Carnival Crazy - The World´s Biggest Party!

Going out with a bang... at the Rio Carnival!

Outrageously OTT, completely ostentacious, crazy costumes, shiny sequins and gaudy colours, thousands upon thousands of dancers strutting their stuff and shaking their booty, flamboyant floats, loud samba beats... The Rio Carnival lives up to all its hype and then some! From 9pm until 5am Rio´s samba schools paraded through the Sambodromo (a specially constructed road with stands and corporate boxes on either side) and the spectacle is difficult to describe. The atmosphere was electric as the watching crowds danced and sang along while wave after wave of colourful parade progressed. We looked on in awe at dancers performing on top of tall swaying podiums on huge floats with nothing more than a pole to hang on to for safety, whilst others even bounced up and down on massive trampolines whilst playing drums at the same time!

Float themes ranged from the prehistoric (cavemen and dinosaurs) to fairytale lands, but all were madly colourful. Each school had its own style, with some more creative in their dance routines than others. One school (each school comprising a few thousand people) was even followed by a disguised dancer in amongst the cleaners sweeping up after their floats went through!

It was certainly an amazing way to end the trip, and now just a few hours remain before we board our flight home. Farewell Rio, and Farewell Latin America!

¡Carnaval Loco - la Fiesta la más Grande del Mundo!

¡Saliendo con un golpe ... en el Carnaval de Río!

Completamente ostentacious, trajes locos, lentejuelas brillantes y colores llamativos, miles sobre miles de bailarines, flotadores extravagantes, latidos de samba fuertes... ¡El Carnaval de Río cumple con todas sus exageraciones y luego unos! Desde las 9 de la noche hasta 5 de la manana las escuelas de samba de Río desfilaron por el Sambodromo (un camino especialmente construido con sillas y cajas corporativas a ambos lados) y el espectáculo es difícil de describir. La atmósfera era eléctrica como las muchedumbres de mirada bailadas y cantó a lo largo mientras la onda después de la onda del desfile colorido progresó. ¡Miramos en el temor en bailarines que funcionan encima de altos podios de influjo en flotadores enormes con nada más que un poste para colgar en para la seguridad, mientras los otros hasta saltaron de arriba abajo en trampolines masivos jugando tambores al mismo tiempo!

Los temas de flotador se extendieron del prehistórico (cavernícolas y dinosaurios) a tierras de cuento de hadas, pero todos eran como un loco coloridos. Cada escuela tenía su propio estilo, con unos más creativos en sus rutinas de baile que otros. ¡Una escuela (cada escuela que comprende a unos miles de personas) fue hasta seguida de un bailarín disfrazado en entre los encargados de limpieza que limpian después de que sus flotadores pasaron!

Esto era seguramente un modo asombroso de terminar el viaje, y ahora sólo unas horas permanecen antes de que alojemos nuestro vuelo a casa. ¡Adiós Río, y Adiós América Latina!

Fun & Frolics in the Favelas

Glimpsing the more ´real Rio´today gave us a greater understanding of what life is like for many ´Cariocas´(Rio residents), as we went to visit two of the local favelas.

Favelas (higgledy-piggledy urban settlements in which under-privilidged people build their own make-shift houses/flats, usually on top of other peoples´rooves) have a terrible reputation for drug trafficking and violence. And not without reason, since they are all controlled by gangs and drug lords, who ´microwave´people if they fail to heed warnings over their behaviour (rubber tyres are piled up outside the offending person´s house, who is then put inside the verticle tube and set fire to along with a liberal dose of petrol). However, on the brighter side, those same gangs provide a protection service (much like the Italian Mafia) to the residents of their favelas, and sort out problems a lot more effectively than the local police (who usually take money to look the other way). Also, as favelas are usually built on the slopes of the many hills surrounding the city, they usually have million-dollar views for a fraction of the price paid by visitors to the Sheraton Hotel!

