Another one of our projects while here in Puno has been to teach English at one of the local elementary schools. Initially we were unsure as to whether it was really our place to be teaching, and if the effects of our teaching would be regarded as positive or negative to the community.
After questioning both Dr. Ivan and the school director we were reassured that teaching English to these students would be both appreciated and beneficial to the students futures. Puno is world known as the folkloric capital of Peru and thus receives many tourists on a year round basis. Many students here go to college to work in the tourism industry, and English being an international language is often used and required. The director of the school was adament on the basis that the school does not have any English teachers and often the students who do learn lack the pronunciation skills. Also the school that we visit, San Jose, has many children attending who live on the Uros Islands, a group of people who make their living on the tourism industry.
With the students we have been teaching 1st through 6th grades. Its been a challenge coming up with the curriculum and there was a lot of trial and error in our first few sessions. Pulling on our own experiences in learning language we have come up with a number of modules suited to different ages and attention spans. Aside from learning colors, numbers, and other group sets we´ve attempted to give each group some practice in converstional abilities.
Right now the students are on break, we can´t wait to start where we left off next week when school starts back up.
More to come,
EGW
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