CofC Ecuador Travel Blog

For the final entry on this blog from Ecuador, I thought it would be appropriate to name it Perspectives. As we say goodbye to the children and teachers at Academia Cotopaxi and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, it is only fitting that we reflect on what we have done and why. This morning we completed our English instruction at GGM. After a bumpy start, we were able to really make a difference and spread good cheer with the children and teachers. It was a month of stress for these teachers, because the government had mandated an evaluation system for the teachers and we were here during the evaluation. The teachers were still willing to work with us and give us their classrooms for 20 minutes each day. In retrospect, this truly was an accepting group of teachers. From their perspective what were they to think when we showed up the first week? Were we secret agents from the USA coming down to help the government evaluate their teaching or take over their classes? All of our students at CofC get evaluated. The girls did a wonderful job being flexible with their schedules and teaching ideas.

It wasn’t until after the tea that the teachers at GGM gave us, that Angela and I were able to have some specific conversations with the teachers. They truly were appreciative of our work and the idea that we were there to help and be part of a larger teaching community. As a group, we learned that teaching is a professional that people are called to do. These teachers do not get paid much, but they are dedicated to have the children learn in what we would consider horrible circumstances and environment. We learned that no matter what we are given, we as teachers can impact a child’s life just because we care, we know how to teach, and we apply knowledge to the lives of children we teach.

After we said goodbye to the teachers, we walked around the schoolyard saying goodbye to children and taking pictures. Many of the girls were given gifts, flowers and notebooks, from the teachers earlier in the day. During recess, the children wanted to give us something to thank us for being there. These are poor children that live in mostly depressed areas of the city, but they wanted to give us something personal for us to remember them by and to thank us. For example, Dr. Cozart was given a half finished carton of milk, a cookie, and some lip balm (something a girl gave her that was ‘personal and from her’). I was given some trading cards, similar to Yugio cards, by one boy. I asked if I could give them to my son and he just smiled and said yes. Again, the perspective is what we learned and what we realized by being in the school. What would we do if we were in their shoes?

As we were walking around recess saying goodbye to the children, we realized that for many of us we may not see them again. I was very pleased to hear that Allison and Katie may want to return next year. We made an impact on the teachers and children, and the children and teachers made an impact on us.

Last night we were asked to attend the fifth grade play of “Oliver Twist.” It was a wonderful musical in which everyone in the fifth grade participated. It was amazing to see how bi and trilingual kids can perform in English. English is the second or third langauge for about 55% of the students. Again, a perspectvie we had was one of monolinguism in a safe and secure country, but we learned how intelligent and diverse multilingualism can be and the perspectives it brings to any conversation or learning environment.

After the play, we were invited for dinner at the home of the lower school principal. She is a black women who studied and taught school in London, but considers Chile her home now, even though she works in Ecuador. She relayed two stories about her two visits to the USA. One story involved her trip in the seventies from London to JFK. The customs union were on strike and the National Guard was called to the airport to help or do something with customs. This was the first time that this person had ever seen a machine gun (remember, Bobbys in England didn’t carry guns until about 10 years ago).  The National Guard really had no idea what they were doing and basically closed off all aspects of the customs and immigration areas of the airport. This included the bathrooms. People were literally corraled into lines and told to stay in them until they could process each one. The lines were partially segregated by race, color, and nationality. She was so scared that she ‘wet’ herself. For her, this was an incredibly memorable impression of the USA. Unless we speak with more people from other countries, cultures, races, religions, and towns (think within our own state), how will we be able to gain a different ‘perspective’ of ourselves personally, as a country, and as a group of people within a culture.

The second story revolves around her visit in 2001 to the USA in which she flew through DFW on her way from New York back to Chile. She was delayed for 6 hours in Dallas and finally deplaned for the final 2 hours. At 10:00 p.m. she went looking for a drink of water or soda, but each vendor or cafe she went to, they told her they were closed. She was unable to ascertain or buy any drinks before boarding the plane. It wasn’t until later that she surmised that she was the object of racism. When relaying the story to us, she couldn’t believe that a country like the USA could still have such racism. Our country is help to high standards by many around the world. A question I have for us is why don’t we have those same high standards and why don’t we do more to level the playing field for all of us? True this is someone’s perspective, but it is important to learn from these alternative, yet real, perspectives.