With the help of an experienced local guide (who instructed us when to and not to take photographs for our own safety) we visited two favelas - a small one and then the largest in Brazil (official censuses state 60,000 people live there, but locals claim it is more likely to house three times that number). ´Streets´in those areas are more accurately described as very narrow alleyways, with dark stairways connecting them. However, the people there were very friendly - we felt rather like we were back in central america rather than anywhere particularly threatening. In fact many of the people we encounter on the tourist streets live in the favelas (the shop workers, hotel receptionists etc). Charity is also at work there, with an Italian family having set up a community school there to provide activities for the local children when they´re not at public school, and a volunteer teacher kindly opened up for us to have a look around (it was interesting to see a picture of President Obama on the wall of one of the classrooms). See http://www.parati.inf.br/uk/parati.htm for more info.

So all in all, a very interesting visit that will help us to better appreciate the samba schools we see parading through carnival (most of whom come from the favelas).

Fiestas en el Favelas

Hoy hemos visto un ´Rio differente´ que nos dio una mayor comprensión de qué vida es como para muchos ´Cariocas´ (residentes de Río), como fuimos a visitar dos de los favelas locales. Favelas (en desorden establecimientos urbanos donde la gente pobres constuiyen sus propias casas/planos de expediente, generalmente encima de otros peoples´rooves) tiene una reputación terrible para los tráficos y la violencia de droga. Y no sin la razón, puesto que todos son controlados por las cuadrillas y los señores de las drogas, que el ´microwave´las personnas si no pueden prestar atención a advertencias sobre su comportamiento (los neumáticos de goma se llena encima de exterior la casa de los person´s que ofende, que entonces se pone dentro del tubo del verticle y encendenlo con una dosis liberal de la gasolina). Sin embargo, esas mismas cuadrillas proporcionan un servicio de protección (como la mafia italiana) a los residentes de sus favelas, y arreglan problemas mucho más con eficacia que la policía local (quién toman generalmente el dinero para mirar la otra manera). ¡También, como los favelas se emplean generalmente las cuestas de las muchas colinas que rodean la ciudad, tienen generalmente opiniones del millón-dólar para una fracción del precio pagado por los visitantes al hotel de Sheraton! Con la ayuda de una guía local experimentada (quién nos dio instrucciones cuándo y no tomar las fotografías para nuestra propia seguridad) visitamos dos favelas - pequeño y entonces el más grande del Brasil (persona oficial del estado de los censos 60.000 viven allí, solamente demanda de los locals que es más probable contener tres veces que número). el ´Calles´in esas áreas se describe más exactamente como pasillos muy estrechos, con las escaleras oscuras conectándolas. Sin embargo, la gente allí era muy amistosa - sentíamos algo como estábamos detrás en America Central algo que dondequiera particularmente amenazando. De hecho muchas de la gente que encontramos en las calles turísticas vivas en los favelas (los trabajadores de la tienda, los recepcionistas etc del hotel). La caridad está también en el trabajo allí, con una familia italiana que fija una escuela de comunidad allí para proporcionar las actividades para los niños locales cuando they´re no en la escuela pública, y un profesor voluntario abierto amablemente para que tengamos una mirada alrededor (era interesante ver un cuadro de presidente Obama en la pared de una de las salas de clase). Vea http://www.parati.inf.br/uk/parati.htm para más Info. Tan cosiderándolo todo, una visita muy interesante que nos ayude a apreciar mejor las escuelas de la samba vemos desfilar con carnaval (la mayor parte de quién vienen de los favelas).

'At the Copa... Copacabana...'

'... the hottest place south of Havana!'

I can't get that old Barry Manilow classic out of my head at the moment, unless it's to replace it with other songs like 'The Girl from Ipanema' or 'Her name is Rio and she dances in the sand...'. Yes, we have arrived at our final destination: Rio de Janeiro!

We've spent the past 5 days a little way down the coast, in the small town of Paraty, by way of relaxation before the big Rio fiesta. After a few disappointingly cloudy days the sun finally decided to put on a good show, allowing us to make the most of the beautiful beach in nearby Trinidad and embark on a schooner trip around the local islands. I for one certainly enjoyed snorkling with the vivid yellow and black striped 'Sargeant Fish' in the warm and clear turquoise waters off the side of tbe boat - one lady wasn't so sure however as a huge school of them swam all around her! The evenings saw us doing our best to dance on the large and uneven 'cobbles' (better described as boulders set in concrete really) at the open-air jazz festival and marvelling at the human-like qualities of the characters in the locally-renowned puppet show (http://www.ecparaty.org.br/).

