I'm now teaching math to 6th graders in Chacayá twice per week. Chacayá is about 10 km from where I live, and to get there, you usually go in a pickup truck. the problem is, there is no schedule, and sometimes you might have to wait an hour or more before one leaves. Worse than that, if you happen to find yourself out there after 6, there are no pickups, and you'll have to find a creative way back to the big city.
Chacayá is not on google maps. If you head south from Atitlán (which google maps calls La Trinitaria for some reason), you pass through Panabaj and then Tzanchaj. Panabaj was home to the Hospitalito until Hurricane Stan in 2005, when a mudslide went through town and killed hundreds of people. There is still a refugee camp there of people who lost their home. Tzanchaj is just east of the southern extreme of Lake Atitlán. If you go around the southern tip and then head back north 2 or 3 km, you're in Chacayá.
Yesterday I bought a bike, made in Guatemala, for 900 quetzales, or about $115. I biked around yesterday afternoon a bit, and estimated I could get to Chacayá in an hour or less. This morning I was due there to teach at 9, so I left at 7:45 to give myself plenty of time. Biking through Santiago Atitlán is a bit difficult as there is a lot of traffic -- buses, pickups, trucks and tuc-tucs on narrow streets, with no stop signs and lots of hills.
I got to the town of Chacayá at 8:30. The last thing to do was climb the hill that leads to the school. I knew I had no hope of pedaling up that monster, but did not realize how much work it would be just to walk the bike up. Five minutes of huffing and puffing later, I was drenched in sweat and panting like a dog. It's not THAT hard to walk the hill, but pushing a bike makes a lot of difference.
Fortunately I had about a half hour to dry off. The class came in a bit late from computer lessons. I don't know what they do in there. They have 2 functioning computers in a tiny closet, and all 22 members of the 6th grade plus a teacher were in there. I know the instruction is very basic and that learning some of the features of MS Word will be a big deal.
So my students came in at 9:10 and we got started right away. We talked a bit about counting to 12 in English, how to say plus and minus, and proceeded to do some problems. Last night I prepared about 100 sheets of construction paper with various problems -- some as easy as 5+5, going to such things as 67 + ? = 96. I focused on how to add 9 or 19 or 29 mentally. Add 10 (or 20 or 30) and then take away one. We generalized to 8's as well, moved on to simlar subtraction problems. Midway through I orchestrated a competition between the girls and boys. They really got into that. It was fantastic to see the traditionally dressed girls so enthusiastically raising their hands (trying not to shout out answers, because I wouldn't give a point unless they were called on!) Mini Hershey bars for the girls, Starbursts for the boys. Next time I'll have to remember to get some photos...
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John, I love reading your blog! I admire what you are doing there, and am curious to learn more about how teaching numeracy works. Photos have been wonderful, too.
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