A Month in Pictures

Hello everyone! Since the last time I posted we have done some pretty fun things during school and on the weekends. Here are some pictures and stories (:

This is Alison, Jennifer, Silvia, Maria, Erika C, and Erika A from my 3rd level English class after we did animal presentations and made masks! 

 This is a picture of Diana Lituma who is one of the girls I love from high school study hall but I am very sad because she just got expelled a few days ago... She can go back to school starting next year but I miss seeing her around so much! There was a problem with students leaving and drinking during lunch and then coming to school drunk so they kicked her out as an "example" and now no one can leave campus during lunch. This was for sure one of the saddest things from my time here but I still keep in touch with her through her sisters and we are visiting their families house after Easter which will be great!

This is Nicole Urbano who is one of the dirties, craziest, most adorable little four year olds at La Marine (:

 A week after my paseo to take my English class ice skating, I helped out as a chaperone when Julie took 23 boys ice skating a few weeks ago. It was SO SO FUN!!

 Last Tuesday in Girls Program we decided to throw a birthday party for EVERYONE! The girls were so cute and we had a ton of fun. This is Nathaly who is one of my English students wearing her awesome newspaper birthday hat that all the girls made. We also had a dance party, played cards and games, learned to sing "Happy Birthday" in English, and finished by decorating sugar cookies. Feliz Cumpleanos!!

 Patricia  Lituma (my favorite, I'll just admit it....haha)

 Marcia Cando or Marcia Multiplicando as we like to call her (:

 GRETTY SOTO!!

 Genisis in her pretty birthday hat!

 Fernanada and Nathaly playing Twister! How cute?!

 Friday I had a wonderful wonderful day because I got permission to miss resource room in the morning and I went to La Gota de Leche (sort of like the third Center) where the first, second, and sixth graders all put on plays. Just look at Matteo and Nicole in this picture!!! How adorable are they?!

 Kazzandra Soto with all her attitude in that fierce red tutu (:

 Patti and Carolinaaaa

 Adonis! He had the leading part but sadly he broke his ankle the day before the show so he was either in a chair or his mom would go on stage and pick him up to move him throughout the performance.

 Patti, Johanna, and Katty (or should I say Parrot #1, Parrot #2, and the Moon) hanging out before the show.

 This is my goddaughter Sayne who played a grandma and was in the most beautiful indigenous clothing! Great job!!

 The sixth graders had some weird purple masked characters and a grandmother who cried a lot...I didn't really understand but their grade won the competition for best play!

 Ceasar in his super cool new hat and Kerley after the shows

 Me, Kerely, Nicolas, Sayne, and Joseph after the show. They are all Sayne's brothers and sisters so I'm happy we all got a photo together!

 Me, Juan David, and Maurro riding the school bus from La Gota to the La Marine school after the plays. What a fun ride!

HUMAN BINGO!! Seriously this is one of my new favorite games to play in English class! We make a 9x9 grid on the floor (out of sweatshirts...very classy here) and the girls play on teams to get three in a row. I just change out the vocabulary flashcards so it works with whatever unit we are on!

There are more pictures to come like from last Sunday when Kristin, Joe, and I went to one of our Adult Ed student's house. Her name is Gloria and she is super old but really excited about class and we had an awesome lunch with her and her family all there!

Also today was Sabado de Ramos or like their celebration of Palm Sunday just it is on a Saturday. Both of the Centers were combined here in Cotocollao and we started with a cool procession thing over the grounds and ending in Church for Mass. Then they all ate a special lunch and Krisin, Julie, and I took one of our favorite families called the Pachas out to lunch!! We had so much fun and got ice cream on the walk home. They are an awesome family and it was great to spend some quality time with them (: Then I took two of my study hall girls, Tatiana and Sabrina, out to eat later in the day too. They are Diana's best friends so I wanted to make sure they were doing okay and they still talk to her and learned their lessons so I was a happy.