Now though we're in Rio, centrally located just a few minutes walk from the people-watcher's paradise of Copacabana Beach. One week hardly seems long enough to see all of the famous sites here (Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Ipanema Beach etc) as wel as soaking up the spectacle promised by the Rio Carnival, but that is what we have. So let the party (and the final countdown) commence!

The Power of Nature Unleashed: Iguázu

The tremendous tumult of Iguazu Falls has finally whisked us into the last phase of our journey... not completed by barrell!



After spending a brief couple of days in the picturesque Argentinian city of Salta last week, we headed onto the Brazilian border, sadly saying goodbye to our final Spanish-speaking country - time to start looking up useful Portuguese phrases!



The transition couldn´t have had much more of a dramatic backdrop: when Eleanor Roosevelt first saw Iguázu Falls her reaction was ´Poor Niagra´- and not surprisingly really, given that the scene comprises no less than 275 falls spanning 3km over the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay! The experience was certainly all-encompassing - not only did we see the awesome torrent of water rushing over cataract after giant cataract, but we also heard the powerful roar and felt ourselves soaked by its spray. Definitely an occasion to reflect on the incredible power of mother nature in all her glory.

El Poder de Naturaleza Soltada: Iguázu



¡El tumulto tremendo de Cascadaas de Iguazu nos ha batido finalmente en la última fase de nuestro viaje ... no completado por barrell!

¡Después de gastar a una breve pareja de días en la ciudad argentina pintoresca de Salta la semana pasada, nos dirigimos en la frontera Brasileña, tristemente diciendo adiós al país de hispanohablante final - tiempo para comenzar a buscar frases portuguesas útiles!

La transición no podía haber tenido mucho más dramático: cuándo Eleanor Roosevelt vio las Cascadas de Iguázu su reacción era 'Niagra pobre' -y no sorprendentemente realmente, dado que la escena no comprende ningunas menos de 275 caídas que atraviesan 3 kilómetros sobre la frontera de Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay! Una experiencia fantastica - no sólo vemos el torrente imponente del echar agua que precipitó sobre la catarata después de la catarata gigantesca, pero también oímos el rugido poderoso y sentido nosotros mismos empapado por su spray. Definitivamente una ocasión para reflexionar sobre el poder increíble de naturaleza de madre en toda su gloria.

Amazing Amazon

Beware... it´s a jungle out there!

Since the last entry we have witnessed the incredibly vast array of geographical contrasts that is Bolivia, and the reason why it is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet.

After leaving pretty, temperate Sucre we headed north to the steamy Amazon Basin. En route in our tiny propellor plane, we passed over the La Paz altiplano and thankfully managed (albeit somewhat shakily) to climb high enough to pass over the snow-capped peaks to its north. When the mountains dropped away, the landscape became a vast ocean of green forest, occasionally interspersed with brown winding rivers. After landing on a grass runway (ok, a field basically!), we climbed out into the little town of Rurrenabaque and arranged a trip into the amazon jungle.

The trip was everything we could have hoped for... after a private boat-ride down the river, watching the exotic tree-lined banks drift past we arrived at our rainforest home (a small collection of electicrity-less huts). After something to eat we headed off into the trees with our guide, José Luis, pushing through vegetation, scambling over fallen trees and balancing our way over logs to cross rivers (I tried my best to put in some moves from Dirty Dancing on the latter but it wasn´t to be). During our two days of exploring we were lucky enough to encounter a variety of animals from frogs of all colours and sizes (whose eyes lit up in José´s torch light on our night-time sojourn), a tarantula (roughly the size of my two fists put together), monkeys, a herd of wild boar, maccaws, huge butterflies and a family of ant-eaters wending their way along the branches. The calls of the distant howler monkeys (more like roars than howls) gave the whole feel quite a Jurassic Park feel!

In addition we also learnt a lot of interesting facts about the rainforest vegetation. Many of the trees are used by indiginous peoples for their medicinal qualities, including one leaf which had an anaesthetic effect on our tongues when we chewed it! Rob was also impressed by a small fruit whose taste resembled a mango but whose stone turned out to contain coconut... maybe we´ll try to export some when we return home!

And so it was with some reluctance but amazing memories that we headed out of Bolivia (not before seeing yet another change in its scenery - this time the red rocky crags and cacti of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid´s territory in the south)... next stop Argentina!

