DR Projects March 2025

 This blog post will be the final one written in the Dominican Republic before we fly out Sunday afternoon.  There will be at least one more in a day or so, so keep checking.  We started our day by checking out of the Hostal Maria Yoban, our home away from home in Cotui.  The owner met with us as we prepared to board the bus and presented us all with gift bags, including jars of dulce de cacao,  wonderful chocolate bits of local chocolate. We got onto the bus, now crowded again with our luggage, and headed south to the capital of Santo Domingo. We drove past the infamous Barrick Pueblo Viejo gold mine, which like all strip mines creates some pretty serious environmental damage.  A little over halfway, we stopped at a rest area that included a wonderful store with local food products.  There were plenty of sweet treats,  as well as local coffee. We finally saw the Caribbean Sea, beautiful with multiple shades of blue, and turned onto the coast road...

 Our last day in Cotui was our last day at the Centro Educativo Altagracia.  The morning opemig ceremony was quite special.  After the national anthems, two gorups of students - one of ours and one of theirs- joined together to since a song that both had been practicing on their own all week.  The joint effort was pretty special. The School Director then presented gifts to everyone in the DR Projecets group and then gave us each wonderful, customized certificates of commendation.  Absolutely frame-worthy.  Then the students presented a series of really well-done dance and drill performances, all in costume.  One of the sixth graders then gave a speech thanking us, in clear, perfect English.  There were so many times that we were moved by the ceremony, and the bond that has formed. We had missed the first teaching period, but had time before a special Math Olympiad to teach a fifth  grade class.  Finn later commented in a de-briefing: "Th...

 Comparisons are not always appropriate, and it would be hard to say if a given day was our "best".  But at the very least. today would be a good candidate. The opening of school was routine, except for me.  In this heavily Catholic country, it is very routine for the school day to open with a prayer.  And we have been doing so, in our reflection time with the teachers before the open assembly.  Except this morning, School Director Maria Del Carmen surprised me and handed me the microphone, and asked me to give the blessing.  Honored and surprised, I had the chance to express gratitude for the wonderful work of all the teachers, and the warmth with which we have been welcomed.  I asked for blessings on the work, and blessings for the children and families who we have been able to teach and support. We all filed outside to raise the flag and sing, and our day was underway. By now, our teaching routines have been well established in our outdoor classroom...

 Wednesday morning at the Altagracia school had a couple of nice wrinkles.  We now have arrival and preparation down pat, and as we lined up for flag-raising and national anthems, the DR students were invited to stand with the Altagracia student singers, and they performed "The Star-Spangled Banner".  We have had a lot of nice moments like this. We taught sixth and fourth graders for the first two periods, and here again our experience over the first two days made for excellent organization and even better teaching. The second class of fourth graders was a small one with only 17 students, and then actually allowed for some one-on-one teaching.  What a gift! It was also gratifying to have DR Projects leaders Rita Severinghaus and Danielle Taylor conduct observations of the teaching with the current and past Altagracia English teachers Maribelle and Lewis, and work toward improving teaching skills and better pedagogy. Teachers at Altagracia and faced with so many chall...