El Bichito: Week 2

May 17

We started this week off hoping to build from what we had accomplished in week one.  Our goal for the week was to increase and maintain attendance after the youth have eaten their meal.  At the conclusion of this week we feel we have make progress in achieving this goal.  Understanding that it will be an ongoing process, we believe this will be a consistent goal for us to move forward.  Last week it was easier to build rapport with the male youth, while the female youth were more reserved, and shy.  This week an additional goal was to reach out more to the female youth and let them know that their presence and participation is important to us. We asked them what some of their interests are, and they responded that they liked to read.  We have continued the book check out process, and many of the girls are taking advantage of the resources El Bichito has to offer. 

            We continued preparing our theme based lesson plans.  Our two main focuses for this week were Mathematics and Geography.  The math lessons were designed to help us understand what level the children are on.  We observed that there were some children that were very advanced and others that very behind based on their age. So we prepared numerous exercises to ensure that everybody’s thinking would be stimulated.  The geography lessons for this week included teachings on different landscapes around the world, the placement of different countries, and more in depth learning of their home country.  We had each child draw Peru, label major cities including Puyllucana, where they live, the mountain ranges, and the Pacific Ocean; included is a photo of the youth holding these drawings.  In an attempt to not reinvent the wheel, we have been taking into consideration the work that previous volunteers have done, and hope to further build off their accomplishments.

            We also did an activity to help them further their thinking for the future.  We gave them supplies to construct a house on a piece of craft paper.  We gave them instructions to build their future house.  We posed the question, “what you need to do in life to get the house you want?”  They responded saying, “with money, work more, and a job that pays well.”  It was a fun activity to wrap up an awesome week! 

Besides our large group lessons we have been excited that more and more children are coming to do homework with us.  Along with the local volunteers from Cajamarca, we are striving to help the children understand the need to do their homework and further their education.