So I have been here in Peru for more than a year, and I am now seeing holidays and customs that I saw happening during training last year. Its going to be interesting seeing them again, with a better grasp on the overall culture and language. I was reflecting recently that before coming to Peru, I knew next to nothing about the country. Now, while I wouldn't say I'm an expert, I definitely know a bit more than the average Joe.
For instance, I know that the Quechua people in the mountains of Peru wear very colorful traditional clothing. Specifically, the women wear "polleras" that are pretty bright skirts, usually layered, paired with a traditional cowboy-ish hat. I know that most of them cook over an open flame, with meals featuring almost exclusively potatoes. Peru has a large expanse of rainforest untouched by people, vastly unpopulated and only becoming less populated as people all move to Lima, the capitol. They are listed on some sites as the #67 country for CO2 emissions; wiki says they produce 0.14% of the worldwide emissions. And yet, they will be one of the most impacted countries from climate change problems. Most of their water comes from the tropical glaciers they have in the Cordillera Blanca, as well as their electricity.
I was recently reading a spanish book called "Cholito y los Andes Magicos" which is written by a person from Ancash about the Quechua culture. Its a little more living in the mountains who meets the son of the devil (Quechua names that I don't remember, I believe ichic llapay or something like that). He gets trapped by the dad and has to perform feats to get out. Animals help him because he is generous, and he eventually escapes with the help of the devil's daughter. I haven't finished yet, but the interesting (or at least to me) part is that it is written exactly how a Quechua sierra dweller speaks. Which is to say, not exactly the most proper. I didn't realize how many mannerisms are in the language here, such as "no mas" being added to practically any sentence. It was a stark and interesting contrast from having read the Harry Potter series in spanish, written in formal Spanish.
I am getting more and more excited for my mom visiting me. I am looking forward to having her in my site, showing her my work, the people I live with. Santa, my host mom is such a sweet woman who has endured more than her fair share. She has had such an incredibly hard life; I want to help her in anyway I can. I'm hoping to buy some knitted apparel from her for people back home that my mom can take back for me. I also am planning on making a Facebook page to sell her products to anyone I know who is interested in something from Peru. I'm thinking of making an email and helping her sell some things. She can't make a ton very fast, but maybe selling a couple things every month would help her immensely. Right now she can't even afford getting glasses for her 14 year old son.
Anyways, I'm glad to be in Peru having this experience. Not many people get this chance, or get to have such an awesome work for two years. The freedom to do what interests you, and the network of amazing Volunteers you become immediately bonded to are two of the wonderful benefits of Peace Corps life.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
GLOBE project and IRONMAN project
So in the last week, I've been working on getting the details of my GLOBE classes fleshed out. Today marked the very first class for the project which might have been more exciting if it hadn't been with 3rd grade of Huaripampa. Not to speak badly of my site's high school or science teacher, but it hasn't been fun trying to coordinate with her, Prof. Irma. She's not a bad person, or at least I don't think she is, but she seems utterly disinterested in working with me. She isn't enthusiastic or even mildly helpful. Also, I taught an English class to 3rd grade of Huaripampa already, and I realized they are that one class you hate. They're obnoxious. 11 students, with only 2 girls. They're too cool for school. Maybe they'll be different for this project, since the prize is they get to go on a fieldtrip to the local national park, Pastoruri. I explained how the point system is going to work in order to qualify for the fieldtrip, and they were attentive and even asked questions to clarify. That seemed like a good sign to me, so maybe they'll pay attention to the classes, and even do their mini-weather monitoring project.
I guess here would be a good place to explain more about what my project IS exactly. So, as I said, we started classes today. Every week of October, grades 2-4 in the two high schools of my site (ie 6 classrooms) receive a class for my project. We start with the carbon cycle, then move directly into Climate Change. From there, we'll talk about the Scientific Method, and they'll think of a hypothesis they can test using thermometers in November. The 4th and last class of October will the practice using the thermometers, and we will form groups and a schedule for measuring in November. In November, I'll keep track of which kids actually measure the temperature like they signed up to, and then I will tally all the points and the 60 best students from the 6 classrooms get to go on the fieldtrip. Points come from participation in class, homework, a small test, and the measuring during November. I told them though, if they miss 2 of the 4 times they have to measure the temperature in November, they are disqualified for the fieldtrip. It would be nice if they measured more, but working with so many kids in such a short time means that they'll be in 5 groups within each classroom. Each group will get access to the weather box once a week.
That in a nutshell, is my idea for kicking off GLOBE. Obviously, these weather boxes with the thermometers will be staying in the schools, and this project covered the initial cost of startup. Next year, they'll continue using them without such an elaborate project being needed just for GLOBE. I am thinking of a yearlong project to do in both schools next year that will use GLOBE. Its called "Ironman" and Willa, my site mate, did it this year with 3rd grade of Olleros (the other school). Basically, throughout the year, kids work to qualify as "Ironmen" meaning they are exceptional students. You can customize the areas of work to suit your interests. For example, Willa in the sports section, instead of having them run a half-marathon, had them learn swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, and yoga.