Amazon Asombroso

Cuidado... es una selva alli!

Esta semana hemos estado testigados al increyible numero de differentes medios ambientes que contiene Bolivia, y el razon porque tiene uno de los mas grandes biodiversidades del mundo.

Después que salimos de Sucre bonito, fuimos al región húmido del Amazon, en el norte. En nuestro avion muy pequeno, pasamos arriba de La Paz y el altiplano y entonces afortunadomente pudimos subir (sacudiendo un poco!) bastante para pasar los montagnas cubiero de nieve al norte de la cuidad. Cuando las montagnas desaparecieron, el paisaje cambió y hubo un mar grande de arboles verdes, con rios marrones.

Pasamos unos días fantasticos en el región de Beni, y tuvimos la suerte de tomar una excursion de barco privado en el rio, hasta nuestra destinación en la selva. Exploramos la selva con nuestra guia, José Luis y veímos unas ranas (sus ojos billaron en la luz de la antoccha de José) una tarantula, unos monos, unos chanchos, una familia de hormigueros, maccaws, y unas mariposas bonitas.

Además, aprendimos mucho sobre los arboles y plantas, cuales son usados para las personnas indíginas por sus effectos medicinales. Por ejemplo, hubo una hoja que probamos que tuvieron el effecto de anaesthetic sobre nuestras lenguas! Rob se gusta tambien una fruta que tenía un sabor similar al mango pero que tenía coco adentro. Tal vez trataremos exportar unas cuando regresseremos a Inglaterra!

Y pues, salimos de Bolivia, con un poco de tristeza pero con muchas memorias asombrosas. Proximo: Argentina!

Gringoes Get Even!

Let the water war commence!

After a week of increasingly frequent water bomb attacks against us, Rob and I decided that the final day of school would be the perfect time to let the locals know what they were up against. So, armed with 200 water bombs we met Juan and our students in the park... and the games commenced!

Cristian and Francisco went into action immediately, targetting everybody around them with the aqua-grenades... to such good effect that Cecilia soon looked like she´d been swimming in the fountain! Rob´s aims were, as ever, 1000 times more accurate than my own, so he managed to get a few good shots on target. Thankfully my strategy of creeping up very close behind people allowed me to gain a few successes of my own, but was soon soaking wet myself thanks to not only the students´use of water bombs but also bottles filled with water from the fountain!

All in all a great way to spend a hot day in the park, and a fun way to finish our time at the Fox Academy. Thank you to Juan and all the students who made us so welcome (other than the obvious attacks on the final day!), and we wish you all the best of luck for the future.

Guerra de Globos!

Después de una semana de atentados con bomba de agua más y más frecuentes contra nosotros, Robe y yo decidímos que el día final de la escuela sería el tiempo perfecto para avisar a los vecinos contra qué ellos aumentaron. ¡De este modo, armado con 200 agua bombardea encontramos a Juan y nuestros estudiantes en el parque ... y los juegos comenzaron!

El Cristian y Francisco entraron en la acción inmediatamente, lanzando globos a todos alrededor de ellos con las agua-granadas ... a tal efecto bueno que Cecilia pronto pareció como si ella había estado nadando en la fuente! Los objetivos de Rob estaban, como alguna vez, 1000 veces más exactas que mi propios, entonces él logró conseguir unos tiros buenos en el objetivo. ¡Por suerte mi estrategia de acercar muy cerca detrás de la gente permitió que yo ganara unos éxitos de mi propios, pero empapaba pronto mojada yo mismo gracias a no sólo porque el students usaban los globos de agua sino también botellas llenas del agua de la fuente!

En conjunto un gran modo de gastar un día caliente en el parque, y una tarde divertido para terminar nuestro tiempo en el Instituto Fox. ¡Gracias a Juan y todos los estudiantes que nos hicieron así dar la bienvenida (si no de los ataques durante el día final!), y le deseamos toda la mejor de la suerte para el futuro.

Treasure Hunting!

How to end the week on a high? Hold a Treasure Hunt of course!

So that´s exactly what we did. After having spent the week looking at jobs, workplaces (including different types of shops), and how to give directions, we left the classroom and headed for the streets of Sucre.

