Friday Paseo to La Posada

As we continue with our exploration of professions at La Puerta Abierta, we visited La Posada Restaurant today to meet Gregorio, a professional chef and baker, and Salvador, a waiter who has been working at the restaurant for many years. Gregorio taught us how to bake cakes and Salvador modeled his job waiting tables.

We really enjoyed learning about their jobs and eating La Posada's famous brownies!

Dr. Walter

Walter has two very important jobs. He is a well respected doctor in our community and he is also Emiliano's father. We were so lucky to receive a special visit from Dr. Walter at our school today. As we are studying professions this week, he gave us a glimpse into his days of helping people in Santiago Atitlan.

Muchas Gracias Dr. Walter!

When I grow up I want to be a...

This week, we're exploring professions at La Escuelita. Some professions seem to be timeless classics, the same desired fields of work that my classmates were excited about when I was a child (police, firefighters, and doctors). Other children have expressed interest in being race car drivers, actors, chefs, and architects.

While our students are still preschool age, I am inspired to see them dreaming about the future and thinking about careers. I can already imagine Reyli as a Latino TV personality, Emiliano as a young doctor, Ammy baking fancy pastries, and Genesis caring for patients at our local hospital.

Painting without Boundries

Perhaps Cary was feeling limited by his one sheet of white paper this morning. I loved watching his art dance across 4 pieces of paper.

Celebrating Seasons

While Guatemala only has two seasons, rainy and dry, we thought it would be fun to share the four seasons whith our students at La Puerta Abierta.


We explored colors associated with seasons.


We read stories about the weather with Miss Juanita.

We made art that reflected the seasons...

in Guatemala and other countries.

Painting at La Puerta Abierta

We recently set up our new paint station at La Puerta Abierta. Here are a few photos of our young artists at work!

Satisfaction

It's never easy to come to the end of a great vacation and return to work and life in general. Fortunately, the transition can be much smoother if you have the opertunity to leave your work in the hands of a reliable and enthusiastic staff. I recently returned to Santiago after 3 wonderful weeks abroad visiting my husband's family.

When I left La Escuelita Puerta Abierta in the hands of our staff of 5, I accepted that my departure was a natural turning point for the growth of our program. While I adore teaching and love working with our 20 talented students, I am aware that the the school is not Amanda's school, but rather an entity of our community and that all our teachers are quite capable or "running the show" in my absence.

Truly, I was delighted when I learned about all that was accomplished during my vacation. Candelaria lead the students in a two week thematic unit focusing on health and nutrition, Juanita began a unit on seasons, Bonnie taught weather in her English Class, students created a "health" food store and "bought" nutritious snacks, and Chonita, our library coordinator, ensured that the day to day activities ran smoothly.

In the realm of development, I couldn't be happier. I am delighted to know that our programs can function just as well, if not better in my absence....and truly, this is satisfying. I guess I should take more vacations!

Here are a few photos of what the children were busy learning (and eating) throughout the past three weeks.