JumpStart Quepos: The Recap

The days and weeks are flying by! There is so much excitement in the community about the wonderfulness that is taking place in JumpStart Quepos.

As a recap: 

Week one was filled with nervous energy which later blossomed into a steady rise in confidence. All of the students have completely dominated understanding of self introductions and greetings to make light conversations. In having a 37 person choir of which to chat, the students realized that their English was understood and communication was possible. At the concert that night, they brought over 70 people to hear the classical music of the choir! With the concert, and a Raffle fundraiser, students and parents were able to raise enough money for their 2 field trips!!

They have become quite the competitive bunch as the positive reinforcement of Participation Points are a daily! Our high school readiness lesson was extremely effective in understanding how reaching hopes and dreams are in direct proportion to the clarity that we have of what we want in our lives as well as having an action plan to get there. 

Week 2 we focused on identifying family members, body parts and describing what they look like in English! We struggled a bit with remembering which descriptions use 'I have' and which use 'I am' but after giving a couple of examples with the Spanish hat such as "I have old" vs "I am old" and "I am 2 eyes" vs "I have 2 eyes", they mostly understand! They really enjoyed the Head Shoulders Knees and Toes competition: students vs adults! 

 

 

We also shared laughs in taping body parts and facial features to our volunteers!! To top off the week at Si Como No where we enjoyed a bilingual tour through a butterfly garden where they were able to see crocodiles, followed by watching Madagascar in English in the hotel theatre! 

Week 3 now has flown by!! Highlights of this week include the restaurant simulation!! Each group had to create their own menu and restaurant settings! English speakers then came in the following day to order and eat at their restaurants! After asking for orders and writing on their whiteboards, students went to "the kitchen" where they asked for Spaghetti, Omlettes, coffee, tea etc... Also they had their mid camp assessment and they have improved drastically!! 

As close as La Inmaculada is to Manuel Antonio, there are many who had not been to the National Park; until this past Friday that is! The park gave an incredible discount as well as a guide an the students were able to have an experience of a lifetime!!

JumpStart Quepos has been fortunate to have amazing volunteers visit the camp which has contributed greatly to its success! We have had residents and visitors from Manuel Antonio and Quepos areas along with other Peace Corps Volunteers and daily support from Global Visions International volunteers! :-)

 

More to come soon!

 

-Ramona, Peace Corps Volunteer

Ortega camp: first few weeks in photos!

Ortega's Spanish hat...


High School ready session with some Youth Development Peace Corps volunteers







Monster Time! Describing body parts...





Team Cheer when Costa Rica Multilingue came to visit! Go JUMPSTART ORTEGA

Alter-Ego Favorite photo!

This year in JumpStart camps, we have asked the students to come up with an alter-ego. This "alter-ego" helps the students broaden their use of English and talk about a character who may have a different job, physical characteristics, and background than our students.

Here is a photo of our favorite one from Orotina! Short but great...

Reflections on JumpStart Buena Vista/ Canas Dulces

The third week of JumpStart is almost over, I can’t believe how fast it has gone!  This time next week Jessica and I will be watching our twenty-three students graduate.  Today we played “the ball game”; a game where we stand in a circle, tossing a ball, and asking questions to one another in English.  It’s a review game, one that Jessica and I have been using since the very first day, and I have to say, it felt a little nostalgic playing today and see how far our students have come in three short weeks.  

“The ball game” was the very first game we played on the very first day of JumpStart, we used it like an icebreaker, asking the students “What is your name?”  We have students from two elementary schools all of whom (except one) will be attending high school together next month and we had high hopes of our students forming lasting friendships over the course of our camp.  The first day proved to be even more awkward than expected, imagine 23 twelve-year-olds standing in a circle with strangers talking in a foreign language.  There was a lot of whispering, a lot of dodging the ball instead of catching it, a lot of uncomfortable giggling.  Jessica and I worried that we wouldn’t have enough energy to keep this camp moving forward for a whole month.  “Wake up guys!  This is supposed to be fun,” we begged.

Today had a much different feel to it.  The students spoke loudly and with confidence, we gave them the freedom to ask any question that we’ve learned, anything from “what is your name?” and “where are you from?” to “what is your favorite color?” and “do you like pancakes?”  Their cooperation was incredible!  Some of them even came up with new questions using the vocabulary that we had learned to challenge their peers!  Buena Vista students passed the ball to their Canas Dulces peers and vice versa.  The shyness that Jessica and I observed on day one has disappeared and replaced itself with a whole new problem—getting them to stop talking, sometimes we can’t get a word in edgewise.  

This camp has taught the students (not to mention Jessica and I) what can be achieved when high expectations are set.  These students are speaking with more confidence and better pronunciation, they’ve learned a lot and formed new friendships.  I hope that these students will become leaders within seventh grade and their growth will have a positive influence on their peers.  Jessica is planning to continue working with seventh grade next year and we’re excited to watch them grow and progress over the next two years.  

-Ashley, Peace Corps Volunteer in Buena Vista

Hojancha: Restaraunt Week!

Week three in the JumpStart curriculum focuses on Project Based learning...that is to say the entire week culminates in a final project using all of the vocabulary and conversational structures they have learned previously. For this week, the students started learning basic foods, how you make them, how to order at a restaurant, and then got the chance to work in teams to conceptualize and MAKE their own restaurant! Here are some photos :)

Learning the foods:

What is in each dish??
                                                                                                       




Practicing to order foods...

