But not as serious this time :). We were planning to go to San Miguel del Bala again, to have a proper talk with the guides and teachers there. But when we showed up for the boat about 20 minutes before the first one would normally be leaving (we were told), we just saw one pulling away. But no worries, in an hour and a half another one would go, a captain ensured us. But after waiting an hour or 2.5, the captain told us nobody wanted to go anymore, and therefore now boat would go. Ok, sure, change of plans….
We decided to spend time going to the different directors of the different schools in Rurrenabaque. And that was a good choice. They are all very accessible, and enthousiastic about the project. Schools here often contain both primary and secondary schools in one. Schools last from 7:30 to 12:30, but some schools share the building with another school, which uses the building in the afternoon and early evening, or they have double shifts, where for each grade there is a morning class, and a second (parallel) afternoon class. So they have double classes for each grade, and kids are either always in the morning shift or always in the afternoon shift. Only one school of the four has proper books (which we are looking at to get an idea of their level), which are Bolivian, and they were able to buy them through some aid program. On the rest of the schools, the teacher dictates everything and the kids write it down. One school has an impressive collection of educational dvd’s of varying quality, and to our pleasant surprise, there were quite a lot of bbc/david attenborough movies in there, dubbed in spanish, and some other nice movies as well.
We are probably going to develop the course for the fith grade of secondary school (the class before graduation class, about the same age as 5VWO in NL). They will go on a field trip to the lodge at San Miguel del Bala, just outside the Madidi national park, where there is quite a lot of secondary (disturbed/previously cut) forest, a bit of older forest, nice trails to a cañon and a trail for medicinal plants. We hope they can also go to the second lodge (Caquiwara) which is inside the national park and surrounded by primary rainforest (undisturbed, with the giant trees, you get the picture). The trip will be preceded by a class (or two) to give them more ecological knowledge of the rainforest, and they will probably have to do an assignment in the field, which they will finish afterwards at school, like creating a poster or such, which they can present in an exhibition to their parents.
Our work will be mostly training the teachers and the guides so they themselves can teach the course, also in the future. The talks with the schools are now at the point where we need to discuss the amount of students that can go, given the amount of money available for the excursion.
Because of the talks, our spaninsh (especially Annelies’) is improving nicely. Next week we’ll sit at the back of some classes to observe their teaching system, and we will probably have a meating with the teachers of one school to introduce the project and ask them for input.
Health wise things are still a bit shaky. I am fine again for the last two days, but now Annelies is ill. Yesterday she had a high fever and a heavy cold. Today the fever seems to be gone though, although she still doesn’t feel well. Lot’s of rest, water, steaming a bit, and when she had a fever, paracetamol and a cold shower, seem to have worked.
We decided to spend time going to the different directors of the different schools in Rurrenabaque. And that was a good choice. They are all very accessible, and enthousiastic about the project. Schools here often contain both primary and secondary schools in one. Schools last from 7:30 to 12:30, but some schools share the building with another school, which uses the building in the afternoon and early evening, or they have double shifts, where for each grade there is a morning class, and a second (parallel) afternoon class. So they have double classes for each grade, and kids are either always in the morning shift or always in the afternoon shift. Only one school of the four has proper books (which we are looking at to get an idea of their level), which are Bolivian, and they were able to buy them through some aid program. On the rest of the schools, the teacher dictates everything and the kids write it down. One school has an impressive collection of educational dvd’s of varying quality, and to our pleasant surprise, there were quite a lot of bbc/david attenborough movies in there, dubbed in spanish, and some other nice movies as well.
We are probably going to develop the course for the fith grade of secondary school (the class before graduation class, about the same age as 5VWO in NL). They will go on a field trip to the lodge at San Miguel del Bala, just outside the Madidi national park, where there is quite a lot of secondary (disturbed/previously cut) forest, a bit of older forest, nice trails to a cañon and a trail for medicinal plants. We hope they can also go to the second lodge (Caquiwara) which is inside the national park and surrounded by primary rainforest (undisturbed, with the giant trees, you get the picture). The trip will be preceded by a class (or two) to give them more ecological knowledge of the rainforest, and they will probably have to do an assignment in the field, which they will finish afterwards at school, like creating a poster or such, which they can present in an exhibition to their parents.
Our work will be mostly training the teachers and the guides so they themselves can teach the course, also in the future. The talks with the schools are now at the point where we need to discuss the amount of students that can go, given the amount of money available for the excursion.
Because of the talks, our spaninsh (especially Annelies’) is improving nicely. Next week we’ll sit at the back of some classes to observe their teaching system, and we will probably have a meating with the teachers of one school to introduce the project and ask them for input.
Health wise things are still a bit shaky. I am fine again for the last two days, but now Annelies is ill. Yesterday she had a high fever and a heavy cold. Today the fever seems to be gone though, although she still doesn’t feel well. Lot’s of rest, water, steaming a bit, and when she had a fever, paracetamol and a cold shower, seem to have worked.
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