Cultural Day!

Today was cultural day! Our group had the opportunity to get a deeper glimpse of Dominican culture. After breakfast, we headed off to Dajabon, a market on the Haitian/Dominican border. Every Monday and Friday, Haitians go there to sell clothing and/or cross the border to live in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans often sell foods because there is better soil in the Dominican Republic. As we made our way through the market, we stood on a bridge over the Massacre River where Trujillo, the Dominican dictator from 1931-1960, ordered the death of 20,000 Haitians. After we experienced the crowded and overwhelming market, we briefly stopped at a Dominican cemetery. We then quickly travelled to the hotel to grab our pesos and to change into our swimsuits. From there, we went to a secluded gift shop. After, we were able to experience a delicious and delightful buffet provided by Outreach 360. Then, we set out for the beach “El Morro.” Once we arrived, most of us hiked up a large hill, where we were able to capture a beautiful view of the beach and clear, blue ocean. When we made it back to the bottom of the hill, we were all ready to take a dip. We stayed at the beach for about two and a half hours and had fun swimming, relaxing, and climbing rocks. Once back at the hotel, we were ready to shower because we had so much sand in our swimsuits and clothes. We relaxed for some time, and then we ate a delicious dinner. It was tortilla night! After we enjoyed our last meal in the Dominican Republic, we reflected. Then, we wrapped up our experience with some bonding time and ice cream! We will miss the warm weather and the Dominican children we worked with as we head back to the United States tomorrow. 

Lisa and Seyi

Last Day of School

Today was a bittersweet day. It was the last day of teaching the kids but we were still so excited to see them. From the beginning of the trip until now, the growth in our teaching was evident in our increased enthusiasm and the interactive materials we created. From the first day of teaching the kindergarten to the last, they were a lot more responsive and interested in our lessons. After our first class of the day, the kindergarten class, there was a pep rally in the gym across the schoolyard. The older kids were dressed up in marching band uniforms and were marching to the Dominican national anthem. All of us took a lot of pictures and videos during our last moments with the kids. Today our lesson consisted of personal pronouns which took a lot of repetition to grasp. One of the most challenging things all of us have noticed is not being allowed to speak Spanish to the kids because of the Outreach360 rules (but we spoke in Spanish anyways because we found it really helped to fully understand the meanings of the vocabulary). We wrapped up our last day of teaching with our fourth grade class, which has been our most difficult class to teach. However, the growth we saw in the obedience and attention of the children was huge. They were more open to lesson plans as well as more respectful in the classroom. Even though this group of kids in particular was the hardest to teach, each of us made a connection with one or two of them, and in the end this was the class that all of us loved so much (even though we loved all the other classes too). Everyone agreed that the children have found a permanent place in our hearts. 

Sarah and Gretchen

Surprise Half Day

Our fourth day in Monte Cristi was quite the experience! We started off the day with the normal breakfast time of 8 a.m. After our spectacular scrambled eggs, given to us by Julio, we were off to teach the children! Starting the day off with the 1^st grade, we immediately saw the improvement with the seven vocab words that have been taught the past two days. There was a quick connection with the lesson plan given. The day’s activities consisted of review, arts and crafts, as well as handmade worksheets. After the day’s work with the 1^st graders, they were so proud of all the activities finished. Not only did they finish their first arts and crafts, but continued to make more and more and would constantly brag to their friends about their creation. After an eventful class period, we then had fun out on the recess field. Starting the 3^rd grade class with our enthusiastic faces, we began to see the student’s excitement for what was to come within the class. With a slew of songs, we ended the class off with fantastic creations and happy faces! With a more advanced lesson plan of writing full sentences with the words, we saw major improvement from the first day. It was truly a sight to see and all of us left the classroom feeling proud. We walked back to the hotel to grab some lunch served by, of course, the one and only Julio. We were then excited to hop on the bus and head back to school.  When we arrived, we saw a flood of children exiting the school. All of us were very confused but Hollis (our site leader) went into the school gates to see what was going on. The past two days now, the ministry of education has been observing teachers. After a stressful two days for the teachers, they decided to end school early. We then headed back to the hotel for a longer siesta. After a restful afternoon, we made our way down to the salt farm. Our excited tour guide Noel, informed us all about the wonders of salt in the Dominican! Noel was so helpful.  We absolutely loved the tour and went back to an extended siesta. After feeling more rested, we got some PIZZA! Now after a very delicious pizza party, we are more excited for the upcoming activities we have in store for tomorrow!

