I am a student, I am strong, I am young!

JumpStart Camp B!

After four weeks, our JumpStart camps finally came to a close. This last week was extra fun because we had a special visitor from Programe Adopte un Talento from Mexico, Richard, who came to incorporate science and math into our English language learning. From making sundials, to playing a counting game with buttons, to making a mess with giant bubbles on the floor, the students had a blast learning science and math at the same time as English. What a great opportunity it was for our JumpStart camp to have Richard, the kids learned so much. Thank you Richard!

At the end of the camp, all the students wrote Thank You letters to the people who sponsored us and made our camp possible. One student, William, complained about writing a letter to someone he had not even met yet. His letter said, "Thank you for helping me to learn English. My name is William. I am fifteen years old. I live in Santa Teresa. I am tall. I am a student. I am strong. I am young. (Translated from Spanish) For me, JumpStart was a camp where I learned to share, to work in a team, and to be a more open person. Thank you to all the people who donated, you helped me learn a new language. Sincerely, William" Another student, Alonso wrote, "For me, the camp was something unforgettable that you all donated your time to us. We learned English before entering high school. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done for us."

My amazing co-teacher, Diego, and I

All in all, I just wanted to thank everyone who helped make this camp possible for us. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in my service here in Costa Rica. I could see the students learning and improving in only two weeks! They built confidence, friendships, and developed a base for English. In their comments, the students asked for more days of camp and more activities. At the end of the camp in a survey, when asked what they would say to the incoming students next year who might participate in JumpStart, one student, Adriana wrote that she would tell them, "They should go because it is a very good opportunity and they have to take advantage of it." I'm ready for JumpStart 2014, are you?

Thank you from students of Valle la Estrella

A big, heart felt "THANK YOU" from the Colegio Tecnico Profesional Valle la Estrella JumpStart graduates!!!

Last week down...and they're off to 7th grade!

Friday, February 1^st marked the last day of La Guaria’s JumpStart camp. What a special day to end a very special week! I’ll start from the beginning…

This past week the students learned to tell time, to talk about different foods and ask for food in a restaurant setting, they played fun games in order to review everything, they had  their final interview, and we had a fun visitor!

I am SO proud of each and every student. I took a look at their first interview videos and then the final one and am soooo impressed by the change. They have learned and retained a ton of English.

Doing a practice called "Match Mine"

Isenia had to attend a meeting one day for the school, so my friend Lena came down to help out with class. The students prepared interview questions for her ranging from “Do you have a boyfriend?” to What’s your favorite fruit?”. Again, I felt so proud. Later we learned how to give and receive directions in order to take Lena on a tour of the high school (on which we lucked into seeing baby pigs!).

We also found the time to squeeze in a little morning yoga. The kids really enjoyed doing something a little different! My favorite part was when we all sat in circle, holding hands and with our eyes closed. We were practicing “passing the energy”. I started by squeezing the hand of the person to my right, and then they passed it on by squeezing the hand of the person to his/her right and so on until the hand squeeze returned back to me.

Class on Friday (our last day!) started with an activity called “Say Something Nice Behind My Back”. At the beginning of JumpStart each student received a notecard with his/her name on it to place on the desk. For this activity the students taped the notecards to their backs and then wrote nice, anonymous  comments on the notecards. We then danced the Cha Cha slide, followed by some other English games, and ended the day with a mini “graduation” where each student received a t-shirt and a certificate.

Cake and a slideshow of pictures were the final treat to conclude an amazing English camp!!

The end of JumpStart. The beginning of High School.

Yesterday was a whirlwind.  The students were super excited.  We had visitors from Costa Rica Multilingue and our sponsor CRUSA.

The students performed for our specials guests and their parents.  They received t-shirts, certificates, notebooks, pencils and folders.  A great time was had by all!

Congratulations, future 7th graders of Amubri!

Well, JumpStart Amubri officially came to an end today so I'm gonna do one last post just to say... wow! So much can happen in 4 short weeks. It was awesome to be with the kids today, they were just bubbling over with positive energy and excitement. They put a lot of thought into filling out their final surveys about the camp and some of their comments really surprised me - like the thing that almost all of them would change about the camp would be...to start it earlier in the morning?! And it turns out that the singing that no one really admitted to liking... ended up being one of almost everybody's favorite activities!

I enjoyed sitting down with each one of the students individually as we recorded their final video interviews. But it was even more fun for me to watch them again just now, together with the ones that we made on the first day of class. It's great to see how much more English they can speak and understand but it makes me even happier to see how much more comfortable and confident they seem. I'm looking forward to being able to continue to support and teach these kids as they start their first year of high school...

 Hermana Cecilia Alvarado, principal of Amubri's elementary school, came to congratulate the students and to speak with them about the importance of continuing their education and taking advantage of the opportunities they've been given.

It was lots of work for everyone involved, but definitely worth it! Yay! Go JumpStart Amubri!!
So proud of each one of these students!

Saludos desde Puerto Jiménez

Después de estas cuatro semanas del campamento Jump Start Osa (patronicado por la Embaja Norteamericana), ya el programa, y el sueño se acabó. Estas bellas cuatro semanas han sido cuatro de la mejores que he tenido desde que llegué a Puerto Jiménez. Aunque no es un adiós a los catorce güilas, Barton y Yo, todavía, tenemos un poco algo de tristeza decirles hasta luego. En este momento, lamentablamente, no tenemos las fotos de la ceremonia de graduación listas, entonce decidimos subir esta rendición de In, On, Under por Hellen, Katherine, y Freisel. Estas muchachas tan valientes dirigieron la coregrafía por su propia parte. ¡Disfruten!

Hoy ha sido un día demasiado largo y complejo, pero quisiera compartir un poco algo con ustedes por haber confiar en nuestros estudiantes por el mes entero de enero. Aquí es una foto de Keiler redactando la carta de gracias a los quienes han apoyado al campamento!

Ha sido un gran placer particpar en el proyecto de Costa Rica Mulitlingüe, me gustaría reforzar las gracias por la parte de la Peninsila de Osa y del pueblo jimeneño.

Saludos desde Puerto Jiménez.