A little bit about Puerto Jimenez!

Puerto Jiménez is a laid-back welcoming community located on the famous Osa Peninsula where it is situated between Corcovado National Park and the beautiful Golfo Dulce.  The peninsula is home to 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and attracts tourists from all over the globe who come to visit one of the last remaining primary rainforests in the Pacific Central Coast. Puerto Jiménez is a gateway community and a home base for many travelers whose final destination is Corcovado National Park or one of the many eco-lodges or hotels available on the peninsula. 

While the Osa Peninsula is a remarkable destination for international tourists, a majority of the local population lack the resources and the ability to communicate in English, which in turn limits their ability to economically benefit from the beauty of their community.  Speaking English is a prerequisite for advancing in a career in tourism.  Unfortunately, due to limited resources many students from rural areas are not given the opportunity to learn English until they enter the seventh grade.  Many of their peers who live in more urban settings have an English teacher in their elementary school and have had contact with the language for several years before entering high school.  JumpStart is one way that Costa Rica Multilingue, Peace Corps, and the community of Puerto Jimenez are working to solve this problem of inequality in access to opportunities and education.

JumpStart is an intensive English camp during the entire month of January that is specifically designed for sixth grade students who are preparing to enter high school in the coming year.  The 20 students who will attend the JumpStart camp at CTP Puerto Jiménez come from the surrounding rural communities of Dos Brazos de Rio Tigre, La Amapola, La Orquidea, IDA Guadalupe, and Bambu.  Sixteen of the twenty students have never received English instruction in their elementary schools.  They need the preparation and support of a JumpStart camp in order to be successful in their high school English classes and to open doors for their future.  Without this intensive camp, they are at risk of dropping out of high school and being shut out from the economic benefits that the stunning Osa Peninsula has to offer to those who can communicate effectively with tourists.  The community of Puerto Jiménez is working hard to support and help make this camp a reality.  Several local businesses, hotels, schools, and NGOs are donating materials, snacks, their time, and much-needed funds to assist in the transport of students to and from the camp everyday.  We are so thankful for their support and dedication to promoting education here in Puerto Jiménez.  However, we are still in dire need of donations to cover student transportation costs, costs incurred to provide 80 hours of training to a local teacher, and the cost of printing student workbooks.  Please consider making a donation to this excellent cause and offering the opportunity of a better future to a student here in Puerto Jiménez.  Thank you!!

Students in OSA are constantly able to explore new natural enviornments!

 

Brittany and Luke, PCVs in Puerto Jimenez who will teach the camp, enjoying the nature there.  

Under Construction - Preparing for JumpStart 2015 Camps!

We are thrilled to have more than 35 camp sites confirmed for January 2015! Please bear with us as we finish preparing a section for each camp on the blog so you can follow your favorite community, teachers and students. In the meantime, please follow us on Facebook for all the latest JumpStart news, or visit our main page, www.jumpstartcostarica.org, for more about the program.

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.

Superstars!

Often, we write and talk about our projects, the curriculum, the successes we frequently find, mention our partners and sponsors, among many other great things we are doing, but we sometimes forget the beautiful faces that make our project a reality; the faces that have made our project possible.

Here are the fourteen faces of Jump Start Osa who have shined as SUPERSTARS for the last month! And Osa-English-Teaching-Extraordinaire Barton.

The glamorous Leonela!

Mr. Kevin (He has a very special talent for EL)

Ms. Katherine from Monterrey. Sometimes she tries to hide her smile, but eventually it always surfaces.

Keiler and Freisel! 

Ms. Jeymi!

The Steven Tandem (Reyes and Jimenez) 

Daniel from Bambu!

Rosa, a rising superstar, from Amapola!

The Fabulous Hellen from Agujas.

The Two Sandalo Estrellas, Lady and Rachel.

Marlon has his back turned! 

Co-Teacher Barton!

This Picture Is Just Way Too Cute Not To Upload! Hellen and Steven.

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.

Conocé a Rachel!

Rachel y Keiler trabajando

El primer día del campamento, Barton y yo estuvimos tratando de aprender todos los nombres de nuestros estudiantes, estábamos intentando de conocer a los chiquillos, y averiguar todos los motivos y las razones que tenían por asistir el campamento. Ya todos saben que el campamento se ha realizado durante sus días libres mientras están de vacaciones. ¿Por qué quieren ir a aprender el inglés cuando no hay clases? Obviamente todos tienen sus propias justificaciones, pero nos gustaría que todos tuvieran la oportunidad de conocer a Rachel. Es una de los catorce aspirantes del campamento, Jump Start Osa. Rachel es bien concentrada y tiene una historia demasiada bella.

