Community English Class - The New Hot Spot to Be!
About a month and a half before the strike started, I was approached by a member of the community on my way home from school one day. His name is José and he expressed a desire to start a community English class for adults in the area that had an interest in learning English. We came to an agreement that if he found 10-15 interested people and a place to hold the classes, I would help him out and become the instructor. A week and a half later, he was sitting at the kitchen table in my house telling me that he had found the people and classroom. I was shocked and impressed with the speed with which he was able to round everyone up. Apparently people really wanted to learn English!
We had our first class April 6th (which also happened to be my mom's birthday!) and haven't slowed down since! I can proudly report that there are currently 30 Repeloneros in my class. There is a nice mix of adults and school aged students. This class has become so popular that I've had to turn people away, with the promise of a new class starting up in the fall. I'm also blown away by the determination and attentiveness of this class as a whole. It really makes a difference from a teacher's standpoint to be instructing students that WANT to be in your class as opposed to being FORCED to be in your class.
With the paro in full force the last few weeks, this class has helped to keep me sane. I look forward to Monday and Friday nights when I get to see and interact with my students. Slowly, we are starting to form bonds outside of the classroom that have led to other opportunities (more to come on that later). My quest for friendships is finally starting to pick up steam and my Spanish has improved multitudes in this past month or so.
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| My class taking their first exam |
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| Using the Guess Who characters to learn about physical descriptions |
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| Family tree time!! |
Finca Trips – Exploring The Surrounding Area
Getting plugged into a new community is never an easy task. It takes time to get to know who the key players are. In my case here in Colombia, there is also a language barrier that can hinder progress in this area. However, once you do finally get plugged in, as my community class has shown me, opportunities for integration multiply right before your eyes. One such opportunity presented itself in the form of a trip to a finca (small farm) outside of town a few weeks ago.
Ever since classes started, José had been telling me how he wanted to organize a trip for the whole class to take part in outside of class that would allow us all to get to know each other. Obviously, I was all for this! We settled on a trip to a local finca one weekend and ended up,having a nice little get away! I invited Derek, Jessi, and Janice to join in this endeavor, which was nice because it gave them a chance to interact with my students and learn more about the area.
Out of the 30 students in my class, about 1/3 of them were able to attend, making our field trip a nice, little intimate gathering. I finally leaned how to make sancocho (the traditional soup that is served quite frequently), received some accordion lessons from one of my students, went papaya hunting in a local papaya grove, and got to just spend time with my students outside of the formal classroom setting. It was a nice change of pace and gave us an opportunity to get to know each other in a more personal level. I'm already looking forward to the next outing!
Befriending the Local Police
When I first moved to Repelón three months ago, one of the first people that I met was the chief of police. An extremely nice guy, he gave me his contact info and said that the cops in town were interested in starting English classes if I had time. Well, in the course of starting at a new school, getting to know a new community, and just the daily hustle and bustle of life, these classes got pushed to the back burner of things to do. Enter the paro.
I had told my friend Jessi (another volunteer who lives in a Rotinet, a small community about 10 minutes away) about the police chief’s desire for English classes and asked to see if she would be interested in helping me out with them. Looking for something to do, she quickly agreed to undertake this new task with me. We went to the police station one day and were shocked by what we found. Expecting a building nestled in between other businesses, we were greeted by a compound-like facility, complete with a perimeter gate, open fields, and a one-eyed painting of Santa on the pavement, welcoming visitors as they entered the facilities.
We had a super successful meeting with the police chief and settled on doing classes three times a week. He was so excited to have us start that he invited us to the station the following day for lunch, which we gladly accepted. As this lunch date approached, we were envisioning being introduced to the other cops on the force and enjoying a meal with them. To our surprise, it ended up just being us and the police chief. The other cops sat at other tables, avoiding us like the plague. The start of our lunch was like an awkward first date, as no one really knew what to talk about. Eventually, the conversation picked up and the latent awkwardness subsided. After lunch, we were introduced to some of the other cops, told them about the upcoming classes, and then enjoyed some friendly conversation about ourselves and other topics.
Well, I can happily report that we have successfully completed one week of classes! Outside of free food and some new friends, it's been a lot of fun getting to know the local force. Our classes typically have between 5-8 people, which makes for a nice, small setting. They are enthusiastic about learning and love taking part in the games and other activities that we have them participate in. Plus it never hurts to have the entire police force on your side just in case you ever need them!
Another unexpected result of these classes has been the discovery of a running buddy. While discussing our favorite activities, I expressed my enjoyment of running. The police chief told me that he runs quite frequently and wanted to know if I was interested in joining him. I've been looking for a consistent running buddy since I moved to Repelón. However, there was a catch: he enjoys running at 5 am. That's right, before the sun decides to show itself above the horizon. Desperate for someone to run with, I reluctantly agreed to join him. Turns out, 5 am runs aren't as bad as they may sound. These runs, which occur every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, are being worked into my weekly schedule. Maybe I'll become a morning person after all – or just take a power nap when I finish the run…
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| The cops enthusiastically taking part in a game of Memory/Concentration |
Getting My Dance On
Ever since I arrived here in Colombia and witnessed a performance of Cumbia, a traditional style of dance here on the coast, I knew that I wanted to learn the intricacies and steps behind this piece of story telling. One night, while teaching my community class, I expressed this desire to my class. One of my students told me he had a friend that would be willing to teach me! I was super excited and couldn't wait to get started. The day to start this new endeavor finally came this past week.
Upon entering the house where these lessons were to occur, Jessi (who just happened to be with me on the day the lessons started) and I really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were led to the back porch where we met three young musicians, all aged 11, who blew Jessi and I with their maturity and ability to work together as a cohesive group. We were given a brief tutorial on each instrument that makes up a traditional Cumbia ensemble, along with a lesson on the basic rhythms used in the dance. Given the opportunity to try these rhythms out on the drums themselves, I jumped at the chance. Jessi also partook in playing an instrument for the first time in her life! Needless to say, we had some pretty awesome instructors!
Eventually, more people showed up to the house and we got started with the dance itself. All in all, the steps for the Cumbia are not all that complicated. The footwork and hip shaking take a little getting used to, but the actual,dance itself is pretty straight forward. After watching a few run through, it was Jessi and I’s turn to try it out. With the guidance of some others, we successfully completed the first part of the dance! It was a lot of fun to finally learn some of the base steps. With our next lesson coming up soon, I've been reviewing the steps in the comfort of my room. This has caused my host mom to comment on passing about how happy she is that I'm finally learning Cumbia and how I'll blow everyone away at Carnaval next year with my new found moves!
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| Jessi and I with our awesome cumbia band |
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