Today was our first day at Kuxlin Ha Government school. After yet another delicious breakfast at the Bull Frog, Mr. Russel arrived to transport all eight of us to school. The school was only a mile away and we were all extremely excited. We loaded all of the supplies that we had brought to donate and set off for school.
The school consists of six buildings with so much more land to grow. Although the school is a government school, the government only pays for the land, building, teacher salary, and utility bill. That leaves the teachers trying to provide all the materials to fill the classroom and school. The teachers have used their creativity to decorate the classroom with merely construction paper and markers.
After the ceremony, we were given a tour of the school. The grades begin a Infant I (4-5 year olds) and end at Standard V (9-14 year olds). Each grade has 3 classes consisting of about 30 students each. The school was established in 2007 and costs 65 Belize dollars a year. The name of the school translates to Living Stream which was chosen by the parents due to the idea that education is never stagnant, and is constantly moving.
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Ms. Caliz's Classroom |
D'Elise was assigned to work with Ms. Caliz in an Infant I classroom. Infant I is equivalent to a kindergarten class in the United States. The class consists of about 31 5-6 year-old students! The students are very excited for me to be in their classroom. The classroom is fairly large with six tables and about 4-6 small chairs at each one. Ms. Caliz's rarely turns on her light in the classroom because she has four windows in her classroom that she opens every morning. The natural light provides the classroom with a good source of light for the students. The students are very smart and eager to learn new things.
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Learning Schedule of Ms. Caliz's classroom | | | | | | | | | | |
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Lisa was assigned to work with Mr. Yaxcal in a Standard III classroom. The class consists of 20 boys and 9 girls. The ages range from 8-12. Many of the children in the area did not attend school until this one was built, therefore the students began school and were placed based on their level not on their age. The students were bouncing off the walls compared to the students back home. Reading consists of choral reading EVERYTHING. The students are respectful of the teachers and call me Miss Lisa. They love my eye color, accent and iPhone.
After meeting our classes and eating lunch, we headed with the Standard IIII students on a field trip. The bus took us to the hardware store, where locals were preforming Garifuna music and dance. The children were excited and loved when students and teachers got involved. From the hardware store we walked the mile and a half back home to the Bull Frog Inn.
For dinner, we headed out for Chinese! The food was amazing after such a long day.
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