Banana Republic

Last month I visited a part of the country that I have wanted to visit for over two years. What secluded, picturesque beach or far-away travel destination could this be you are wondering? Well, neither really. This place is not isolated nor does it take much longer than 15 minutes to get to from my house. Ironically, it still somehow took me two years though.  

I had the chance to visit some of Banelino’s banana plantations where I saw the whole production process, from banana trees growing in the fields, to the conveyor/pulley systems that take the bananas in to be cut, washed, sorted, and packed into boxes to be shipped to buyers in Europe. 

It was so awesome! Perhaps to understand why this was such a big deal for me, you’d have to know more about what the Dominican banana industry has meant to my Peace Corps service here in the northwestern part of the country. 

To start, most families in my community, are affected in some way by bananas. Many friends work directly in the industry either in the plantations cutting and sorting the bananas or at desk jobs in the offices of the companies that process and ship the bananas overseas. Many more people, myself included, are indirectly affected by bananas. At my school, the students, teachers, and their families are impacted by the banana industry in that Banelino built and sponsors IDENE as well as the school's new workshop building. And then of course, with so many plantations in the area, bananas themselves are inexpensive to buy locally (two for 5 pesos or about 12 cents), therefore, there’s really no telling just how many are consumed here on a daily basis. 

So though it may seem a bit over the top that as a school, we have literally prayed for a good banana crop season, be assured, this has actually happened, on more than one occasion, because bananas are really that important here. 

It is an importance I’ve appreciated aesthetically everyday at the school since arriving here in 2010 (as you’ve seen from pictures - IDENE is a beautiful place!), and understand the depth of as I reflect on the number of people I know affected by the banana industry, to the point that it’s weird to think of my service separate from bananas. The school has grown so much as a result of Banelino and the bananas they export, and without that connection, I’m sure that my projects would have been different. Of course bananas are food (and Dominicans have so many different recipes), but bananas are also a job security and livelihood for so many people in my community that it is hard to imagine a fruit capable of accomplishing more.

in the field, after machete-ing the bananas from the tree

conveyor/pulley system bringing the bananas in from the field

washing after cutting the bananas

stickers!

they were so fast at labeling each one

sunset as seen from my neighborhood

XO

Cross-Country Montessori

In mid-March, Marina (school director), Isabel (school coordinator) and I traveled to the east to do a teacher training in Montessori at Elisa’s school in the Miches area. The trip took the three of us about 10-12 hours by bus away from Mao, to the capital, and then finally out east. It was a part of the country that neither teacher had been to before, and it was great to see Elisa’s community, teachers, and work she has done there. She had asked our school director to share the Montessori work and didactic teaching materials projects that we’ve been doing this year with her school in a morning training session and an afternoon material-making workshop. Plus, she wanted to film our training and workshop for her teacher training video project - so exciting! 

And so, the three of us traveled from Mao to Miches and did just that. Getting there took a little while, but everyone had a good time - my teachers taught some sign language to fellow travelers on one of the bus rides. During the training and workshop it was interesting to work with other Dominican teachers, and refreshing to hear new ideas and perspectives on education, be they negative or positive. Not to mention, my teachers did such a great job leading the event! Less than a year ago we were conducting the same Montessori training at our own school (Marina as a facilitator and Isa as a participant), and now both were leading the training to other teachers. (Ahem, Sustainability? Is that you?!) After the trip, both of my teachers were talking about how they want to continue exchanges and teacher-to-teacher trainings like this, specifically with two special education schools in our province - which is probably the best outcome that I didn’t expect. 

We were able to share Montessori with a group of interested teachers at Elisa’s school, and then (somewhat unexpectedly) I saw just how far my school has come in terms of Montessori knowledge, our curriculum and what our students do on a daily basis while at school. Over the past year alone, so much has been added to IDENE’s classes thanks to our teachers’ interests and creativities. Although it has made for a pretty busy two years, I’m glad to have been here and able to support their ideas, collaborate and work with them. Someday very soon, I know I will miss hearing “Emma, what do you think about...?” or “Emma, I need some help with...” and even large groups of people gushing “Emma is an artist!!” when I draw stick people and lopsided flowers. :)

On that note - below are the photos from our Miches Montessori teacher training and workshop (presented materials are same/similar to pictures in the previous post). Just traveling cross-country, dropping knowledge and going home again - how we roll. 

Marina & Isa at the Miches Rio

Beach in Miches

teachers in the session

filming!