Juan and I each took half the class out of the Fox Academy, with our set of English directions leading each group in opposite directions. The groups´task was to correctly follow the directions around the city, answering questions about shops and landmarks along the way, before finally heading towards the main Plaza... where the first group to find Rob and successfully recite the tongue twister was the winning team! My (mainly female) team´s progress was hampered by the various groups of teenage boys waging a guerilla water-bomb war against any similar-aged girl they spotted! Juan´s team managed to reach the the target first, and were busily tucking into a bag of chocolates when my group arrived. To console ourselves we tucked into the consolation bag of biscuits, as team mates (and Rob and I) attempted to dodge more flying water-filled grenades!

¿Como terminar la semana alegre? ¡Con una Caza de Tesoro por supuesto!

Entonces eso es exactamente lo que hicimos. Despues de una semana aprendiendo vocabulario como trabajos, lugares de trabajar (incluyendo los typos de tiendas diferentes), salimos de la aula y fuimos en las calles de Sucre.

Juan y yo ambos tuvimos un grupo de estudiantes y con nuestras paginas de instrucciónes fuimos en direcciónes diferentes. Lo que los grupos tuvieron que hacer fue seguir los direciónes (en inglés por supuesto), dando respuestas a preguntas sobre los tiendas que pasamos, antes de llegando a la Plaza central... donde el primer equipo que pudió hallar Roberto y decir la trabalenguas ganó! Mi equipo (de quién la mayoría fueron chicas) fue un poco mas despacio porque hubo muchas grupos de muchachos con bombas de agua, y ellos lanzaronlas a nosotros muchas veces! El equipo de Juan halló Roberto antes de nosotros y comían unas chocolates (el premio) cuando llegamos. Por consuelo, comimos unas galletas y tratamos a huir de los bombas de agua volando!

And now a few words from our sponsors...

Bolivian students have their say!

We were delighted to discover this week that some of our students have posted comments on this blog. For the benefit of our English-speaking readers, here they are with the English translations... (Fuimos muy alegres esta semana cuando descubrimos que unos alumnos habian escrito unas cosas en esta pagina web. Por nuestras amigos ingléses, sus palabras estan aqui con las traducciónes ingléses...)

"Eso no es cierto fue por flogero que los hombres perdieron no por ser dificil eso es todo." (Una repuesta al artículo “Hombres V Mujeres”.)

"That is not true - it was just because we were slack that the men lost, not because it was difficult!" (In response to the “Hombres V Mujeres” article.)


"Pues quiero decirles que soy uno de esos estudiandes es toy aprendiendo el ingles gracias a ellos yo les agradesco de todo corazon lo que me han enceñado yo siempre los voy a recordar. GRACIAS."

"Well I am one of the students learning English thanks to them (the volunteers). I am grateful to them with all my heart for what they have taught me. I will always remember them.
THANK YOU."

Vote SI or No..... the choice is yours... but the fireworks will happen eitherway!

Vote SI or No..... the choice is yours... but the fireworks will happen eitherway!

Sometimes a vote comes and goes with little interest by the public in the UK, for example a referendum on the single currency or whether or not Gordon Brown should be Prime Minister (Sorry the later never occurred). Still many people would not have noticed either way.

This is certainly not the case in Bolivia... and in this instance an imminent vote that appears to be on the face of it a low level attempt to alter the constitution and allow the unlimited reign of power for admittedly the first truly indigenous leader of Bolivia has stirred the public. Just for a moment bear in mind all the issues that Bolivia has, then imagine a place like Latin America that likes to mix its Politics with both fiestas and explosions, and you soon realise this one was going to be contentious.

Back in Sept 2008 another vote bought about a hostile reaction and the police and military needed to protect the seats of power in various locations https://www.economist.com/research/backgrounders/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12260915. However with such a significant divide between societies haves and have not´s then it is easy to understand that voting in Bolivia is as important to the people as food and shelter. What ever unfolds over the next 7 days in the final push for votes, one thing is certainly going to happen and that is a 24hr curfew on transport of people before the election and it will last until 48hrs afterwards. Civil interest in the government actions, who would have thought this would be more alive and well in South America than in our western economies.

Of course you don´t have to believe what I say just have a look at this weeks economist... a passport to utopia... http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12974135

There be dinosaurs here.... well there be dinosaur footprints!