In terms of education our perspectives have changed through our interactions with the children here at GGM and AC. The two diverse settings have allowed us to reflect heavily on why we are teachers and how we will interact with students in the future.

Sorry for rambling, but this is a blog. I hope you have enjoyed the blog. You will get other perspectives from the girls who were on this trip. It is the richness of all of our perspectives that made this such a wonderful learning experience.

The main purposes of this trip were for the students to get an appreciation and experience with a different culture (language, way of life, food, etc.) and experience different types of educational settings and styles. After meeting today with representatives from Academia Cotopaxi, Andean Study, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I believe that we have accomplished our goal. Dr. Cozart and I have constantly asked the girls for feedback and ideas for next year.

Academia Cotopaxi

CofC group waiting inside guarded gate at Academia Cotopaxi

Our experience at Academia Cotopaxi was wonderful. The girls were able to integrate well into classrooms, help with instruction, tutor students in small groups or one on one, and learn from some excellent teachers. The comparison between AC and Gabriel Garcia Marquez was also a highlight of this trip. We all could see that learning and teaching can happen in any situation with any set number of resources. The level of education is influenced by many items, but we found that caring teachers who are well qualified have a better time influencing students.

Allison teaching ESOL

Allison teaching in Academia Cotopaxi

Allison can be seen in both pictures. On the left she is leading a classroom of 36 fourth grade students in English language acquisition. On the right, she is working in small groups to inprove reading comprehension and skills. The experience that the girls received were varied, but they highlighted many different and acceptable types of teaching and learning within the contexts of each school. Context is appropriate since we can describe each school based upon the school climate, clientele and parental support.

Katie Teaching Spanish at Academia CotopaxiAnna Teaching at Academia Cotopaxi

Anna Teaching at Academia Cotopaxi

One fo the main differences in the style of teaching revolved around how many children were in each classroom. Our English instruction was done in a more Socratic method in which the teachers would speak and ask for classroom or individual responses. This was due to the number of students in each class at GGM. At AC, we were able to work with children in small groups or one on one. As the pictures above show you, Katie and Anna were able to work with small groups and individuals. The kindergarten classroom in which Anna was placed was truly an exception. There were only 16 students, but 5 of them were second language learners. The teacher’s aid worked constantly with those 5 while the teacher has the kids in circle time or working at stations. Anna was a floater and worked individually with students assessing them and providing instruction.

English class at UTE with Lauren and Katie

The work we did at UTE was a different story. They were unorganized, and the teachers were not ready for us to enter their room. We did learn a lot from their teaching or style of teaching. We will take from this experiences those items which we can directly implement into our classrooms. Not all experiences were valuable, but they were educational. In many instances we just sat and talked. In other scenarios, we discussed or presented mini, interactive lectures about certain concepts or topics (economy, elections, president, education system, and college life). We tried to blend in with the current teacher’s style and method of teaching.

Even with all of this work, as part of a Service Leaerning Program, we still had time for fun. The fun involved seeing and learning the culture. For example, Angela and I went to an old part of town that had been refurbished. The beautiful narrow streets with white washed walls took us back 300 years to colonial times. Indigenous musicianWe did learn about music, history, and art while browsing the shops.

Indigenous musician

The indigenous singer on the right was at a restaurant we visited with my family. He sang traditional Ecuadorean and Quiteno songs using a guitar and a native flute. Another part of the culture we experienced was the eating of a guinea pig. Guinea pigs are popular here for special occasions. When Angela and Shawanda stayed with the indigenous family near Cotocachi, their family was saving and feeding their guinea pigs for a near future wedding. Well,

Dr. Coasrt eating an Ecuadorian delicacy, cuy, or guinea pig

Angela just ahd to try guinea pig or cuy (pronounced ‘koo-ee’). This should show you the extent and sacrifice we went to to be able to comment and share culture with you all. She ordered it and ate it, I just had a bite. It takes like pork with a little game to it.

