Home Stretch

It is the last week of JUMPSTART and the good news keeps coming.

First, JUMPSTART Liberia is now completely funded by CRUSA, a foundation that encourages the cooperation and collaboration between the U.S. and Costa Rica. This is an amazing opportunity for JUMPSTART and CRUSA. I cannot thank CRUSA enough for giving us the chance to prove that JUMPSTART is a worthy program. And hopefully this will be just the beginning of a long relationship between JUMPSTART and CRUSA.

Second, we had the honor of hosting two visitors at camp today. The director of Costa Rica Multilingue, Marta Blanca, helped me out all day. She was fantastic in the class and the students really enjoyed having her participate in the activities. We also were able to share with the Minister of Tourism for Guanacaste, Don Alvaro. He spoke to the students about the many opportunities available to people that speak English, not only in tourism, but in any job that involves people from another country, which is becoming more and more prominent.

Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to the Science Center at EARTH University. The Science Center is a collaboration between the U.S. Embassy and EARTH University, a private, non-profit, international university. We will be able to tour the center and campus and continue with class there. The University is about ten minutes down the road and none of the students have ever been. It will be really cool to see their faces as the step onto a university campus and hear about the opportunities that are available to them with a quick bus ride.

Thursday and Friday will be filled with review games, awards, and graduation. It is incredible how fast these four weeks have gone, and how much more we have to do in the last three days.

As always, thank you for your support, encouragement and love.

                                                                                                                        Labeling Body Parts                                                                                                 

                                         Town Map and Directions  

                  Reviewing Clothing 

                                                                                      Mine Field Directions

Playing Games! 

Annie Mott

Peace Corps Volunteer - TEFL

mottanna1@gmail.com 

Halfway!

Today marks the “more than halfway done” point of JUMPSTART Liberia. These past two weeks have flown by and I am really impressed with the pace that the class is holding, as well as the dedication and enthusiasm that are brought by the students every day. Having English classes for three and a half hours every day is exhausting. And that is coming from someone who speaks English. The fact that my 21 students show up, participate, practice, learn, and endure my constant Midwestern accent, hand motions, and ridiculous facial expressions is something to be in awe of.  

Last week I had two visitors to the camp. Bryson, a Peace Corps volunteer who works for Costa Rica Multilingue, came to observe and hang out on Thursday. He took some awesome pictures of the students that I will add a little later. On Friday, Christopher Starr, a rural community development Peace Corps volunteer, swung by to help us take a break from English and teach the students some games. It was awesome having fresh faces, new accents, and different activities to do.

This week, from Wednesday to Friday, I am going to a National English Conference in San Jose and I am leaving my 21 students with Tara, a TEFL volunteer from my group that lives about a half hour away from Liberia. She is an amazing teacher, both in English and art. I know that Tara can handle the class, and I know my students will probably behave better for her since they don’t know her as well, but I can’t help feel like a parent leaving their children with a new babysitter. I will ask Tara to write a post so you can hear about the camp from a different perspective and about all the art activities that she has planned.

After so much planning, prepping, and organizing it still feels odd that we are in the thick of camp and it will soon be over. We still have a ton of information to get through, and it is getting more and more complicated every day. But these Liberia students are giving everything they’ve got and I cannot wait to see where they are in just a couple of weeks.

Annie Mott

Peace Corps Volunteer – TEFL

mottanna1@gmail.com 

JUMPSTART Liberia, Rockin' and Rollin'

I cannot believe that we are already into the second week of JUMPSTART, and I have a feeling that “I can’t believe…” is going to be a theme of the entire experience.

JUMPSTART Liberia had perfect attendance the entire first week, and every student arrived this Monday morning energized and ready to begin week two.

We are covering the curriculum at a great pace and have had time to incorporate icebreakers, teambuilding activities, sports, and a question and answer session with a seventh grade English teacher.

At the end of last week, every student was able to have a basic conversation with their partner, explaining their name, age, profession, where they live, and who is in their family. While some students were more enthusiastic presenting their conversations, every student went to the front of the class and spoke using English. I can’t believe that the timid and uncertain students that arrived on day one were confident and comfortable enough, in just four days, to speak in another language in front of their class. That activity alone showed me how much these 21 students will grow and learn during the four weeks we have together.

Today was packed full of learning physical characteristics, which words to use with “to be” and “to have,” and possessive adjectives. We practiced until a student reminded me that he had to catch the bus in just one minute and that the other taxis were waiting outside.

Only one week into the camp and it has been such a fulfilling experience. I can’t wait to see where this second week takes us!

Below are some pictures of the first week of camp:








Students interviewing each other.

                  

 Students presenting their conversations.


    




                                              
                     Go JUMPSTART!

Practicing numbers

                           Family bingo!

Annie

Peace Corps Volunteer – TEFL

mottanna1@gmail.com 

Its Begun!

After three meetings in three separate barrios, after handing out and collecting countless permission slips and information packets, after running around Liberia asking for donations and contacting everyone I know in the States, after confirming transportation, high school access, and student attendance, after worrying and hoping and praying that everything was going to go as planned…. the first day of JumpStart went as smoothly as expected and I cannot be happier.

Okay, it didn’t go absolutely perfectly, but it was perfect enough. I arrived at the high school, Instituto de Guanacaste, early to be let in and prepare the classroom. The students, one group right after the other, arrived five minutes early! And every single student on my list showed up, plus one. JumpStart Liberia no longer consists of 20 sixth graders, but 21.

We started with a short icebreaker and then dove right into lesson one. I can already tell which students are more confident and have an easier time with English, and which students will need some encouragement, motivation and time to speak. But from their initial surveys on why they wanted to participate in JumpStart, they all believe that English will be key in their success, not only during high school, but in their future career as a chef, lawyer, and hotel owner, among others.

The day ended abruptly at 11:30, and already I can tell that this whole experience is going to fly by. I hope to give you inside access to JumpStart Liberia as much as possible.

Thank you so much for keeping up with the camp and if you donated, I cannot express my gratitude. These students are already growing and learning.

Annie

Peace Corps Volunteer – TEFL

mottanna1@gmail.com 

Coming Soon / Próximamente

This coming January and February, here you’ll find regular updates on JumpStart El Capulín from Annie, the Peace Corps Volunteer (USA) in charge. In the meantime, feel free to open the Google map to the left to see where JumpStart El Capulín will take place and learn a few other details on the camp. Additionally, we ask that you please consider donating to CRML to help us raise the remaining funds we need to make the JumpStart camps being prepared for El Capulín and 13 other communities across Costa Rica a reality for the roughly 300 students who have signed up to participate. For information on how to help, see the column to the right. Even a small contribution makes a big difference!      

Este próximo enero y febrero, usted podrá encontrar en esta página las últimas noticias sobre JumpStart El Capulín de Annie, la voluntaria del Cuerpo de Paz (EE.UU.) a cargo. Mientras tanto, lo invitamos a abrir el mapa de la izquierda para ver dónde tendrá lugar JumpStart El Capulín y aprender algunos otros detalles del campamento. Adicionalmente, solicitamos que por favor considere una donación a CRML para ayudarnos a recaudar los fondos que todavía necesitamos para hacer los campamentos en El Capulín y otras 13 comunidades alrededor de Costa Rica una realidad para los 300 niños que se han inscrito a participar. Para información sobre cómo ayudar, vea la columna de la derecha. Una contribución pequeña hace una gran diferencia.