March 2018

Playa Del Carmen, México

Progressive English Lessons at Contando con un Amigo

Objectives:

 Create a long term lesson plan that incorporates verbs at a moderate level.
 Utilize simple and common vocabulary with verbs to form sentences.
 Increase the frequency English is used at the school.
 Integrate Physical Activities to the schedule of the students at Contando.

Summary:

Here in Playa Del Carmen, GVI Volunteers come and go in a two-week basis, during the
handover of the classes the same things are being taught repetitively by new volunteers
arriving, as there were not long term plans for the English Lessons. During the Month of
March, the participant of the Mexico Community Development Internship started a plan to
change that by pushing the ball a little bit and challenging the older children.

Figure 1 Luka and Lena giving English Lessons to the biggest kids in Contando con un Amigo
Luka arrived the first week of March, and started teaching English classes to the oldest class
at Contando con un amigo. The age range is 9-16 which is very big in relation to what He
was accustomed to in the United States. It was very clear that the older children not only
had experience with English in the past, but were much more open to asking questions and
participating during the weekly lessons. After seeing this, He tried by directing questions to
the quiet and younger side of the room to spread the participation around equally and
encourage the confidence of all students.
We started implementing this plan 3 weeks ago. The first week we reviewed what they
already knew about common greetings (hello, goodbye, good morning, see you later, etc…).
The following week we starting going over the days of the week, months, and the questions
words which are very important in all languages, (who, what, where, where, why, how,
etc…). This gave the students context on the sentences they were forming so they could
apply them to current situations and give some setting to the questions being asked. The
third week Luka asked the children during our lesson what words in Spanish they would like
to know in English. At first, all hands shot up and they were extremely inquisitive. They
asked about simple words that are used dozens of times each day. I was then able to identify
a connection between their beginning of learning a second language and his experience in
the past. Luka found it very helpful to ask his teacher how to define words that I used more
often than others. By doing this, the words learned are able to stay in your memory longer
because you are so used to using them every time you speak a different language. Luka
picked up on this very quickly and by the time the day was over, they had over 50 words
translated in their journals. At the end of the day, Kids were instructed to study the words
written and be ready to form fluent sentences. The next lesson was about conjugating the
verbs to be (Ser and Estar) in the present form both in English and in Spanish so they can
see what means what in each language. It is important to progress the learning of the class
and keep building on old lesson and incorporate them into the new ones.

Luka also planned and taught physical education two days a week to all the classes, believing
that this should be done every day because physical education is overlooked in Mexico as
well as around the world.

This can be seen in the high levels of child obesity. Each lesson starts out with 10 minutes
of stretching all parts of the body. This is good for long term health and can increase
flexibility which can prevent future disease and issues with your back and knees especially.
Each class students have tried to play a new sport, or at least put a twist on soccer and
adjust the rules. Luka also purchased an American football for the kids and have taught
them the real rules and how to play it in a safe and correct way. Although it is not a very
popular sport throughout Mexico, they love to experience pop culture from different places
around the world as should everybody. At the end of each class all participants stretch again
and discuss what body parts are used and what stretches they can do at home in their free
time. It has been challenging getting everyone to participate in the games, especially the
girls, but with a little bit of a push and some vocal encouragement everybody has fun and
learnt the importance of consistent physical exercise.

Figure 2 Luka and Sam in Physical Education class, stretching

For more information on the projects here in Mexico, visit:

http://www.gvi.co.uk/location/yucatan/