El Bichito: Feliz Dia de la Tierra (Happy Earth Day)

April 26
By Alicia Platt

Tuesday was Earth Day in the US, so I took the chance to explain the occasion to the kids at El Bichito! I taught them that this holiday is about celebrating nature, taking care of the environment, remembering to clean up garbage, and do our recycling, etc. I chose five words in English to learn (sun-sol, Earth-Tierra, forest-bosque, river-rio, and lake-lago), and got great participation as we tried to learn them. Then, whoever participated in English got to color a nature page I printed out, and as you can see, they did so beautifully!

I'm trying to get the kids here to appreciate nature and think about taking care of their environment more, as simply throwing garbage wherever is a huge problem here in Peru and El Bichito. To help with this I've also put a garbage can in the main room of El Bichito and hope to see them using it more and more in the weeks to come!

El Bichito: Noche de las Chicas

March 11
By Alicia Platt

Friday night we had Noche de las Chicas! Fist we reviewed what 'CHICA' stands for--Confianza, Hermosa, Inteligente, Cariñosa, Atletica (confident, beautiful, intelligent, loving, athletic). We then talked about respect and how each of them deserved respect and also owed it to others. Afterwards, we enjoyed a movie and fruit salad together. They loved Pocahontas, though we did have to cover our eyes during the kissing parts...Overall it was great to get together and have some fun with just the girls!

El Bichito: All you need is “lo-vay”

February 16
By Alicia Platt

Friday was Día de San Valentín/Día de Amor y Amistad! They don’t celebrate it much here, but we did! We watched a short Charlie Brown clip in Spanish, learned Valentine’s Day words in English (thus, loh-vay), and made tarjetas de San Valentín (Valentines). There aren’t a lot of kids who come to El Bichito right now, as their school is out for their summer until March (and they don’t live close or need homework help), but the 8 or 10 who stayed made some great Valentines for their parents or grandparents.

El Bichito: February 10th update from Alicia

February 10
By Alicia Platt

Things are marching on here at El Bichito. I'm still trying to figure out a daily routine and am trying to plan better.  Even though there weren't many participants, we did have a math competition one day, which was fun, and a nutrition lesson that went really well. We also continue to lend books to kids every day, and I've been incorporating English into the FAMA or other lessons that we do, which they seem to like. Furthermore, English lessons with the college students have continued approximately 3 times a week (depending on the rain...) and I've enjoyed teaching those. My greatest feat this last week, however, was probably organizing the supply room!