We are almost through with our adventure. We have enjoyed our time here so much. The last two weeks have presented us a routine that has helped us focus on what we are doing and why we are here. We have been going to Gabriel Garcia Marquez School in the morning from 8-9:45. At 9:45 the kids have recess and it is bedlam, so we leave. While at GGM, we, mainly the girls, float from class to class and teach the students English through some games and mostly songs. We also write words, phrases, and sentences on the board for reinforcement and different learning styles. The girls have mostly stayed together in pairs and gone to the same set of classrooms at different grade levels while Dr. Cozart and I have met with the administration or helped with the girls in some classes. Sometimes when the girls enter a classroom they have to wait for the teacher to complete the instruction. Once the English instruction begins the girls have been leading the students in songs such as “If you’re happy and and you know it clap your hands,” “The wheels on the bus,” and “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.” They spend about 15-20 minutes in each classroom before switching or finding another classroom that hasn’t beeen visited that day.

At 9:45 we say goodbye to the students and walk the three blocks to Academia Cotopaxi. The girls split up at this time and go to their respective classes to help students and teachers. As in most schools around the world, the main instruction for reading, writing and arithmatic occurs in the morning. Thus, some of the girls arrive to find the students at recess or at a special area. Scheduling aside, the girls have fully integrated themselves into the school work by grading, assessing, reading, teaching, and observing. We meet at 1:30 by the front gate in order to take taxis to UTE.

The afternoon routine has consisted of traveling to either the older or newer campus of UTE. In pairs we have entered college classrooms for people learning English. We have worked with some of the teachers as listeners and questioners. In other classes we have lead discussion groups, given short presentation on a particular subject matter (e.g., politics, presidency, economy, and college life), and taught from their textbook. We usually leave around 5:00-5:30 in the evening.

After working all day, many of us want to call home or check our email. There are many Internet cafes around the university so we usually spend some time in these cafes before going home.

This is the extent of the rountine. I say this because at any given time, something can change and we might be asked to do something different,   attend a meeting, or go to a different classroom. In the evenings our activities are arranged around our families and their children. The girls have ventured out to Trivia Night (they won last night!), a disco, and downtown to see the churches all aglow with lights.

This week is nothing different. Our daily routine is in place, but our evening activities have varied daily. For example, the girls have Monday afternoon off and went shopping at the mall and a grocery store. This evening the students from the tourism English class has asked them to go to a local cafe after class to talk and relax. Tomorrow night we have been invited to attend AC’s 5th grade play, Oliver Twist. Afterward, we have been asked to dinner at the house of the elementary school principal.

Last week we went to a local soccer game and loved it. The local Quito team played a team from Cuenca, a city 5-6 hours away and on the internationl register as a historical town. We won 2-0. The atmosphere was great. I was hoping to go see a fight, but a soccer game broke out. In other words, contrary to all the published news about soccer games and fights, people getting trampled, and soccer fans being unruly, we found this game to be a cultural experience that was fun, educational, and exciting. The run of play for the soccer game was good also. There was talent on both sides and the teams represented futbol well. We were safe, but as you can see from the picture the players on the field were protected from the fans by a moat and a barbed-wire fence. The referees were even escorted on and off the field by three policemen in full riot gear.

I have posted some updated information under the “Quito” and “Trips” links or pages. Just click on these and it will reroute you to the content. We are having a great time. This past week we got into a routine with our ESOL teaching. I will have more for you later today or tomorrow.

I didnt have time to complete the tour from this past weekend. So hopefully I will have time right now. I have updated the Schools page. you can access it from the Home page. I will get to more of those information pages later this week. I am also using an Ecuadorean keyboard and it is difficult to find or use certain characters. When you get online here, Google and Facebook are in Spanish. Most of the controls and Windows XP items are in Spanish. This truly is immersion learning.

Now, Sunday…Why was it fun? It was adventurous. For 5 of us, we woke up to music blaring from a band that had played all night at the indigenous festival. We didn{t get a restful sleep either night. We the met up with our others members of the group and drove to La Laguna de Quicocha.

