Primary School, Colegio Americano de Guayaquil



Colegio Americano Primary Students at a Civic Moment Gathering


There are about 680 students enrolled in the Primary School. The school has a "Civic Moment" every other week, during which time the students sing the Ecuadoran and United States national anthems, they receive a motivational or values presentation, sometimes some of the students will give a presentation or skit, and administrators make other announcements. All students and teachers at both public and private schools in Guayaquil wear uniforms. When I see myself in a photo among the uniformed children, I always think of the Where's Waldo books. :)

Earthquake Evacuation Drill

Colegio Americano Primary students are practicing earthquake evacuation procedures this week. During an earthquake, a designated teacheer will blow a whistle, and students walk calmly to the nearest Zona de Seguridad (Safety Zone) with their hands over their heads. The Safety Zones are located in areas where there are no trees, building, poles, etc. overhead. Some of the first graders had a problem staying on their feet during this drill.

Recent Earthquakes in Ecuador...

• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake 105 miles southeast of Quito, the capital of Ecuador on August 12, 2010. There were no reports of damage or injury, but this earthquake was felt across most of the country.
• A magnitude 4.8 earthquake in Quito, the capital of Ecuador on February 16, 2011.
• A magnitude 4.7 earthquake near the coast in northern Ecuador on April 20, 2011.
• A magnitude 4.8 earthquake off the cost of Guayaquil (where we are living) on May 12, 2011.

Driving in Guayaquil

Driving in Guayaquil appears chaotic, but there is some order if you pay attention. Two accepted driving conventions are the “Double Left Turn” and “The Wedge” (the terminology is from Mike’s unwritten book of driving in Guayaquil). In the Double Left Turn, two lanes of cars squeeze into one left-turn lane. Hopefully, but not always, the car in the left side of the turn lane wants to make a U-turn, and will turn into the center lane. The car on the right side of the turn lane can either make a U-turn into a right-hand lane, or they can make a left turn onto the crossroad. See the example in the photo below. Mike and I are in the left turn lane, and the car on the right also wants to make a left turn. In this case, we were not going to make a U-turn, so the fastest, biggest, most aggressive car wins.

The Wedge is what you have to do when 2 to 6 lanes of traffic want to all merge into one lane. You just gradually wedge your way between the other vehicles, hold your line, and don’t make any eye contact. The main rules to remember are that the busses always win, and the driver with the really banged up car doesn’t care if he gets another dent. In the photos below, you can see how The Wedge works.

The little black car in front of us, the bus on the right, and the white truck up ahead all want to get in the same lane.

So do a lot of other cars!

The hand waggle (see the passenger in the truck) out the window means, "let me in."

And we're right behind!

If you have ever been to the demolition derby, driving in Guayaquil is pretty much the same thing. Most of the cars on the road have dents and scrapes on all sides, and the bumpers are falling off. If you get in an accident and your car still runs, you just drive off.

Colegio Americano de Guayaquil

Mike and I are working at Colegio Americano de Gayaquil. Colegio Americano is a private, bilingual school with an enrollment of about 1500 students in grades preschool through secondary school. The school was founded by Harry and Molly Jacobson, parents of Peder Jacobson who founded FUNEAP (see posting).  There is also a small 2-year business college, Blue Hill College, housed within the Colegio Americano campus. The campus is large, beautifully landscaped, and has a soccer field with grandstands, baseball field, coveted basketball court, two food bars, and an ice cream stand. (More about ice cream another day!)

Colegio Americano Administration Building




   

Instruction at Colegio Americano is provided in both Spanish and English beginning in the preschool.  Mike is teaching math, in English, to students in the 6^th course, which is the final year in the secondary school. At the secondary school, some subjects are taught in English, and some in Spanish. Traditionally, math has been taught in Spanish, and all of the other math classes except Mike’s are taught in Spanish. 

I’m working with teachers and administrators in the Primary School and Preschool at Colegio Americano. In the Primary School, we are developing a team approach to providing inclusive education for children with learning problems. Jimmy Burleson (an ETSU alumni who is volunteering here until July 1) and I are teaching the teachers PALS – Peer Assisted Learning Strategies – which is a peer tutoring approach for practicing reading fluency and comprehension. The Primary School will implement PALS in both English and Spanish classes in grades 3^ro - 7^mo de Basica (U.S. equivalent of grades 2-6). I also hope to convince some of the teachers to implement Curriculum-Based Measurement in at least some of the grades. Colegio Americano has one psicopedagoga (translated -  psychoeducator or educational psychologist?)  in the Preschool, and none in the Primary or Secondary Schools.  From what I have seen, a psicopedagoga is Ecuador’s position that is the closest to a U.S. special education teacher. I’m going to see if I can figure out what a psicopedagoga learns in college.