I'm hoping to start this Ironman project in Huaripampa, as well as continue in Olleros. I would work with just 3rd grade of both, throughout the year. My areas would be: English, Reading/Writing, Science, Sports, and Volunteerism. I'm pretty excited for each of the areas to be honest. For English, it means I'd get to teach one class for a whole year on a set schedule. I could work with them to actually learn some useful English. With the reading/writing, I want to have them choose children's novels to read, and then complete a small test to demonstrate they understood. I think a lot of us had this in our elementary school or if not, know of kids nowadays that have this. Each book is worth a certain amount of points based on difficulty, and they would need to reach a certain amount of points by the end of the year to be an Ironman. In the Science section, this would include a GLOBE weather project, as well as more Climate change classes and perhaps some renewable energy classes. Sports I think I would continue the swimming classes as well as Ultimate Frisbee, both of which were incredibly fun for me. Instead of yoga, I'm thinking of making them do an obstacle course. It seems fun to me. I can just see the whole lot of them shrimping across the ground before fireman's carry-ing a dummy across the yard (shout out to my Hapkido family). Last but far from least is the Volunteerism section. What's awesome about this is that I get a free work force. I can make them do recycled art to sell for fundraising; I can make them work in the tree nursery, and maintain a compost. I can make them put on Environmental movie nights, and buy recycling from their peers. All of it would go to raising money for their fieldtrip at the end of the year, of course. But it would mean that I would be completing my work goals in every aspect with just this one project. Awesome, right? I think I might need to work out a small grant to get enough children's books, and maybe the obstacles for the obstacle course, but those would just be startup costs, meaning they could continue the program the next year without me. Ideally, they would, at least.
Anyway, wrapping up. If anyone has any ideas of how I could improve these projects, let me know! Especially with the IRONMAN project, there is tons of room to add things. It's the whole year, coordinated with multiple teachers such as the English teacher, Science teacher, Tutoring teacher, Communications teacher, Work Education teacher, and PE teacher of course. Even if I don't want to teach the class myself, I can program it with one of them to do it as part of the program!
I guess here would be a good place to explain more about what my project IS exactly. So, as I said, we started classes today. Every week of October, grades 2-4 in the two high schools of my site (ie 6 classrooms) receive a class for my project. We start with the carbon cycle, then move directly into Climate Change. From there, we'll talk about the Scientific Method, and they'll think of a hypothesis they can test using thermometers in November. The 4th and last class of October will the practice using the thermometers, and we will form groups and a schedule for measuring in November. In November, I'll keep track of which kids actually measure the temperature like they signed up to, and then I will tally all the points and the 60 best students from the 6 classrooms get to go on the fieldtrip. Points come from participation in class, homework, a small test, and the measuring during November. I told them though, if they miss 2 of the 4 times they have to measure the temperature in November, they are disqualified for the fieldtrip. It would be nice if they measured more, but working with so many kids in such a short time means that they'll be in 5 groups within each classroom. Each group will get access to the weather box once a week.
That in a nutshell, is my idea for kicking off GLOBE. Obviously, these weather boxes with the thermometers will be staying in the schools, and this project covered the initial cost of startup. Next year, they'll continue using them without such an elaborate project being needed just for GLOBE. I am thinking of a yearlong project to do in both schools next year that will use GLOBE. Its called "Ironman" and Willa, my site mate, did it this year with 3rd grade of Olleros (the other school). Basically, throughout the year, kids work to qualify as "Ironmen" meaning they are exceptional students. You can customize the areas of work to suit your interests. For example, Willa in the sports section, instead of having them run a half-marathon, had them learn swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, and yoga.
I'm hoping to start this Ironman project in Huaripampa, as well as continue in Olleros. I would work with just 3rd grade of both, throughout the year. My areas would be: English, Reading/Writing, Science, Sports, and Volunteerism. I'm pretty excited for each of the areas to be honest. For English, it means I'd get to teach one class for a whole year on a set schedule. I could work with them to actually learn some useful English. With the reading/writing, I want to have them choose children's novels to read, and then complete a small test to demonstrate they understood. I think a lot of us had this in our elementary school or if not, know of kids nowadays that have this. Each book is worth a certain amount of points based on difficulty, and they would need to reach a certain amount of points by the end of the year to be an Ironman. In the Science section, this would include a GLOBE weather project, as well as more Climate change classes and perhaps some renewable energy classes. Sports I think I would continue the swimming classes as well as Ultimate Frisbee, both of which were incredibly fun for me. Instead of yoga, I'm thinking of making them do an obstacle course. It seems fun to me. I can just see the whole lot of them shrimping across the ground before fireman's carry-ing a dummy across the yard (shout out to my Hapkido family). Last but far from least is the Volunteerism section. What's awesome about this is that I get a free work force. I can make them do recycled art to sell for fundraising; I can make them work in the tree nursery, and maintain a compost. I can make them put on Environmental movie nights, and buy recycling from their peers. All of it would go to raising money for their fieldtrip at the end of the year, of course. But it would mean that I would be completing my work goals in every aspect with just this one project. Awesome, right? I think I might need to work out a small grant to get enough children's books, and maybe the obstacles for the obstacle course, but those would just be startup costs, meaning they could continue the program the next year without me. Ideally, they would, at least.
Anyway, wrapping up. If anyone has any ideas of how I could improve these projects, let me know! Especially with the IRONMAN project, there is tons of room to add things. It's the whole year, coordinated with multiple teachers such as the English teacher, Science teacher, Tutoring teacher, Communications teacher, Work Education teacher, and PE teacher of course. Even if I don't want to teach the class myself, I can program it with one of them to do it as part of the program!
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