Our cross-country travel start and finish - 10+ hours on the bus!

Everyone post-material making and training workshop!

Elisa showing us the teacher training video project she's creating

school directors and teacher from Miches and Mao

Got a flat tire on the drive back through the mountains...

...no worries. chance for a beautiful op!

XO

Montessori In Action

Good day! :)

Relating back to the last post, here are some photos of the kids at work with the homemade materials. We’ve created many but in this post is a sampling of just a few of the language materials, specifically. Every project we’ve worked on together - revamping the classrooms, creating a curriculum in Montessori, training Special Ed. teachers, etc. - all of it really comes down to child literacy, and that our students may have a more hands-on, activity-focused way to learn the vowels and letters and eventually how to read!

The activities and the purpose of each will hopefully be more or less clear from the photos and corresponding descriptions. For every activity included here, the teachers have had training on the Montessori process and how to work on each in lessons with the students. There’s a whole manual they have with a section devoted just to language, and a page with instructions regarding the process and purpose for every single activity you see here. It’s simple enough to understand but the work behind it is a little more extensive than the pictures can show, but these are just pictures and words trying to sum everything up, after all! 

(Pictures are from mid-March)

Bandeja Fonetica, Grupo Amarillo - grouping upper and lower case letters

Cuatro Esquinas, Grupo Amarillo - identifying images that begin with the same letter

Sonido Inicial, Grupo Amarillo - identifying the first letter of words with a corresponding picture

3ro y 4to students at work (Montessori-style!)on the rugs

Letras de Lija, Grupo Amarillo - matching sandpaper upper and lowercase letters

Tarjetas con Pinitos - Sonido Inicial, Grupo Amarillo - identifying the first letter of a word, with picture, with choice of 3 letters

Tarjetas con Pinitos, Grupo Amarillo - spelling words according to corresponding picture

Montessori work using the tables in Pre-Primaria class

Bandeja Fonetica, Grupo Rojo - grouping upper and lowercase vowels

Cuatro Esquinas, Grupo Rojo - identifying images that begin with the same vowel

Tarjeta Larga con Imagenes, Grupo Rojo - identifying images that begin with the same vowel

Letras de Lija - Minuscula, Grupo Rojo - lowercase sandpaper vowels

Letras de Lija - Mayusculo, Grupo Rojo - uppercase sandpaper vowels

Diferentes Formas de Letras, Grupo Rojo - matching different forms of vowels together

:)

XO

Homemade.

Hi there! Happy April 1st! April Fool's Day... I think? The only April Fool's I have at the moment is that I'll post a lot of blogs after this one. Which is actually not a joke at all, but is an appropriate plan as this blog hasn't been updated in a while! :)


Anyway, these pictures are from January-March. During this time at school we’ve been making a lot of handmade materials for our Montessori projects in the classroom. It's an ongoing project with the teachers that I really like because every activity we're adding to the classes here is something that can be made using local materials that are A. not too expensive and B. the teachers have access to in Mao. It's strange to think back to a year ago and remember that most of what we're currently working on wasn't happening yet in the classes (no materials existed), teachers didn't know about this methodology yet (as this was pre-treacher trainings) and was only in the planning stages (I was writing/waiting for grants). At this point we've already had the trainings, as well as the majority of material making sessions, have redone the classrooms or rearranged the classrooms in some cases and are now working on adding additional homemade materials according to the needs of students as communicated by the teachers. It has been good to see the teachers choose what activities they want to use with their students, and each class really is tailored to the needs of the students in it - but the activities are all similar and recognizable to the students - so as they improve they'll be familiar with how to use each activity. (For example - the youngest students work on identifying just the vowels A, E, I, O, U, while the older or more advanced students work on spelling entire words that incorporate all letters). In any case, cutting and pasting has been a larger part of my Peace Corps service than I initially expected - that's what you get for working in a school with young kids!


Thought I’d share a few photos of everyone at work!

card activity where students have to identify the initial sound of the word according to the picture it matches 

another card activity - spelling out entire words according to corresponding picture

cutting up plastic

crafty in the office

card activity grouping upper and lower case letters together

some of the handmade language materials (and trays!) in Pre-Primaria class 

organizing a picture and word language activity in Pre-Primaria class

Birthday photo for Samuel - feliz cumple!

some of the handmade language materials in 3ro y 4to class

organizing the 4 corners handmade card activity

new attendance chart in 3ro y 4to class

some of the handmade language materials in the works in 1ro y 2do class

Take care all!

XO