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.