Monday

Happy Benefactor's Day!  Today Belize celebrates one of their great benefactors, Baron Bliss.  It is a national holiday.  Since there was no school scheduled for today, we spent a good portion of our day visiting the school and village in Red Bank, sorting and organizing materials, meeting the teachers and administrators that we will be working with this week.  It was an excellent professional development day and introduction for the teaching experience in the villages.

 

Hello Everyone!

Today was an amazing day, and I can’t believe the experiences we were able to begin! Today we had an opportunity to see the village, teachers, and school buildings we would be working in. We started by organizing and preparing the materials that we were leaving for the school, and then we all had a chance to talk to our teachers individually. It is so interesting to see the different curriculum maps that are used here and how their manipulatives compare to ours in the U.S. It is an overwhelming and exciting time when we started to prepare for teaching these kiddos! The absolute highlight of the day was playing “football” with some of the village children. They are so energetic and ecstatic that we were wanting to play with them.   The children even followed our vans we when left. I’m so excited to go back and embrace this culture throughout this week.
See everyone soon!
Kara Hart

Good Evening!

Today was an amazing day in Belize! The day started bright and early at 7am for breakfast at Cardie’s. Travelling to Red Bank where the village the majority of us will be teaching followed breakfast. I was beyond excited to meet the school administration and teachers in the village. When we got to the village, we helped Dr. Pentecost separate the boxes of books, toys, and other teaching materials. With all 20 of us teaming up, we finished this in no time! The village was incredible, but also a culture shock.

One of the most amazing activities of my day was playing soccer with some of the kids in the village. This was a time to have fun and bond with the children. I loved it!!

After Red Bank we headed to Plancenia, Belize which has some amazing gift shops. I should also mention the killer view and ice cream. I am really looking forward to Tuesday as it will be our first day teaching!

 Keep following for more updates!

Shannon O’Daniel