There be dinosaurs here.... well there be dinosaur footprints!

Yes we have just returned from Jurassic park in the heart of south america and wow I really enjoyed it. In addition to the weather being spectacular we had the opportunity to see a the original footprints of dinosaurs seemingly climbing up a sheer rock face (the consequence of the techtononic shifts that has occurred post Jurassic period).

Its incredible to think that at some point in the past these now sheer vertical rock faces were flat and this was actually a major route for migrating dinosaurs on route to the warmth of Argentina. Now I have to admit despite being huge and having only a small brain they did have there heads switched on in order to find the warm weather. This is something we hope to do just before we return to the UK and ensure that we get some proper beach action in Brazil.

Still to end on the dinosaurs, I now finally understand why my running route has 2 dinosaurs on it, which 1st thing in the morning look very hungry. Definitely a good motivator to run up the hill faster. RAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

To D.E.L.E or not to D.E.L.E... that is the question!

To D.E.L.E or not to D.E.L.E... that is the question!

I am sure that many of you are not too sure what such a statement could possibly mean. But the D.E.L.E exams are official Spanish Language exams offered by the Institute de Cevantes. They are a an official recognition of your language capabability and range from Inicio all the way through to GOD of Spanish. Sadly I feel that neither of us are quite capable of claiming God like Spanish status despite our advanced readings of Harry Poter in Spanish. Still completion of one or more of these are certainly possible with the appropriate preperation.

This next few weeks therefore are all about focusing for this objective. To this end a big thanks needs to go to the Bolivian Spanish School www.bolivianspanishschool.com and specifically to Carlos one of our language teachers who has produced a CD with information relating to the DELE exam which should assist greatly in the preparation for these exams. To this end I guess that all that is required upon return to the UK which will soon be upon us, is move to a location where a preparation refresher course can take place before taking the examination.

First however is a trip to the Amazon and of course the Rio Carnival!

The Fast & The Furious

"If you can dodge a spanner, you can dodge a ball!"

The Fast...
Well, we didn´t quite follow Patches O’Houlihan´s advice to the letter but dodgeball proved to be a useful component of our teacher´s toolbox this week. We try to start every lesson with an energiser that also revises words learnt in the previous few days. On Monday the energiser was Dodgeball... after giving out various items of clothing (hats, scarfs, coats, gloves etc), we started the game: when I shouted the name of an item of clothing, anybody wearing it had to run to the other side of the playground, whilst dodging the ball that was thrown at them by a person standing in the middle. Anybody hit by the ball then swapped to become the ball thrower. Students´aims weren´t always spot on (I can identify with that!) but their speed across the yard was impressive! Good fun too - I for one was quite reluctant to go inside to start the´lesson proper´afterwards!

...& The Furious!
Another energiser this week brought out the competitive streak in our class. Split into two teams, the task was for individual team members to race against the opposition to rip the correct word (written on a piece of paper) off the board after hearing a description of it. The competition got pretty intense - the classroom soon broke out into a cacophony of noise as players´team-mates frantically shouted the answers and directed them to where the correct paper was on the board! At one point Rob had to intervene to break up a tussle between José and Alex!


Today will be little calmer, as we´re watching an English film (my vote would be with Sweeney Todd but we´ll have to see what the class elects to watch... hopefully no fights will ensue!).


Los Rapidos & Los Furiosos!
"Si puede escabullirse una llave iglesa, puede escabullirse una pelota!"

Los Rapidos...
Pues, no seguimos exactamente los consejos de Patches O’Houlihan, pero Dodgeball fue muy util esta semana! Tratamos a empezar cada clase con un juego, para dar enegía a los alumnos y para revisar las palabras aprendidos mientras los días antes. El lunes, el juego fue ´Dodgeball´... después que habíamos dado a los estudiantes unas artículos de la ropa (e.j. sombreros, bufandas, abrigos, guantes), comenzamos el juego: cuando grité el nombre de un artículo, todos las personas quien se lo llevaban tuvieron que correr al otro lado del patio de recreo, mientras que se escabullieren la pelota. Los apuntos no estaban siempre exactamente en punto (como yo!) pero la velocidad a través del patio fue impressionante! Fue divertido tambien - no quisé volver en la clase para trabajar después!

