¡Gracias Jimmy!

Jimmy and me after a nice dinner with the Primary School Director, Amelina Montenegro, and the Curriculum Director, Silvia Córdova.

Jimmy Burleson graduated from East Tennessee State University in May. He has been volunteering at Colegio Americano for 6 weeks, and now it’s time for him to go back to the States. While he was here, Jimmy helped me implement PALS Peer Assisted Learning Strategy in the Primary school.  This has been quite a process! I’m not sure I can honestly say implement (yet) because teachers plan to start with the PALS partner reading task next week. More on PALS another day. Jimmy also developed a web site for my FUNEAP and Colegio Americano materials, and even more important, he taught me how to add new materials. https://sites.google.com/a/goldmail.etsu.edu/dr-lori-marks-funeap/home  

The Primary students love Jimmy, and they love to say his name - Mister Jimmy - which they pronounce “Mee-stair Gee-mee”.  

Jimmy and Iguana at Colegio Alemán



I think Jimmy's favorite thing about Ecuador is the iguanas. We enjoyed watching and feeding the iguanas on campus during our lunch. There aren't any "Do not feed the iguanas" signs on campus, and I wonder why more people don't feed them. They look like little dinosaurs when they run, and it's fun to watch them compete for a piece of apple. If he could figure out a way, I think Jimmy would smuggle one home.  



Jimmy with Colegio Alemán Students 



Jimmy and I had the opportunity to visit Colegio Alemán (German School) and Escuela 82 (a public school). We also went to Parque Historico with Patricia Ayala, Rectora of Colegio Americano's Secondary School.



Escuela 82



Kiko and Mariana cooking a Chinese Dinner



Jimmy was hosted by Kiko and Mariana Hi-Fong de Camchong. Kiko and Mariana are great cooks. They fed Jimmy plenty of comidas tipicas (typical foods) of Ecuador and Chinese food. I asked Jimmy every morning what he had been served for dinner, and he often screwed up his face in a funny way as he described the meal. Once, he said that they served cattle hoof soup (but I think he passed on that one). Well, I wanted to look up the name in Spanish, and found this information on typical soups in Ecuador. It makes me laugh, because I remember Jimmy talking about “hose soup.”

“Other soups might be caldo de patas, cattle hoof soup; caldo de gallina, chicken soup; or even caldo de manguera, which literally means "hose pipe soup", a polite name for bull's penis soup.” http://www.travel-amazing-southamerica.com/ecuador-food.html  

Uh oh, Jimmy, You said it was sausage!

Kiko and Mariana invited Mike and I over for dinner on Sunday, and fed us a variety of wonderful Chinese dishes with shrimp, fish, lobster, steamed egg, and chicken.

Good news for Jimmy – Last week he had an interview with Kingsport City Schools over Skype, and he was offered a Special Education teaching position. Congratulations Jimmy!  Best wishes in your new job! I’m glad you chose to spend part of your summer here with me at Colegio Americano. I will miss you, and I’ll miss hearing the kids call out your name.



Patricia, Jennifer, Jimmy and me in front of historic Ecuadoran buildings at Parque Historico