New Year with New Beginnings

This past Monday, the Primaria in Chaquijyá Central was teeming with energy as students, parents, and teachers all gathered to celebrate the first day of classes in the new school year. As is customary in most schools in Guatemala, the first day of classes was commemorated with music, processions, and speeches from prominent community members that discussed the importance of civic responsibility and education. Watching the children organize into new classes, I could not help but recall the excitement, anxiety, and feeling of maturity that I experienced at the beginning of each year in primary school. Whether in urban American cities or rural Guatemalan communities, the first day of classes always evokes the same fusion of feelings among young students, and I was so thrilled to be able to relive those emotions.

For MPI Guatemala, the first day of classes marks the revival of our English classes in the Primaria. Continuing the program created last September, my teammates and I have decided to make a few changes that we believe will not only enable the program to be more sustainable, but will also allow the classes to touch a broader audience. Primarily, in addition to our 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes, we will be teaching two sections of 3rd grade. I will be teaching 6th grade and could not be more excited to help prepare students for future careers and higher levels of study. Additionally, my coworkers and I will each partner with our class’s normal instructor to plan and lead each lesson. We devised this “teach the teachers” program keeping in mind the following question that is at the heart of sustainable development: if we had to leave tomorrow, would anything be able to persist and progress? Consequently, collaborating on lesson planning and teaching, we will also be teaching English to the teachers and we will construct a curriculum that we hope will be easy for future teachers to follow. If MPI did have to leave Guatemala for some reason (I hope not!), at least the teachers will have an effective curriculum and more knowledge that they can continue to utilize and develop in their classes. Eventually, we would like to hand over all English instruction to the teachers and expand our program to other grades and schools. This process will take time, but we are all excited to see how it progresses.

So, wish us luck as we head back to school! I’ll keep you updated on how everything goes.