BRYANNA
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
BRYANNA
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
It’s been a while since I’ve been back in the States and I can honestly say I miss everything about the Dominican Republic. The weather, the food, the Mariposa family, the friendships I made, etc. I find myself listening to Bachata music frequently because it makes me feel like I’m back on the island. I also miss utilizing the Spanish that I know as well as learning new words to better my Spanish speaking abilities. Towards the end of the trip I did feel like I was ready to come home, but now that I’m back I wish I’d never left. This trip was my first time being away from Buffalo and my family for more than a couple days. I had to learn how to fend for myself as well as adapt to new situations. I enjoyed every minute of realizing this, and this trip has made me realize that after I graduate it’ll be time for me to leave Buffalo. Life is so much different in other places and I would love to see what other places have in store for me to learn. I may only spend a year or two someplace and decide I want to come back because I miss home too much. It’ll still be good to learn new things and discover new ideas and cultures. I often think of the Mariposa foundation and the girls we met and worked with. They will always have a special place in my heart and I will never forget them. I am still pondering on how I can create something that will help better my community. So many young people are letting generational poverty stop them from being whatever it is they want to. It’s not an option for me to sit back and let this continue to happen, and I promise to do whatever is necessary to minimize this trend. As a future educator this trip has helped me realize that the best educators don’t need much. All you need is an engaging lesson and your students are bound to learn. You have to be good at thinking on your feet and ready for change at any given moment. Many challenges are going to be thrown at you all the time and you have to be ready to solve them. As a person this trip has helped me realize just how blessed I am. I can flush my toilet paper, my refrigerator works all the time, and I have clean water that’s drinkable. With that being said, I’m never going to complain about small material things ever again. The Dominicans didn’t have as much as I do and were still always happy and living. There’s no need for me to be ungrateful about anything, and I’m going to be thankful for everything that’s given to me. For anyone that’s considering studying abroad but is scared for whatever reason, my advice for you is to just do it. See what else is outside of your hometown. There’s so much out there to learn and see. I did it and I can honestly say this was the best experience of my life. You’ll meet new people and discover things that you didn’t know before. Go see what the world has to offer you; I promise you will not regret it.
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This week I had the opportunity to teach in a fourth grade classroom at Coral school with two of my colleagues. We were told to teach English lessons because many of the kids in the class don’t take English class. With limited amount of resources here with us, I thought in the beginning trying to make activities would be difficult. I later discovered difficult does not mean impossible. Our first activity was a twist on a game that we played at the Maripsoa Foundation called Chase the Bacon. We divided our class into two teams and each person on each team had a number. Once we called out a number that person from each team came to the front of the classroom and was shown a piece of construction paper that asked them how to say an article of clothing in either English or Spanish. Although many of them did not know the words in English, the game ended up being a lot of fun. The teacher even told us we did a good job and had the students write our vocabulary words down in their notebooks. The next day we did an activity using the same vocabulary words. This activity involved the students dressing up a body that we drew on construction paper with articles of clothing that we drew and cut out with construction paper. We said out loud 2-4 articles of clothing in Spanish and the groups had to figure out together what it was and where it went on the body. This game also worked out really well because the students enjoyed it and were even remembering what the words meant. Our last day with the children we played BINGO with the same words. This ended up being extremely fun because the students were competitive. They were excited to say they only had one or two more spaces left and they really understood what the words were. What was really special was one of the girls asked if she could take the BINGO boards home so she could play with her brothers and sisters. Instead of giving it to the little girl we left it for the class to use in the future to play games, but it was still great to see how much of an influence our activities had on the kids.
Through this experience I created a new definition of what effective instruction consists of. In the United States teachers, parents, and students can get caught up in the idea of what this is. Many think you need the smart boards, IPads, and a computer for each student. My colleagues and I did activities with construction paper and they were extremely effective. We also watched our teacher teach her class with few materials as well and she was able to get her point across. To me, effective instruction means you have students engaged. They could be playing a game, doing group work, or taking a trip outside of the classroom and observing what’s there. As long as they’re doing something to keep them wanting to learn they’re receiving effective instruction. Many schools in the United States do not have a lot of resources and after this experience I have realized this is no excuse for bad teaching. Teachers have to work with what they have, and although sometimes it may seem like you can’t do anything with minimal resources, that little bit can turn out to be a lot. Although our last day at the Mariposa foundation was last week we had a reflection dinner with a few of the teachers today. This was a pretty sad dinner because it was our last time eating Dominican avocados and tomatoes (they taste a LOT better) and talking with the staff. It was also very motivating because everything that was said made me think there is something I can do to make sure I continue to inspire others.