Haciendo un dialogo.

Rachel es hija única y vive con sus padres. Su mamá es ama de casa y su papá es pensionado. Rachel vive en Sándalo, un pueblito demasiado pequeño que tiene muy poco ofrecer, en la península de Osa. Rachel nunca había tenido clases de inglés antes de que empezara este curso de inglés. Según a Rachel, aprender el inglés es un poco difícil, muy divertido, y bien útil e imperativo para su futuro y sus estudios. Nos dijo que “es simple, en realidad, entendemos porque debemos aprender el inglés.” Rachel nos contó que la vida puede ser muy difícil, si no se hace las decisiones correctas durante la vida.

Rachel es alumna de primera generación; es la primera persona de su familia que asistirá al colegio. Para mí, aprender eso es increíble. Como Latino quien viene de las partes desfavorecidas, de un barrio desamparado, me puedo relacionar con, o sea concibo, la realidad de Rachel y la vida de los alumnos de primera generación. Ese primer día, no supe mucho de esta muchacha tan valiente, pero inmediatamente me di cuenta que no era como los demás. Era más tímida, introvertida, y calmada. Rachel se sostenía muy callada, no quiso participar mucho, pero propagaba genialidad como nunca había visto antes en un alumno.

Rachel tiene un poco de verguenza por su compañero

Como los días se convirtieron en semanas, Rachel, y su dominio, floreció y surgió como una de los más probables de agarrar la lengua, lo más rápido que sea posible. Ahora, Rachel, participa en las clases sin problema, nunca falla, tiene buena pronunciación, y es modela de lo que debería ser un alumno de inglés. Es menos tímida y confía mucho en sus compañeros. No sé cuando se transformó, pero yo les puedo decir que el resultado es por Jump Start Osa y el proyecto de Costa Rica Multilingüe. Antes del campamento, Rachel, sumamente, era buena estudiante, pero ahora me parece que Rachel maneja el trabajo del curso con facilidad y con confianza en sí misma. Jump Start continúa de ser un paso demasiado importante como una introducción a sus nuevos compañeros y el ambiente del colegio del porvenir.

Some Food For Thought

As we finished the first day of the last week of Jump Start Osa, we spent time learning about foods, food preparation, types of food, and played Go Fish with a food twist. 

The Girls Always Beat The Boys

Today, Keiler and Kevin both chuckled at the sight of papaya and tortilla in English. Each time, they both raised their hands and said, “Profe Carlos, don’t tell the others, but I think you made a mistake. These Go Fish cards are in Spanish.” Priceless! I am not sure if it was more beautiful that the two students weren’t afraid to question their teacher, or if it was just them trying to protect me. Either way I was a big fan!

The concept of Banking Education is a very prevalent teaching method in Puerto Jiménez, in regards to English, so the thought process and challenging of the correctness of my English cards was brilliant. Students asking questions and questioning the validity of something considered “factual” is wonderful.

Meet Lionela!

Thus far, teaching these 14 guilas (pronounced: gwee-luhs) has been the most rewarding Peace Corps project that I have participated in. Teaching English is a great job, but the most redeeming quality is the bond and daily interaction that one forms with the students. Although I am not looking forward to Jump Start ending, at least I know that I will have all of these students as they start their 7^th grade year. 

Deep thought!

A Special Thanks To Molly and Emily!

A Special Thanks To Emily and Molly!

One last jump for Jump Start Osa from Molly and Emily

Since the start of Jump Start Osa (sponsored by the US Embassy), here in Puerto Jiménez, we have had the honor of having two special volunteers, Emily and Molly from New York City, helping out with all of our English camp sessions. Molly and Emily aren’t English teachers, but they have made for great assistants and the students have become very fond of having them in class. Every morning the ladies have led the students with great icebreakers like the Human Knot, WAH!, Elbow Tag, Simon Says, and other fun number games. The students have noticeably appreciated having other native speakers in class, and have been able to take advantage of practicing their pronunciation. Barton and I have agreed that for future Jump Start camps having international volunteers could make a huge difference aiding students’ pronunciation. 

Drawing Faces and Labeling Body Parts

The start of class.

Hellen putting labels on her teammate Steven!

 Stiven and Steven holding up their face drawings in class.

Hellen working hard to complete her face drawing.

Freisel, Daniel, Steven, and Marlon trying to figure out which Guess Who character fellow classmates are describing.

Freisil, Kevin, and Steven after being labeled by their peers.

Today we worked in teams three teams of four to five students tackling descriptions, parts of the face/body, and played lots of Simon Says. Students seemingly continue to grow together and work collectively rather than individually. Jump Start has been important for allowing these aspiring English learners to foster relationships with each other, so that they can help each other throughout high school. For more information regarding Jump Start Osa, please don't hesitate to contact us at 85878702. Pura Vida!