... y los Furiosos!
En un otro juego, había dos equipos quién trataron de estar el premio a escoger la palabra correcta después que habían oído la descripción (e.j. "The day after Tuesday"). Las palabras estaban escritos en papeles individuales y pegados a la pizarra. Una persona de cada equipo tuvo que tratar de conseguir el papel correcto antes que su rival. La competencia lleguo a ser intense - la aula se llené con ruido cuando los membros de los equipos gritaron a los jugadores para decir donde estaban las repuestas correctas! Una vez Roberto tuvo que intervenir para parar una lucha entre José y Alex!

La clase sera un poco mas tranquilo hoy, porque vamos a mirar una pelicula inglé (yo votaré por Sweeney Todd peru la class hará la decision... espero sin peleando!!).

Hombres V Mujeres: Spell Off!

A tense spell-off was the culmination yesterday afternoon of a busy week in class, as the spelling competition boiled down to two pairs: Francisco and Brayan (the hombres) versus Andi and Claudia (the mujeres).

During the week we had taught a variety of topics, mainly clothing, body parts, and food. The walls of the classroom are starting to fill up nicely now with flipchart papers completed to help everybody remember the content of lessons and examples of the students´own work. And teaching isn´t just confined to the classroom: I have found myself making friends with the local shoeshiners in the main plaza (boys aged mainly 9-14), who I have been teaching English words to in compensation for them not being able to ´shine´my fabric sandals.

Yesterday was a fun lesson, including the ´Meal Game´ devised by Rob (mainly involving the children being given the name of a food item each and the instruction to find other people with whom they could form a complete meal... only after they´d sprinted across the playground and back though!). At the end the class teacher, Juan, set a spelling competition with a prize for the winning pair: lunch at his house at the weekend, accompanied by me and Rob! As we couldn´t choose between the two best pairs, we had a ´spell-off´to determine the winner. ´Sweater´ proved a test too far for the boys, so the girls won the day with a correct spelling (with letters pronounced the English way) of ´finger´.

Now all that remains to do is go to eat: Buen Provecho!

Now an attempt at a rough translation for our new Bolivian friends…

Después de una semana muy activa en la clase, ayer en la tarde tuvimos una competición de ortografía, en que hubo dos parejas de finalistas: los Hombres (Francisco & Bryan) y las Mujeres (Andi & Claudia)!

Mientras la semana, habíamos enseñado sujetas diferentes, incluyendo la ropa, las partes del cuerpo, y la comida. Las paredes de la aula se llenan con los papeles ahora, para que los estudiantes pudieran recordar lo que han aprendido, y con su propio trabajo tambien. Y las clases no tienen lugar solamente en la escuela: he llegado a ser una amiga de los chicos quien limpian los zapatos en la plaza tambien (de edad 9-14), y los he enseñado unas palabras inglés tambien (como compensación que no pueden limpiar mis sandalias de tela)!

Ayer tuvimos una clase divertida, incluyendo la ´Juego de Comida´ de Rob (dimos a cada estudiante un nombre de un tipo de comida y ellos debieron hallar otros estudiantes con quien pudieron hacer un plato completo… después que habían corrido al otro lado del patio de recreo y regressado!). Al fin de la clase el profesor, Juan, organicé la competición de ortografía con un premio: almorzar a su casa con Rob y yo! No pudimos escoger entre los equipos, y entonces tuvimos un ´spell-off´. La palabra ´sweater´era muy difícil por los hombres, y Andi gané por las mujeres con ´finger´!

Ahora, vamos a comer! Buen Provecho!

Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees & Toes)!

Lesson Number One: Success!

Using a mixture of activities from choral drilling (everybody repeating words together... nothing to do with electric drills), to drawing, to miming and games, we taught our young charges the English names for numerous parts of the body yesterday afternoon. Some of the children already knew some of the words, but for others it was all new. Either way, there were new words in there for everybody, and of course a good chance for us to correct their pronunciation.

The trickiest part of the lesson was probably persuading the wanabee artists of the class to concentrate more on labelling their pictures rather than sketching a masterpiece (although I had to admit their artwork was pretty impressive)! At the end of the afternoon we couldn´t let the children go without ending on a high, so we launched into a (perhaps slightly out-of-tune) rendition of that old classic: Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. It had to be done! The kids seemed to enjoy joining in anyway, and with a repeat rendition every now and then it should hopefully help them to remember at least some of what we taught them.

