-short attention span at that age.

Jaime was saying his style of teaching the kids did not require the kids to stay in the classrooms and be obedient and sit patiently. He believed that the kids should be allowed to go out and come in to the classroom every-so-often so as to not bore the kids out and not make them hate school.

I respect his views and his style of teaching the kids but at the same time I wonder if the leonsitos are too young to even follow that style.

But it is also interesting seeing Jaime deal with the kids. He never gets angry like the leonsitos teacher, but he also has so much respect from the kids.
I am not sure if it is because he is the only man. Could it be a machista thing?

Also, this week these German high school kids came to volunteer also. They had about 5-7 volunteers just randomly come but they were all great kids.
One thing that bothered me though was that seeing them kind of reminded me of myself.
In the beginning, I was too shy/ or rather was so unsure of things that I did not know how to deal with the kids that did not pay any attention or follow directions. It was hard to discipline the kids and make it clear what was right and what was wrong.
I had a hard time being firm with the kids that just would not listen.

But I guess that is all practice and just getting used to.
In the beginning its definitely hard, but ultimately you are doing this for the kids to learn.
Like Jaime said, you want to lead the kids to a direction that will make them successful people. And in successful that obviously doesn't just mean someone that is rich money-wise but also someone rich with knowledge, wisdom, care, and humanistic beliefs. I am not sure how much affect the teachers have on kids this age, but either way, it is important to have the motivation to lead these kids in the right direction.



Cenvida
This week I worked with the little kids. Honestly speaking, I enjoy working with the older kids who are capable of communicating a little more with words and gestures, but it is definitely a little difficult working with a teacher that does not really give you any assignments.
The organization of Cenvida and Fevi is clear and although it is a pleasure to work with them, I find it more of a struggle to find things to do in the older kids classroom rather than with the kids.

But working with the little kids have been quite interesting, still trying hard to communicate well with them. Alot of the times I don't understand and at times where I seriously cannot figure out what they are saying, they kind of just give up and go on talking with the other kids or have the teacher translate for me. How sad is that. I've been getting better reading their gestures and half-way understanding what they are trying to say but it'a always sad when they give up what they are trying to communicate.






Considering the creative journal project... I wonder how I can come about with my idea.
I want it to be a pop-up book about a kid in Ecuador exploring the educational system here and somehow make it an educational book for children that will teach them something. I wanted to make it a concept of balance, something that is essential in life.

I came across that phrase "balance in life" when I was talking to a guy from Norway, at a hippy-eco-reserve in between Tena and Talag in the amazon. The people there are all volunteers working at the eco reserve and many of them practice(follow?) Krishna. I also remember relating with the speaker that came for the Health session for the Ecuador: Culture and Justice class. Religions and practices that follow and connect with nature and the self must have similar thoughts.

I want to include Howard Garner's Multiple Intelligences somehow but I am not sure yet. It would also be great including the Ecuadorian educational system and laws but I still have no idea how this will come together. I only have a little more than a month left. I should really get on this.


Also, I will be skipping next week due to spring break, and probably the week after that as well because my older sister will be visiting me from the Thursday during spring break until the Friday after.


To get 4 US credits on internships, I would need 8 weeks of interning considering I am doing roughly 19 hours per week (19x8=152 hours, to get 1 credit is atleast 35 hours so 35x4=140 hours). I started interning before I made my blog, so hours wise I have about 3 weeks left.