We Need To Make Better Happen

While in the final preparation stages for Jump Start Osa, I took a few minutes off to read part of the latest issue of TIME Magazine. Normally I use magazines like TIME to cut out photos and use them during my charlas or English classes. This time I came across something much more striking and it immediately disoriented what I was doing. While flipping through the pages, I stumbled across a full page photo of, Zena Patel, a young lady who works for City Year, an Americorps program. Below her photo, there was a quote she tweeted back in September; the quote reads, “the only thing worse than kids giving up on school, is if we give up on them #makebetterhappen.” I don’t know the exact reason for the quote flustering my thought process, but I do know that this is something that needs to be said more and more to educators across the United States and the world. Growing up where generational poverty was a guarantee, first hand, I have witnessed the impact and power of educational opportunities in high risk areas, like Puerto Jiménez.  

When children don’t have an escape, when children don’t have access to excellent educational programs, they rarely develop the ambition and drive to want to escape poverty and look for hopeful situations. As an educator in Puerto Jiménez, of eight months, something that I have noticed is that many students feel trapped without an escape. Students often drop out of school after 9th grade (the last mandated year), in order to find a low paying job and help support their family. They never develop an educational ambition or lose it in order to work to feed their families.

As an educator, my job isn’t just to ensure that the students learn in class. My job is to ensure that these children understand the implications that education carries throughout the course of their life, especially as someone who came from a similar situation. When I first arrived to Puerto Jiménez, I took it personal when students didn’t want to learn. I took it personal when they hurled insults at me and refused to respect the learning process. I didn’t understand the students. I didn’t understand how I should deal with the situation. I was confused and lost. I consulted former high school teachers in search of advice. Eventually I got the advice that I needed. One former French teacher told me that I should spend time getting to know who I was teaching.

So I got to know the students personally in order to understand who they were and where they were coming from, so that I could teach accordingly. Jimeneños often feel hopeless; they feel trapped in an American-European created tourist area, where they need to speak a foreign language in order to survive. They aren’t bitter, they just want to learn English, but aren’t afforded the proper tools in order to learn. Without English, it is nearly impossible to get a job. This is why Peace Corps is trying to help the Osa Peninsula with English learning. This is why Jump Start Osa, Costa Rica Multilingue, and the US Embassy have partnered to help 15 ambitious students get a jump start with English going into high school. We need to make better happen and never ever give up on students, no matter how hopeless they may feel. We can make it out together and never stop hoping for a better quality life.

Here are a few of the Jump Start students during week one:

Meet Jump Start U.S. Embassy - Osa!

Meet Jump Start Osa!

Team Jump Start U.S. Embassy - OSA!

After five months of Peace Corps preparation and over a year of preparation for Costa Rica Multilingue, Jump Start camps have kicked off across the country. ¡DALE!

After all these months of seemingly endless work to get the Jump Start camp put into place, seeing all of the kids' faces and getting a slight glimpse into their personalities has validated all reasoning for carrying out Jump Start Osa. Today's camp started off with an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm from volunteers and students with the famous Human Knot dínamica. It was a simple way to judge students' willingness to work together and watch them problem solve while getting to know and trust each other. As we progress through our English camp, we want the students to develop a relationship with each other as they are all heading into high school together this year. After the dínamica, of course everyone was soaked with sweat and all ready to learn some English with PCVs Barton, Jon, and Carl, and EVOLC volunteers Molly and Emily!

Learning English is one of the most important life decisions that can positively change the trajectory of a Jimegüense's life. The tourism industry on the Osa peninsula accounts for the largest source of income for all families. The importance of learning English is something that continually needs to be reinforced for younger students coming into Puerto Jimenez Technical High School. Jump Start Osa is making English more accessible and the journey of becoming multilingual a more realistic possibility. Without the support of Costa Rica Multilingue, local donors, Peace Corps, and EVOLC this dream wouldn't have been attainable for many local students.

Thank you for the continual support! For any questions regarding Jump Start Osa, please send an e-mail to c.weitziii@gmail.com.

Cheers!

Coming Soon / Próximamente

This coming January and February, here you’ll find regular updates on JumpStart Puerto Jiménez from Carl, the Peace Corps Volunteer (USA) in charge. In the meantime, feel free to open the Google map to the left to see where JumpStart Puerto Jiménez 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 Puerto Jiménez 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 Puerto Jiménez de Carl, el voluntario 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 Puerto Jiménez 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 Puerto Jiménez 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.