Belen is a community of 4,000 people
located roughly 90 minutes from multiple beaches and multiple luxury
hotels. Many people of the community work in tourism, whether it be at
these hotels, with transportation to and from these tropical destinations, or
at restaurants along the way. Many of the jobs require at least a minimum
level of English, and in order to obtain even better jobs, a fluency in English
is often required.
The students of Belen have been
sharing their school building with another school, Santa Ana, that lost their
school in an earthquake. Because of this surplus of students, the school
day has been cut short and therefore the students have only received half of
the English lessons they normally would have received. While in school, the
students do not have access to textbooks or other supplies to facilitate their
learning. This results in a significant amount of time spent with the
students copying material from the board instead of having interactive English
lessons.
Students in this community are
really excited for the chance to attend JumpStart! Students will be coming from
several nearby elementary schools that will eventually feed into Belen High
School! With snacks and drinks and some materials donated, we are looking
forward
to January!
Pictured below: PCV Brittany working with two Spelling Bee winners and future JumpStart 2015 students, Marcos and Giancarlos!!
