Some Help From World Teach Panama!

First, I would like to offer an apology for not blogging during week three of Jump Start Osa.

Famous Osa-English-Teaching-Extraordinaire Barton Rode and I were off perusing in San Jose at the Costa Rica National English Teaching Conference. We saw a great opportunity to be able to gain some English Teaching Strategies we could use for Jump Start, so we jumped at the opportunity to attend on behalf of the Peace Corps. Don't fret though folks, World Teach Panama and Jump Start Osa were able to coordinate together to ensure our lovely fourteen students didn't miss any class time! 

A very great teacher, friend, and program director of World Teach Panama, Amanda, volunteered some time to come travel to Puerto Jiménez from Veraguas, Panamá and teach the week of classes. Amanda has a lot of experience working in Latin America, speaks beautiful Puerto Rican Spanish, and taught TEFL classes for several years before being hired by World Teach to direct programs in Panama, and most recently in India. Amanda was just transferred to lead the program in India. 

Before leaving for India, this is what Amanda had to say about Jump Start Osa: 

"It was inspiring for me to be part of such a well put together program. As a teacher, it touched me to be part of a classroom again, especially with the great kids that have volunteered their time this summer to take English classes. As the director of a volunteer program in Panama, I was struck by the ingenuity and dedication of the Peace Corps volunteers conducting the camp. Jumpstart offers an amazing opportunity to empower youth through education while fully engaging the energies and skills of their teachers. Participating in this program has been a great treat for me. Now, to start one in Panama..."

Team Work!

When Barton and I returned to camp, we asked the kids about her classes, the common response we received was the confession that they liked her better, because she didn't assign homework. :) It was very evident that the students all responded very positively to her teaching methods and practices.

Thank you, Amanda! Everyone at Jump Start Osa wishes you the best for your future endeavors, and extends a warm thanks for helping carry out Costa Rica Multilingue's, the US Embassy, and Peace Corps vision of helping these kids work to attain a better future through English learning.