Working in their own restaurants!!
 

JumpStart Playa Panama!

JumpStart Playa Panama is doing great! We are so lucky to have the support of Hotel Mangroove as well as a few helpers in the community. Although we have a little more variation with the age ranges in our camp, we have learned to make the best of it and created a really positive learning environment for the students! Here are some photos to share...

learning about body parts:


Students presenting in the front of the class:
 

Kane leading circle time:




 

Hojancha: new activities!

 
Playing "Guess Who" to learn about physical characteristics...
    Making sentences as a group...
The co-teacher in Hojancha leading new activities!

Photos from JumpStart Turrialba!

It has been a busy but wonderful first two weeks....here are some highlights in photos...

Classroom setup on Day 1:







``

 Practicing the Spanish hat:
 

Learning more than just "parts of the body"

 





At the end of week 2, we did an awesome fashion show to be able to talk about the question "what are you wearing?"

 

JumpStart Finca Naranjo: The first two weeks!

The Naranjo Jumpstart English camp is off to a great start, gracias a dios.
First, thank you to all of you have who donated to the camp. I am
grateful for all of the support both from you all in the US, and from
people in my community here.
 
Through local in-kind and cash donations, we were able to cover the
costs of snacks, transportation and school supplies. Contributors
include: the town development association, the Naranjo synthetic field
and restaurant, the Coopeagropal palm company, the bus company and the
high school. In November, Jumpstart parents made empanadas, picadillo,
arroz con leche and ice cream, and sold them at a fundraiser soccer
tournament.

Most importantly, my co-teacher Raquel is donating her time this
summer vacation to teach at the camp. She’s doing this, even as she is
a single mother of three young daughters.Not only have adults supported the camp, but the students are also extremely motivated to be there.

 

For me, a highlight of the camp so far was actually not English class.
Friday in the second half of camp, we take a break from English and do
activities aimed at preparing the students for high school and beyond.
Last week we asked the students to reflect on their goals for 10 years
from now, in multiple sectors: education, work, health, home and
recreation.

Among the group of 20 seventh grade students I learned that we have
future doctors, teachers, tour guides, forensic scientists and
business owners.

Hearing the students talk about their futures reminded me that they
are each more than what they appear to be. Some are still tiny. Boys
and girls can have a hard time working together, nervous about how
they appear to the opposite sex. They play hide and go seek at recess.
They’re strongly motivated by candy and stickers.

But when they talk about their goals, I start to see them more as the
adults they’re becoming. Most aren’t even 13 yet. Still, they have
clear ideas of what they want for their futures. I hope this camp will at least play a tiny part of helping them to reach these goals.

-Elise Kigner, PCV in Finca Naranjo

Week two in Hojancha!

More pics from week 2...learning about our bodies and a famous group shot! We love our amazing group of students who has given up their entire month of vacation to learn English and have FUN!

 
 
    

Pics from Week One!

Camp has gone wonderfully so far in our town! We have several volunteers from the USA helping in addition to a Costa Rican co-teacher. Here are a few pics...



 

JumpStart Sepecue: a community story

JumpStart Sepecue is being held in Liceo Academico Indigena Sepecue, located in Alto Talamanca one hour up river from Suretka.

This camp is being entirely taught and coordinated by students from Sepecue High school. All of the student teachers studied the curriculum during their vacation to prepare for the camp. The PCV involvement was very minimal and only included a little bit of support in the vacation practice sessions, writing the grant and supervising the implementation of the camp (adult supervision was necessary). The principal student coordinators Kevin Reyes and Albin Morales participated in an exchange program to Oregon USA last December and January. They have helped support and train a total of 12 students as co-teachers in the camp. This is the third consecutive JumpStart Camp in this community and many of the student teachers have participated in the previous year's camps. The amount of work and responsibility they have taken on teaching this third camp by themselves is incredible.

Many students drop out of high school because of economic issues, drugs, an inadequate preparation for high school given in the elementary schools (generally elementary schools do not offer many subjects and may only have between 1-4 teachers- many times one of the teachers is also the principal) family problems, alcohol, a lack if parental support and adolescent pregnancy. Generally an incoming 7th grade class numbers around 50 students. About 2-8 of those 50 will end up graduating from high school despite Sepecue High School's continued effort to prevent students from dropping out.

Because of JumpStart, when they are enter the high school they will know more English and English class will be more fun for them because they will have reviewed the vocabulary in the camp. They will also be more social and less shy because they were sharing a lot of time with all the other new seventh graders. Also with the other subjects they might not be as shy because they practiced giving presentations in the camp. I saw that the students from JumpStart were active in the high school last year and I hope this year will be the same.

Kevin Reyes- Camp Coordinator and Teacher - 11th Grade student at Sepecue High School

Here are pictures of the first few days of JumpStart camp 2015!!

  
        

Week one of camp!

It has been an awesome week in Penas Blancas! The kids have learned a lot and enjoyed fun games to help practice their English....here are a few photos:

 
  

 

Day 4 Hojancha!

Day 4 included: Musical chairs to review Professions! Practice conversation! ALWAYS speaking in English and gaining confidence by speaking in front of the class!

  

Day 2 in Hojancha!

More fun today in Hojancha as we learned "Where do you live?" I live in...






 
Using a world map to show where people live all around the world!