After everyone ate we talked about everyone’s thorns and roses of the trip. Everyone had different things to say but we were all in accord that we did not spend enough time at the foundation. The foundation had some of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen that were all full of potential. The staff was amazing and made us all feel comfortable. As everyone went around and said their thorns the only one I could think of was the bugs. Other than that, everything that we have done thus far in the Dominican Republic has impacted me positively. I have to say my first rose about this trip is the amount of fluency I gained in Spanish. Living in the States there’s not a lot of instances where you need to speak in Spanish. When you’re in the Dominican Republic the majority of people don’t speak English, so therefore I had no choice but to use the Spanish that I knew. I actually do know a decent amount of Spanish, and now I can have a conversation with a Spanish speaker without being nervous. My second rose would be the friends that I’ve made on this trip. Being a commuter and not being able to dorm I haven’t met a lot of people at school. This experience of living in a house with 3 other people allowed me to meet a lot of people that I could see myself being friends with in the future. I’m also going to miss the relationships I have made with the Mariposa staff because they were very nice and extremely helpful with everything. My third and final rose that I will talk about in this blog is how eager this trip has made me to want to do something to help the girls in my community. I asked a question to the Mariposa staff on how to start something like the Mariposa Foundation in my neighborhood. They told me I should listen to what the community members need and get help from other people who have different qualities. This way, whatever organization that does arise is one that is actually doing something to help the community in many different ways. Every trip has its highs and lows, but all in all this is one that is going to stick with me forever. I’m thankful for the Mariposa staff for showing me how beautiful the Dominican Republic is. I’m grateful for the relationships that I’ve developed on this trip that will hopefully last a lifetime. I’m also excited to say that I’m ready to embark on a new adventure to help my community. This trip is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me, and one day I hope to return to continue to build the relationships that I was able to create. Today was my last day working with the Mariposa foundation and I must say it was one sad day. We began our day working with the Maripositas (little Mariposa girls) whom we never got to work with before. These girls were special, and you could tell that each one of them had all of the potential in the world to be who they wanted to be. After only working with them for one day I know that I have to come back in the future to see how all of them are doing. After the Maripositas left and went to school our cohort had a meeting with all of our teachers and that was extremely emotional. Every teacher had their own story and impacted everyone in the cohort differently. One of the instructors, Mary Jane, said something to me that I will never forget. She said that in order to be a teacher you have to be willing to learn. You have to learn about your students and the material that you’re going to instruct. When you do this, your instruction will be a lot better because you get more comfortable with whom your teaching to and the material. I have heard something like this before, but hearing her say it made it more meaningful because she is in the same predicament as me. Although she spoke English, there were still a lot of things she didn’t know regarding life in the United States. I didn’t know a lot about life in the Dominican Republic, so through the classes both the students and teachers were learning things about each other to make for a better learning environment. We ended our final day at the foundation playing games with the Mariposas who had been teaching us for that week. We first played a game that involved some people diving in the pool and grabbing scrabble letter pieces so that each team could make words. Although my concentration is Spanish, I found this game to be pretty hard. I still don’t know a lot of vocabulary, and this game helped me realize that I need to start learning more vocabulary so that I can be more fluent in Spanish. While playing the game everyone was dancing and singing different songs and it reminded me a lot of being home with my family. My family always has little cookouts where we play music, dance, and sing. After reflecting on this time, I realized that this was my family. Families have good times together and always share everything. I learned so much from both the Mariposa staff and girls, more than what they would probably even think. Without these people, I don’t believe this trip would have impacted me as much as it did. I became more fluent in Spanish and learned that I have to keep wanting to learn in order to be an effective teacher. I’m blessed to say I even had the opportunity to work and learn with them, and these are people I’m never going to forget. After spending a week at the foundation, I can honestly say the probability of me coming back and visiting is 1000%. Families are not supposed to leave each other for good, and I promise you that´s not something I´m going to do. ¡Hasta que volvamos a encontrarnos! Today was my second day of Spanish class at the Mariposa foundation. Because I have quite a bit of background knowledge in the Spanish Language I took the advanced level Spanish class. I was the only one in my class which at first seemed a little awkward but it ended up helping me a lot because we were able to focus on what I needed help on the most, which is conversation. Talking and listening in Spanish is what gives me the most problems, especially because Dominicans talk extremely fast. She ended up taking me on a more intense tour of the town Callejon de La Loma and I was able to get more experience in the Dominican language.