Group at Laguna Quicocha

It is a lagoon formed by an eruption many years ago and formed at the base of the current volcano. Cotochachi is in a valley between two volcanoes. As the story goes, the male and female volcanoes were separated many years ago due to a violent eruption and plate spreading. As a result a valley formed, but the volcanoes were so sad that they cired. Their tears fell down the sides and formed into pools. One of which we visited. The lagoon had two islands. We were able to walk or hike around part of the rim and view the lagoon and also the Otavalo valley. Our guide was a naturalist and was able to tell us many different things about the plants and animals in the area. The picture you see is a flower called, Passion of Jesus Flower, becuase it has a corona or decoration at the top of the tube. It also has three stemens that represent the three nails in Jesus, and it has 5 pistels to represent the five holes in the body of Jesus from being on the cross. Very beautiful flower.

After a brief stop at the lagoon we ventured on to Cotochaci where we did some damage in the stores buying gifts of leather. It is a small town and it has the only high school devoted to tanning. 

We then headed to Puerto Lago, a lake that is near Otavalo, for lunch. It was a nice place to rest and see some llamas.

Puerto LagoComo se llama, llama?

Como se llama, llama?

Bus Fire

We were able to get off the bus, and the driver extinguished the flames with no problem. We waited on the side of the road for an hour before another bus picked us up. No problem, just some tourism fun.

Wow, what a weekend. We started out on Friday joing a group of 6 stduents and a professor from Creighton University in Nebraska. We traveld to gether to Otavalo, which is a small town of about 55,000 people north of Quito. This town is known for its artesan and open market that they have every Saturday. Once we got to Otavalo, we went to the Universidad de Otavalo. They were nice enough to give us a tour of their own museum of indigenous people. We had two students, one indigenous and one Ecuadorian, share with us traditional clothes, life, and customs. Then they took us to a beautiful waterfall named, La Cascada de Peguche. There just happened to be several buses there from public schools; thus we were joined by 300 kids running around.

William with Alexandra a traditional lady at Cascada de Peguche

We eventually made it to Cotacachi, which is a small city known for leather. They make leather goods and there are really nice and cheap jackets, bags, and saddles. We got dropped off at different homes of the local indigenous people. We were all very apprehensive since the homes were not located next to each other and in the same community. Half of us went to one community and then most of us went to Tunibamba. Our mode of transportation to and from the homes was a pickup truck. The two male professors got  all of their rides in the back over bumpy, dirt, rock covered roads. The following pictures describe our homes and the local people.

Cotocachi is the city of leather near our indigenous communities

Our ride to homes

Indigenous Home

The Indigenous homes had all the comforts we could want. Our rooms were nice, clean, had two beds, a toilet and shower, and plenty of space. This was in comparison to how the indigenous people lived. They had one bathroom to share for a family of 3-9 and did not have the “niceness” of the bedding that we had. All the families cooked food that they had from their farms. For example, they picked fresh beans (all types), peas, lemon grass for tea, eggs from the hen house, and fruit from their trees. The only thing that they may have bought from the store was butter, sugar, and maybe some milk. They made all the food from scratch.

Traditional male dress for labor and relaxation

Traditional dress for ladies. Pageant Queens.

The indigenous dress is simple clothes for the male to work. The females wear two skirts, two belts, a blouse, s shawl, and a necklace. They wore these everywhere while doing everything. The gold necklaces represented the status of a family. Many of the wealthy indigenous people had all gold layered necklaces.

On Saturday we ventured to Otavalo market where we shopped and bargained for some of the local artisan items. This was a place filled with jewelry, food, clothes, wood work, and leather items. The market is always situtated in the center plaza, but on Saturday it expands about 4-5 blocks in all directions and many streets are closed to accommodate the artisan stands.

Anna and Allison shopping in the market

Relaxing where Simon Bolivar relaxed

Otavalo with volcano

We ate at a hacienda on Saturday. This was a hacienda that Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America, frequented while traveling to and from Quito. We ended the day going to San Antonio de Ibarra which is a small town known for woodworking.

