This first picture is of us with our Mom and Dad….aka, Katie’s parents. They really spoiled us when they visited, and it was so
nice to have them around. On their last night here, they planned a surprise for us. They took us to this secluded resort about half an hour from PG. It was beautiful, and because it wasn’t open to the public yet, we were pretty much the only people there. After we had dinner, we walked down to the river where we went canoeing until sunrise. The river was so calm and quiet, with thick jungle on either side. Once in awhile we could hear an animal moving or crunching on plants, but the jungle was so thick that we couldn’t see what we were hearing. It was only Katie, her Mom, Melissa, and myself, and we felt like we were the only people on earth. We got into a few creepy spots where we knew we were in Croc territory, and Melissa and I actually encountered a baby croc, so we were sure to skid-addle out of there ASAP. It was a wonderful surprise. Thanks Chris and John! We miss youJThe following Tuesday our University supervisor Erika came to visit and see how things were going. It was nice to share our experiences and get some feedback on the things that we have been doing with the kids. We are working on a professional study that I will go in
to in detail at the end of this entry, and so it was great to have Erika’s support on that project. We celebrated her birthday while she was here, so hopefully we made it a memorable Belizean birthday for her!Last weekend we went back to Placencia for an art festival.
The talent that comes out of this country is amazing. If I had a way of bringing some of the paintings home, I would. Melissa and I have promised that when we finally ‘settle down’ we are going to come to Belize again to find art to fill our houses with. This picture is of the cabana that we stayed in. It was right on the beach, and it was cheap too! To the left is a picture of me reading in front of our cabana in the morning. I didn’t think anyone else was up, but Katie’s sneaky with the picture taking.So Valentine’s Day is a HUGE deal in Belize. We
are noticing that all holidays or birthdays evoke large celebrations here. It wasn’t Valentine’s Day, it was Valentine’s week. They wish each other a happy Valentine’s Day all week long, and had the final celebrations for it this past Saturday night. Our school had a V-day dance on Wednesday afternoon. It was quite humorous to watch and also a little crazy because even the young kids Punta dance, and Punta is a little provocative for 7 year olds to be doing. They don’t understand that it’s sexual though, they are simply imitating at that age. This is a picture of my kids on V-day.This weekend, Melissa’s friend Danae came to visit! We showed her around the town Saturday, and then went on a trip to Snake Caye on Sunday. It was actually a pretty cool day, but we made the best of it in between shivers (good thing we brought rum)! Purely by coincidence, 12 crew members from a movie that they’re filming outside of Punta Gorda came on this day trip with us. We got talking, and they were thrilled to hear that Melissa and I are drama majors. The film is called The Enemy God, and they have invited the three of us out to the set either this Friday or Saturday, or both depending on whether or not we can get the day off school. It sounds like they do a lot of prosthetic
work, and they have said that we can help them with the make up if we like. It should be an awesome experience so hopefully everything works out!This first picture is of the boat that we took to the Cayes. As you can see by the name, Wild Thing was the theme song for the day. The second picture would be why it’s called Snake
Caye. This is a boa constrictor. We went snorkeling and did some tubing too! That’s all for now, here are the details on our professional study.Professional Study:
To encourage reading among students whose first language is not English.
Rationale: My students have very poor reading and writing skills. They do not use proper English when they speak or write, and they need substantial practice with grammar and punctuation. Encouraging them to read more at a young age will help them to improve on these skills, and better their education in general.
Goal: To excite students about reading.
This will help students to:
- have greater confidence in reading
- improve reading comprehension
- improve spelling and increase vocabulary
- improve grammar and punctuation
- communicate ideas with greater clarity
- improve oral speech
Plan of Action:
- gather and ship a variety of reading materials from Canada to St. Peter Claver
- read to students on a daily basis
- find stories that appeal to students (both picture books and novels)
- implement silent, partner, and oral reading into class time
- establish an at home reading program
- set up an in class library
- ensure weekly visits to the library by entire class
-participate and assist in after school reading program
* So far, I have been able to set all of these plans in motion. I use the books that we had donated, and shipped on a daily basis. My students have also been asked to read at least 15 minutes per day with the at home reading program. So far only about 50% of my students are participating, but we will be charting their progress starting at the beginning of this week, and hopefully this will encourage the other students to participate. My students love being read to, and they get very excited about Robert Munsch books. I use his stories to exemplify writing conventions, as well as elements of a story and story mapping. Last week I introduced Charlotte’s Web to my class, and I will begin reading the novel to them this week. They are used to reading picture books, but it is important that they begin to use their comprehension and imagination skills to piece stories together in their minds. I will be giving updates of this professional study on my blog to meet our requirements.
