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