Participatory Evaluation

The other day one of my students at Puntos, who actually works for the Central American Women's Fund across the street (http://www.fcmujeres.org/) said that her boss wanted a complete evaluation of the class, to make sure that the money they were making a good investment in English classes and that the students were making progress. I played it cool, but was panicking a little, because I felt like it was a test of how good of a teacher I am. Ahh!

So I decided to go back to the book that my friend Jana recommended to me, Making Meaning, Making Change about participatory ESL learning. They say that traditional evaluations have been very unsuccessful, and that evaluation is a process of learning and collaboration between the teacher and the students that continues from the beginning to the end, starting with the students' goals. I took a sigh of relief, and gleaned many ideas from the book for ways to involve the students in the evaluation process using activities and excercizes that are applicable to their lives. Today I started by having a discussion about the times that they have needed or will need to speak on the phone in English. Out came some of their fears about speaking on the phone (which is so hard to do in a foreign language!!!). Then they picked one of these situations and wrote a dialogue about it. As one of them was about giving a financial report to their accountant in the states, they had to look up a lot of relevant vocabulary. Hopefully some of these tools will come in handy when I'm teaching English in the states...

Another side of Nicaragua

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long! Technological problems.

This weekend I experienced another side of Nicaragua, maybe the real side. It makes life in Managua seem like a shadow. The mountains in the north of the country are where the most intense part of the Contra war was fought. The slopes of the mountain are a patchwork of fields planted with corn, beans, coffee and pastures for cows and horses.

We stayed on a farm, of my friend's sister-in-law's mom, Doña Marta and Don Toño (see picture of Norma and Doña Marta above, mother and daughter). We had to cross a river on foot to get there (see picture). They welcomed us warmly, cooking us special tamales with chicken from the patio, atol, which is a corn-based dessert, and killing a pig for my friend's nephew's birthday party. Doña Marta and her family gave up their beds for our group of 8 people to sleep in, made us delicious breakfasts of gallo pinto with eggs, avocado and cheese, and told us all about work on the farm.

After the piñata (see picture above), my friend and I went to Wiwilí, a small town way up by the border with Honduras on the Rio Coco. I felt like I was in a different country here, in the midst of green folding mountains and farms. It took us 4 hours in a bumpy horrible bus to get there, but it was worth it. We walked 15 km to the tiny community that my friend worked in during his year of social service after medical school (picture of river and mountains). It took 4 hours, and the wife of his friend saved our lives by making us some food, as there was absolutely nowhere to go to buy food. After 4 hrs of walking it was necessary to eat (for those of you who know how I am when I'm hungry)

Despite the extremely long trip, it was amazing to share a piece of life with the people I met up north.

Pictures from Ometepe

This past weekend my friend Eduardo and I went to Ometepe, the island in the middle of lake Nicaragua. Such a difference from Managua! Peaceful, very green, the people are extremely warm and welcoming. I'll write a little more later, but for now here are some pics...

1. Charco Verde, or green puddle, where we stayed, with Concepción Volcano in the background

2. Bird (for you grandpa!)

3. View of the Concepción Volcano from a little walk we took along the lake in Mayogalpa

4. Sunset on the ferry

5. Me in a little store in San Jorge, where the ferry leaves from

Hurricane Felix

I'm sure a lot of you have heard about Hurricane Felix in the states. It passed over the Atlantic Coast Region of Nicaragua with force, but in Managua, just lots of rain and thunderstorms. In other words, I'M TOTALLY FINE. The towns it affected most are Puerto Cabezas (the biggest city in the north atlantic region), Bilwi, and Sandy Bay, where they say that all of the houses on the bay were destroyed.

The government today is saying that the death count is at 39 but could reach 70, 105 people missing, 18, 477 evacuated, 70,000 residents affected, and 7,795 houses destroyed. Bodies of those who drowned are appearing on shore. Search teams have found 17 unidentified bodies so far, and Honduran authorities found 12.

Most of the houses in the region are made of wood, and they say that the rooves simply blew right off the houses. Even in the schools that people were staying in as refuges, the rooves blew off. Right now there is a crisis because there is no electricity, no water and very little food. There's also the risk of disease spreading through contaminated wells and mosquitos.

People are organizing around the country to provide support to their fellow citizens, sending food, water, clothes, hygiene supplies and blankets, among other things. The centro is throwing a fundraiser with a raffle, music and dance performances. The Red Cross has been helping too.. (A lot of this info and the pictures come from today's La Prensa).