For most of us, we experienced the festival of the founding of Tunibamba. Friday night involved cutlutral dancers from all over the Andean mountains. Saturday afternoon and night were races, voting for pageant queens, singing, and dancing. All the girls had fun dancing and meeting the local people. Lauren, Anna, and Katie exceled at dancing with the indigenous folk!

Lauren with old indigneous dancer

Religous Procession

We packed most of our tours into three days during the first week. After working at the schools on Tuesday and Thursday, we were picked up at Academia Cotopaxi at 12:30 and traveled to the Universidad Technologia Equinocial. Our tours were planned with UTE so that we could get free tours and tourism students at UTE could give the tours and provide information at different areas and museums as part of a practical exam. In essence this was their first practicum and authentic assessment. Each student was given a topic or location to which we traveled, and asked to create his or her own presentation in English to deliver.

On Tuesday we toured the old part of Quito. We visited la Basilica del Voto Nacional, which is still being built. There is a legend that states that terrible harm will come to quitenos if the basilica is finished. We climbed the torres and then walked across the top of the ceiling on a 2 foot wide wooden walk way with only two ropes to protect us from falling to the other side, and then climbed a steep metal later to the north tower. We had a great view of the city.

We then traveled down a north/south street with 8 churches into the town plaza. Some of the churches were built in this north/south orientation to take advantage of the sun coming in one side of the church and setting in the other (remember we are on the equator and the sun’s position and “movement” is fairly direct and constant). The purpose was to include parts of the indigenous people’s beliefs about the sun into Catholicism so that they would convert more easily.

Iglesia de San Francisco

Once in the city center we visited el Convento de San Francisco de Quito. This monastery is the largest in Ecuador and the first church built. It had a museum that we toured to learn about the religious traditions and history of the city. We then walked to la Plaza de Independencia, which had a church, municipal building, and the current presidential palace. The statue here is very interesting because part of the base sculpture had a lion with an arrow in it and a condor breaking a spear. These represented a separation from the king and Spanish control using the native condor as a symbol.

Directors on Basilica Tower

 We ten visited a wax (Centro Cultural Metropolitano Museo) museum to learn more about the city and its history. All along and in these different places, the students from UTE gave talks and presentations. We did tour the inside of La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which is adorned with gold leaf and a painting representing all the moral sins found in the bible. This was my favorite painting due to the detail and subject matter.

On Wednesday we met at UTE to board the bus with 12 UTE students and travel down the Pan American highway to Banos, which is a town at the doorstep of the Amazon Jungle. We passed through the central valley and tried to see about 6 volcanoes but were denied the pleasure due to clouds. As we got closer to Banos, the land was more arid and we could definitely see volcanic rocks. We traveled past Banos and stopped at a waterfall called el pilon del Diablo, the bowl of the devil. We had to hike down to the bottom of the waterfall through lush tropical vegetation. Once at the bottom we stood on a rickety wooden bridge to view the grandeur of the waterfall. We then hiked up to the pinlon or bowl of the waterfall. The water spray was not cold since the water came from the nearby active volcano. The water temperature was 23 C or around 75 F.

 

After our hike we traveled to Banos for a walking city tour and lunch. Along the way we stopped at other waterfalls and sites. We ate lunch at a typical restaurant that served Ecuadorian food. After our tours we bought some fresh sugar cane, cana, and headed home. We were dropped off at UTE and quickly found an Internet café so that we could call our family and check our email. Some of the girls were even checking for job openings in the local school districts.

On Thursday we were picked up again by UTE and were accompanied by 13 students who gave us presentations on each site we visited.

Sorry about the pictures, but for some reason they are not loading. I will see what I can do next week. We are off to Otavalo to live with indigenous families. We are going native.