My teacher Alexandra told me that we were going to take a trip to the town to take pictures of some of the Mariposa girls for their website. My cohort and I had taken a tour before as a group but we didn´t see nearly as much as I saw when I went this time. I waited outside of the first house for a while and was able to talk to 2 of my Mariposa girls, Carlene and Kaitiana. I always downplay how good my Spanish is because sometimes I don´t understand what they´re saying. I also get nervous when I speak so I think when I talk you can tell. Even though I’m nervous when I talk the girls actually understood me, and I understood them. I finally realized my Spanish wasn´t as bad as I thought I was. If someone is talking too fast I just ask them to talk slowly and then I respond. After taking Spanish classes for around 8 years I can finally say I really can speak Spanish. It´s been a long time coming, and I can´t be more excited to say that. I still have a little bit of time left in the Dominican Republic and since I have already realized that I can speak Spanish it´s time to catch on to the accent. The Dominican accent will be something to really accomplish because they talk completely different from any of my professors in school. My mariposa teachers Carlene, Katiana, and Alexandra, are going to help me achieve this goal. I can´t wait to see what more is here for me learn in the Dominican Republic. Today we went to a private school in Callejon de La Loma called Escuela Centro de Enseñanza Coral. When we were first told that we were going to the school we were told to break up into groups for different grades and then prepare a lesson with our groups for the grade we picked. Everyone was well prepared until we got there and met the principal who asked us if anybody would be interested in teaching an English Lesson. In the future I want to be a TESOL teacher, so this was my opportunity to practice my skills. However I had nothing prepared and that ended up being an experience of a lifetime.
My colleague and I headed into the classroom not having anything ready to teach. The principal introduced us to the class and said the teacher would finish her lesson and then we would start to teach. This 15 minutes ended up being enough time to come up with a decent activity to teach to the kids. We introduced colors, numbers, fruits, and vegetables to the students. We let the students draw on a piece of paper what they learned and let people share if they wanted. Lastly the students shouted out words that they learned throughout the entire activity. There were many students who learned new words as well as some who already could speak a decent amount of English. From this experience I learned that teachers have to always be ready for anything. You never know what´s going to be thrown at you and no matter the circumstance you have to make it work. Today I tested my ability to do these things, and I know now I have this skill for in the future. This morning the other girls in the Cohort and I gathered to hear one of those motivational presentations I have ever seen in my life. One of the ladies from the Mariposa Foundation introduced us to some of the challenges that are not only faced in the Dominican Republic but in other parts of the world. After listening to this presentation I know there’s something else that I need to be doing to make this world a better place.