Thank you for reading all this...sorry it was so long! There is just so much to say (: Love you all xoxo

When students "borrow" your camera for two hours...

three weeks later you stumble upon awesome hilarious pictures like these from their school wide photo shot! haha Enjoy this fine display of photographs courtesy of Alexandra & Araceli (: (:

Weekend Fun

Since Christmas Break a lot of us have notices a change in our experiences here in Quito. Instead of dreading weekend obligations, we have been willingly planning activities and spending as much time with the kids as we can! Here are some of the awesome fun things I have done over the last few weekends (:

Paseo de Patinar
This weekend I took my 1st level girls English class on a field trip to go ICE SKATING and it was probably the most fun I have had since I have been here! The bus ride to the indoor skating rink was so fun because we took over the back half of the city bus and sang all the songs we have learned in English class. Then once we were in the mall we just rode the escalators up and down a few times because the girls loveddd them! It was like a roller coaster and they were just screaming and laughing and running the wrong way up the down escalator. When we finally got to the ice rink it was hilarious to see them skate. At first the girls couldn't leave the wall and they fell down every two seconds. We called Patricia "spaghetti legs" because we would hold her arms up and her legs just went in every direction. Marisol was really having a hard time skating and we realized after an hour that she had her skates on the wrong feet and that was why she couldn't go straight! I was so happy to have Elizabeth, Alexis, and CeCe come along with me to help with the girls. It was an awesome paseo!

Garden Party
Last Sunday we were invited to a very fancy garden party at a English benefactor's house! He set up tents in his yard and treated us to awesome food. Even the British Ambassador was at the luncheon!


Open House and a day at the Park
Also last Saturday was the Open House at the La Marin school and I worked in the computer lab showing new families the different programs we have for students to use. It was really fun because every area in the school had a booth set up. I got a free cookie from the Panaderia and one of my colegio students working at the Belleza booth gave me a free manicure (: (Working hard or hardly working? I know haha) Then about six other volunteers came downtown around noon and we took any of the kids hanging around the center to a nearby park. I walked with some students to see the Crystal Palace, we picked raspberries, and they tried to catch tadpoles in the lagoon.

Visit to the Lituma's House
We were super lucky and got invited to one of my favorite family's houses for lunch about three Sundays ago. I teach Patricia in English, Art, and Girls Program (a.k.a. Patty Mayonnaise a.k.a. Spaghetti Legs), Cindy I teach in Art, and Diana is a high school girl I had when I used to teach study hall. We went to their house and had an awesome lunch of chicken and rice. Then we painted each others nails with some glitter nail polish I brought. We went to the rooftop and played monkey in the middle and hot potato for a while also. It was one of the most amazing days that I have had here! We are planning another Sunday lunch where we are going to make pizza and I can't wait!

 

We brought Patty Mayonnaise some mayonnaise as a hostess gift (: 

 

Cindy, Patricia, and their little cousin

 

Joe, Kristin, and I playing with the kids on the roof!

Paseo to the Piscinas 
The same weekend we went to the Lituma's house, I also helped Elizabeth as a chaperon on her field trip to the pools with her 2nd level English class. The girls were so so excited to go swimming, it was adorable! We also looked super cool with our mandatory swim caps on (: It turned out that seven of the girls in her English class I also have in Girls Program so it was awesome bonding time.

fun classes & girls program bracelets

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I kind of forgot about this blog! haha Well now I can show you pictures from two very fun lessons that I recently had. The first pictures are from my 1st level English class which was studying clothing in the last unit. I brought in a bunch of shirts, shorts, socks, jackets, gloves, and hats and we played a bunch of games and had races that all involved the girls putting on the clothes. It was hilarious!

We also did a fun project in Human Relations class recently where I handed the girls a garbage bag, scissors, and some tape and they had to create a dress! I wanted them to start thinking more creatively and also work more independently on projects where there aren't always directions spelling out what to do. The finished products were no Project Runway material but I think the girls did a great job!

Last but not least, here are some pictures from my Girls Program group. We just finished an order for 80 bracelets for a lady visiting later this month. They are made from recycled magazines and are super cute (: We are selling them for just $1 a piece sooooo if you are interested in buying some please let me know and I can send them to you (: (: