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.
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