On Monday we visited both schools in which we will work. We received a quick tour of the inner city public school, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and then proceeded to Academia Cotopaxi for lunch and an orientation. On Tuesday, we started our observations and assisting. At GGM, we observed teachers in their classrooms and then proceeded to play with the children during recess. Lauren was able to work with multiple teachers since the Special Education is mostly inclusive. Shawanda and Katie joined a seventh grade class in which they helped students determine the volume of a cube using long multiplication. There were no calculators to be found. Anna and Allison were placed in a second grade classroom and quickly became assistants to the students. The girls will be slowly working more and more with the teacher as the days go by.

Angela and I were able to attend a parent/community meeting that was held by the director of the school. Jaime laid out the requirements for evaluating the teachers. This evaluation system is community based and students and parents assess the teachers using the same instrument. The instruction included how to fill-out the evaluation form and how to score certain items. After the meeting, we had a chance to interview the director about community support and evaluation. It was incredible what they have done. The school with classroom, parent representatives have come up with a 5-year plan based upon certain objectives derived from a self-study. Wow. We will be following up on this matter in the coming weeks.

I will comment more on the specific aspects of the schools on the page labeled Schools in this Blog.

In the late morning on Tuesday we arrived at Academia Cotopaxi. We got a grand tour of the high school and athletic complexes by the director of the school, Dr. Bill Johnston. After the tour, we headed to our respective classes and teachers with whom we will be helping these next few weeks. Anna and Allison were assigned to a Kindergarten and first grade teachers respectively. Katie will be able to work with a Spanish teacher, Shawanda will work with a 4^th grade teacher, and Lauren will work with an inclusive teacher.

The girls commented on how much they loved the setting and children at GGM, but the facilities and possibilities at the private international school were mind-boggling. These two schools do represent an extreme in the education system.

We didn’t get much sleep with all the people walking around and arriving late, but we got up and had a wonderful breakfast of fruit, fresh bread, and scrambled eggs. The fresh fruit juice was a hit at breakfast and dinner. 

At our orientation meeting, our hosts from Andean Study provided us with some great advice on understanding culture and what to expect with our host families. Culture was defined as anything that encompassed thoughts, beliefs, religion, history, food, language, school, personal space, and how things are done. He gave us an ethical example. In the USA, our doctors have an ethical responsibility to tell patients that they have a terminal illness. In Ecuador, the doctor tells the family and the family members decide whether to tell the loved one or not. I am not saying anyone has been diagnosed with a terrible illness, this was just an example of a cultural difference. 

Another aspect was interdependence rather than independence. Here the nuclear family is very important and it is not unusual to have children in their 30’s and 40’s living with parents at home. It is a mutual arrangement that benefits both parties. 

Girls are to be home earlier than 2:00 a.m. and boys can stay out until 3:00 a.m. I think all of us are so tired from the travel and semester at school, that we won’t be coming in that late anyway. 

They also mentioned the level of comfort. We are use to 10-15 minute hot showers. We will have 2-4 minute luke warm showers. Some of the showers will have electrical heater that we have to plug in before we take a shower. The electrical plug and heating element are on the pipe above our heads!

For the next three days we will be working with students in the schools and taking tours of the city. I’ll update you all later on these items.

Welcome to Quito!

We made it. William, Angela, Katie, Anna, Shawanda, Lauren, and Allison were happy and excited to arrive. The flights were enjoyable and easy. On our flight from Atlanta to Quito we shared the airplane with 4 other university programs coming to Ecuador for different international programs; one for business, another for language immersion, and one for biology in the Amazon jungle and Galapagos. The one interesting thing at the airport was the incredible use of surgical masks by the airline and immigration workers. This truly is a response to the H1N1 virus. Thankfully no one coughed or broke out in a cold sweat.

We shared a bus from the airport to the bed and breakfast, Casa Foch. The professors had their own room while the girls all shared a room. The shower had hot water, but I am waiting until we truly get the Quito experience of luke warm, dribbling water.

Today we will have an orientation by the group at Andean Study. We should learn about what to do and not to do with families in the city, etc. We will then travel to Academia Cotopaxi and get accustomed to the public K-7 school, Gabriel Garcia Marques, and the International K-12 school, Academia Cotopaxi. We will then return to Andean Study to relax and walk around a newly, cleaned-up section of town called Mariscal. Our families will pick us up this evening.