A Reflection of My Time in PC

This week was my close of service conference for Peace Corps. As I look towards the future after Peace Corps, I can’t help but reflect on the past. I’ve spent the past 2 years living and working in close proximity to some very special people. Together we have done numerous projects, activities, and lessons. I’ve spent hours holed up in another teacher's house planning summer camp, running through the school trying to improvise an activity when the electricity goes out, and so many countless hours in meetings. The culmination of all these long hours has been a very successful 2 years working to make our school better and give our students new skills that will carry them far.

In an effort to share more about my service and Peace Corps in general, I wanted to write a blog detailing our major projects and accomplishments over the course of these 4 semesters. I’m proud of my service and the results of our activities; I’m proud of my counterpart who worked so hard, squeezing my obnoxious plans into already packed days. I’m so proud of my kids and the improvements they have made both in English language classes but also in general. We put on a lot of activities for students to practice creative thinking, cultural sensitivity, and empathy, and these kids will not stop showing up excited to participate. 

A great example of these Rockstar kids is our most successful project. We were thinking of ways to improve the reading skills of first-graders and overcome the learning gap when they jump from learning letters to reading. So we thought “why not start sooner”? We rounded up a group of volunteer students (mostly 5^th-8^th grade) and wrote an English curriculum. Over the course of the school year, these students would walk to the kindergarten after lessons and deliver a short language class to the preschool and kindergarten-aged children. By the end of the year, all of the tiny tikes could count to 10, name the colors, greet someone and name several foods all in English! But these little kids were not the only ones to impress. Our student teachers learned how to write and deliver a lesson, leadership and presentation skills and gained confidence in their English abilities. Overall the project was a huge success and I couldn’t be more proud.

But a student-teacher program is not all we have done. Working as a team, we have implemented big changes in the way we give lessons, and how we motivate students to learn. These changes resulted in more energized and passionate kids who are excited to learn and look forward to class. We also introduced a once-monthly English club, where kids can come and do fun activities like watching American films or playing games all while soaking up English. This year we hosted a “mini mets” STEM workshop after school where kids got to do experiments and learn about chemical reactions. We have done American food taste tests, holiday lessons about cultures around the world, hosted English summer camp and a culture art contest! 

We have been some very busy ladies but it was all worth it. Seeing the positive changes in my students has really motivated me to keep going and inspired a passion for education. I feel so blessed to have been able to serve my community and be hosted by such an engaging and delightful school of students.