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