 

Wildlife on Colegio Americano's Campus

Ecuador has more than 1600 species of birds. The Pacific Parrotlet is a common bird found in the city. This pair was on Colegio Americano's campus.

There are also plenty of iguanas in the city. This one was cleaning up crumbs left by Colegio Americano secondary students after lunch.

Fundación Enseñando a Aprender

 

FUNEAP Members of the Board

 The FUNEAP (Fundación Enseñando a Aprender – Teaching to Learn Foundation) is sponsoring my work in Ecuador this year. FUNEAP is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the accessibility and quality of inclusive education for children with learning difficulties. Since its establishment in 2005, FUNEAP has provided a series of summer workshops on special education topics. My colleague, Cindy Hales, and I provided a 3-day workshop for the foundation in July 2010.



Cindy Hales and Me at our 2010 Workshop



Mike and I arrived in Ecuador on January 16, 2011 and will be here until December 15. My goal is to provide teachers, related service personnel, and school administrators with information and strategies that will enable them to better educate children with learning problems in inclusive settings. I am teaching a course to about 85 teachers/administrators who are enrolled in two groups – private school teachers, and public school teachers. The course covers broad topics: overview of disabilities (I will discuss the issue with terminology later!), Universal Design for Learning, Curriculum-Based Measurement, classroom/behavior management, effective instructional practices, collaboration and student support teams, and strategies for teaching reading, writing, and math.

Participants at the 2010 Workshop

I know some Spanish, but not enough to present educational content. FUNEAP provides translator who does simultaneous translation. I present in English and participants who need the translation wear headsets. I am weighted down with equipment because I have to wear both a transmitter for the microphone and receiver for the headsets. All of my written documents and PowerPoint presentations are translated into Spanish and copies are provided to the participants.

I’m also working at Colegio Americano de Guayaquil. I’ll share more on that another day.

FUNEAP Website: http://funeap.intermagen.net/index.php

Escuela Fiscal No 82, Ignacio Molina Andrade

Jimmy Burleson (a recent ETSU-SPED alumni who is volunteering at Colegio Americano for 6 weeks) and I visited Escuela 82, a public school in Bario Portelisa of Suburbio Oeste. Suburbio Oeste is one of the poorer sections of Guayaquil, Ecuador. We almost caused a stampede when we pulled out our cameras. I guess these kids don't see many cameras. The photo with Jimmy, me and the chiildren shows the only common area in the school. This is where the students go for recess and lunch. 

The school is a small 3-story building with no outside play area. The school has one classroom per grade, grades 1st through 7th basic (U.S. equivalent of grades kindergarten through 6th) with 32-50 students per class. The smallest class is 1st basic (kindergarten) with only 32 students. Some of the classrooms have very little room to move between the desks. Students in 4th basic (U.S. 3rd grade) have one textbook, about 1/2 inch thick that has both Spanish (language) and math. Flip the book and turn it upside down for each subject. I only saw a handful of story books in the whole school. There is no school library. Literacy is poor in Ecuador. Families don't know about bedtime stories for children. The only public library in Ecuador that has children's books is in Quito, the capitol. There is one public library in Guayaquil, but I'm told that it has government-type documents and records which you aren't allowed to check out. The director and curriculum director of Escuela 82 are participants in my course. I'd like to help them implement PALS (reading strategy) in their school, but I'm not sure where we will get the reading materials. Perhaps we could try it in the upper grades with discarded newspapers.

According to a law that was passed in 2009 (I think), public schools must include students with learning problems (actually, all schools are required, but only public schools are accountable at this time). Escuela 82 has a list of 10 students they have identified as having learning problems. Students were identified as having Down Syndrome, Asperger Syndrome, emotional/behavior disorder, ADHD, and intellectual functioning, vision, language, and learning problems. Students with more significant disabilities are supposed to receive some kind of education (not sure what), but not in the general classrooms or schools.