"Como se dice 'animales' en ingles?"

As I mentioned, Tuesdays and Thursdays two or three other volunteers and I teach art/english to 4th, 5th, and 6th Graders at a school, which is an unpleasant 30 minute bike ride from El Nahual. Other than the bike ride it is a good time.

Tuesday we taught animals and the kids made masks of the animal of their choice. Thursday we worked on a few verbs like walk, talk, eat, draw, paint, swim, then the kids let loose with water colors to painting a picture showing a verb in action.

Each class is a little different. The fourth graders are the nicest and most attentive, and with the exception of one girl who knows most of the basic vocabulary, are all equal when it comes to English ability. They are a smaller class and sit two to a table, they are the best behaved and the classroom set up is most conducive to art projects. The fifth graders are really crammed into their room, about 40 kids, so it is hard to circulate around the room and help with individual pronunciation and writing. It may be impossible to keep the attention of all of them at once. I have yet to actually see their teacher. The sixth graders are sixth graders, either sweet or horrible, generally split by gender and if they sit at the front or back of the class. But they all like activities where they get to yell the words we are learning.

Here are a few shots of some of the kids and their masks.





Just to be clear about teaching English, I don't think it is that important. I think the art/ creativity is much more important because the kids get no art/creativity time in school and many don't have access to basic art supplies. The education system and the parents here are opposed to class time being spent on just art. They want their kids exposed to English, so the combination classes are the compromise.