We first watched a few of the videos about the Mariposa Foundation and some of the things they strive for. In the Dominican Republic many of the girls don’t get to go to high school because by the time they’re 14 they are preparing to have a child and be married. Before girls turn this age the Mariposa Foundation wants to train girls to realize that they don’t have to stay home and be a caretaker for the rest of their lives. They can go to school, get a degree, and be whoever they want to be. The foundation provides the girls with many opportunities to let them find what they’re passionate about and pursue their dreams. I applaud them for everything that they do, because I can’t imagine how difficult it is to run a program as powerful as this one. We later watched video clips about a variety of different girls from all over the country and their struggles they face when it comes to education. One of the girls was from Haiti and her story really opened my eyes to how ungrateful I am when it comes to my education. This little girl could not afford to go to school and her mother told her she had to work instead of go to school. She was to go get water every day for the household and that was that. Eventually she went to the classes at the school and the teacher consistently told her that she could not be in the class because her family could not afford it. Eventually one day the little girl told the teacher that she was staying in the class no matter what she said. The teacher listened, and she ended up staying in the class. Seeing how hard this little girl fought for her education made me realize there’s no reason for me to ever take my education for granted. There are a ton of people in this world who want an education and can’t get it. I have been given many opportunities to be whoever I want to be, and no matter how hard it gets I’m going to follow through with my education because there are many people who wish they were in my shoes. Originally I came on this trip mainly to better my Spanish and just see what was in the Dominican Republic. Little did I know how much this trip would impact me to want to do something to help others. Fortunately I have had many opportunities in regards to education that many have not had. After hearing all of these stories and seeing what people are doing to help others I know that there’s something I can and have to do to help others. Although I am unsure yet of what it is I need to be doing, I know that in the future I will be someone who will help change someone’s life. There is a sign at the Mariposa Foundation that affects me every time I look at it. That saying is: Rafael Trujillo, one of the most powerful dictators that has ever come to power, ruled the Dominican Republic for 31 years until he was assassinated. His vision was to rebuild the Dominican Republic. In doing this, he hurt many women including the Mirabal sisters. Patria, Minerva, Dedé, and María Teresa all have their own stories, and that was definitely shown in the tour we took of the house they lived in as well as their childhood home. The house they lived in was very well kept and you could tell their family was from the wealthier class of the Dominican Republic. All of their furniture was still kept in the same place and there were many different trinkets that were still in the house. A dress of importance to each of them was shown in each of their rooms including some of their wedding dresses. The gardens for both houses were also extremely beautiful. Because Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa were all activists for going against the Trujillo Regime, they ended up getting caught by police and were assassinated by the government. When we looked at their childhood home we saw a part of the car that was driven during their assassination. That was very interesting because most of the time when there are accidents cars just go to the junk yard if there´s anything left. The fact that they were able to preserve it is amazing. This house was also where Dedé lived after her sisters died and was also very well kept. This tour helped me realize how important these girls were to the Dominican Republic. Though Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa were not able to stop Trujillo, they were able to get their voices heard. Though much of the Dominican Republic is still impoverished, these girls aided in people understanding the government of Trujillo was not a good government to have. I´m glad their legacy still continues to live on because they are an inspiration to me to want to do something to change the world.
It’s been a day and a half since I’ve been in the Dominican Republic and I can already tell life is so much different from Buffalo. There’s no Tim Horton’s on every corner and the weather is 80 degrees and sunny. The driving is crazy; people don’t stop at stop lights and people dart out in front of people without the fear of someone running into them. Most people have “motoconchos” (motorcycles) and they swerve in and out of the cars on the road. I’ve been to many different cities within the United States with family for vacations and none of the places have been anything like this. Our first excursion as a cohort was to a cacao farm. We saw the cacao trees and we even tried the fruit that surrounds the cacao seed. I discovered that the cacao seed is roasted in the sun for about three days and then is baked in an oven. After this process, it becomes something that can be used for eating or drinking the delicious hot chocolate we tried.
I have been waiting for this trip since I found out I got accepted into the program and I can't believe I'll be leaving in two days. I'm anxious to see the siimiliarities and differences between Buffalo and the Dominican Republic in addition to trying new foods and learning new ideas. I'm also excited to expand my fluency in Spanish. I've sat through many Spanish classes throughout my years in college and I can understand when people speak, but I'm terrible at actually speaking.
There are many small things I have done for preparing for this trip like going to the bank and flagging my credit cards as well as asking my Church for donations for the foundation we are going to work with. When I told people I was going to the Dominican Republic literally everyone had a story for me. A bank teller told me about her trip building houses, a Church member told me how much her daughter enjoyed working with the people, and one of my bosses told me how beautiful it was. I was nervous about this trip at one point because I had a feeling I might get sick, but after hearing everyone's stories I have confidence that nothing bad will happen. All I have left to do now is pack and before I know it January 3 will be here and I will be on a flight to the place that everyone speaks so highly of. |
AuthorI am an Elementary Education major with a concentration in Spanish here at Buffalo State College. I love working with kids and hope to one day be an ESL teacher. I love to laugh, dance, and spend time with family. I'm excited to embark on this journey to the Dominican Republic and can't wait to see what's there for me to explore! Archives
February 2017
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