Love,

Claire & Emma  <3

Revised Lesson Plans

Today’s our third day here in Monte Cristi.   We had breakfast at 8 am, which consisted of French toast and eggs.  We then headed off to elementary school where we instituted our much revised lesson plans for Kindergarten through 4^th grade.  The new lesson plans were very successful as the kids began to grasp the new vocabulary and were able to put these words into context.  After teaching 1^st grade with the school from Savannah, Georgia, we went out for recess where there were kids playing, ages all the way up to 15.  After a fun, engaging recess, we taught Kindergarten and then had a long walk back to the hotel when the sun was at its peak.  We then had lunch at the hotel, which was rice and beans, pineapple chicken, potato salad, and fried yucca.  After taking a bus back to the school, we taught back-to-back 3^rd grade and 4^th.  The 4^th graders proved to be a challenge, having lots of energy, but after finally incorporating jumping jacks into the lesson plan, they settled down a bit.  After school, Sarah Edwards (Outreach 360 Country Director) talked to us about interesting cultural differences.  She opened our eyes to their passion for sharing everything and being a very communal society; children learn this habit at a young age where they will break off their crayons in order to ensure everyone has the same color.  Also when on public transportation, the adults will fit multiple people on a seat to make sure everyone gets one.   We then walked to Bons ice cream shop for the second time this week, and then to the fresh juice shop!  We had our last walk of the day back to the hotel where we remain for the rest of the evening.  After dinner we will see the film, Time of the Butterflies.  We hope all of our families at home, and our classmates around the world are healthy and having fun. 

Jordan and Lydia

First Day of School!

Today was our first day of teaching! Today we woke up prepared to teach the students and excited to see the kids we were going to be teaching. After our amazing oatmeal and cornflakes with warm milk (delicious according to Ms. Brown) we headed off to our school. After our long walk we arrived to the school and were greeted with smiles from the little kids. Walking into the school, students walked up to us and showed us the way to the classroom. We started off teaching the kindergarten and we found it a bit challenging to interact with them. They did not seem fully engaged at first. However, as the class progressed they became more interested. At the end of our first class we had recess with the kids! As soon as we walked out of the classroom, students began walking up to us and grabbing our hands so that we would play with them. It was wonderful to be able to interact with them outside of the classroom and just have fun with them. After lunch we had the third grade class. It was a much different experience than the kindergarten class, as they seemed to understand the majority of what we were saying and had a very positive attitude! It was very evident that these students truly wanted to learn and weren’t just forced to do so. Transitioning into the fourth grade class, we found it challenging to capture their attention and get them to be fully engaged. After today, we revised our lesson plans for the days ahead of us so that we can better capture their attention. We look forward to the rest of the week!

Lauren Carr and Hannah David

İHola República Dominicana!

Yesterday we arrived in Santiago and then took a bus to Monte Cristi. We arrived really tired but ecstatic to Marina Del Mar. Today we woke up excited to prepare to teach the students. We had an American breakfast and then we had an overview of the week’s festivities with the Outreach leaders. We learned the principles of Outreach 360 by being separated in small groups with other schools and acting in skits. Then we took the walking tour of the city, we saw the beach, Outreach center and the neighborhoods. We then hurried on back for lunch and then we began preparing lesson plans for the students ranging from grades kindergarten to 4^th grade. We then had a quick break also known as siesta time. We took a mini trip to the coastline to relax and take selfies while Lydia and Lauren went swimming. Throughout the week we will be teaching the children words such as cleaning, washing, and brushing while also implementing pronouns and questions into the mix. Each day we will be reviewing the days of the week, the alphabet, numbers 1-10 and greetings. Soon after the lesson planning, we had a pasta dinner and then had reflection. We are looking forward to the rest of the time we have here and we’re excited for tomorrow, our first day of teaching!

Ashlei Anderson and Maria Poggi 

Checkout Outreach360 in the Dominican Republic

http://outreach360.org/dominican-republic/

Outreach360 Changing Lives

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

…Marianne Williamson