After we returned home from class, the local area seemed to erupt into various celebrations, mainly accompanied by running comentaries on loud speakers... 6th January is an important day here, celebrating the visit of the Three Kings to newborn Jesus. Brightly coloured processions had paraded through the streets during the day, sweets thrown to gathered crowds, and in the evening the festivities continued. We are currently considering starting a campaign to introduce this custom in England: what a great way to postpone the January and February blues?!

Lesson Planning in the Plaza

Learning children´s names, dodging running verb-game competitors, and wiping chalk dust off our clothes... all in a day´s work!

Monday 5th Jan 2009 was the first day in class for Rob and me and the first day back after the Christmas festivities for children at the Fox Academy. After we introduced ourselves to the group and the children had all told us their names and ages, it was onto a competition: Hombres V Mujeres! The competition covered various nouns and verb conjugations that the children had learnt over the past month... and surprise surprise the girls came out top (some things never change)! As it was our first time in school, the teacher led the class whilst Rob and I helped to judge and spur the children on... from here on we will be taking a much more active role, and hope to help the students (aged 7-15) to really progress by the time their summer school finishes.

In the evening after class we headed to the Plaza de Mayo 25 in the centre of town (still beautifully decorated with Christmas lights) to plan the next day´s lesson: body parts. Hopefully we will have enough varied material and activities to keep everybody occupied and interested! As the school does not have a great deal in the way of resources, we also compiled a shopping list, which I have today been out purchasing from our friendly local stationery shop: flipchart paper, marker pens, coloured pencils... got a bit stuck when it came to the spanish for blue tac but nevermind!

For now, I can´t get "heads, shoulders, knees and toes..." out of my head...

Volunteering in a Sucre School

Today we moved in with a Bolivian family, consisting of Jorge, Lumen and their two daughters, and will tomorrow be starting our volunteering at the Fox Academy in central Sucre.

The academy (aka Instituto Fox) was set up by the Fox family in 1982 with the aim of helping underpriviledged Bolivian children and adults to improve their English, thus also improving their employment prospects. In later years, the organisation was expanded to teach Spanish to visiting foreigners, thereby subsidising the English teaching by 50%. Rob and I will therefore be contributing by paying for morning Spanish lessons and then volunteering to teach English in the afternoons.

After a warm welcome this morning from the family we´re staying with, we met with Consuelo, the director of the academy. It was great to finally put a face to the name with whom I´d swapped many emails over the past few months! She explained that at first we´ll be working alongside one of their paid teachers and then taking over ourselves in order to allow the teacher to get on with lesson planning and marking. We will be working with 15 eight-thirteen year-olds, and are both really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things after our Christmas and New Year ´holiday´(and of course Rob has already identified a running route in order to burn off all those salteñas...). So, let the classes begin!

For more info on the Fox Academy, see http://www.foxacademysucre.com/index.shtml .

How Do You Eat Yours?!

After seeing in the New Year in La Paz, we have moved to Bolivia´s official capital in the south of the country: Sucre.

Sucre is a beautiful colonial city with whitewashed buildings (unlike the grey 1960s / 70s ones we saw in La Paz), and so far seems quite relaxed (again unlike the frenzy and pollution of La Paz, as depicted in the recent Bond film Quantum of Solace!). On arrival yesterday we put our new found skill in salteña-eating into practice... The Bolivian delicacies, salteñas, are like good old-fashioned Cornish Pasties (proper meat/chicken and potato filling, not gristle and gravy), with the additional fillings of an olive, boiled egg, and lots of juice (the latter being the tricky part). I have found the whole experience a bit like the old Cadburys Cream Egg adverts... How Do You Eat Yours?! The choices are endless (many involving getting covered chin to waist in juice), but having studiously watched the locals, the most effective methods seem to be either biting the end off and drinking the juice out before tackling the rest (if eating on the move), or delicately piercing a hole in the top with a teaspoon and scooping out the insides before eating the pastry (if in a salteñeria). Either way: yum!

Next culinary mission: to test out Sucre´s reputation as the chocolate capital of Bolivia...