Sorry about the delay in blogging, the month of October was nothing less than SUPER busy!
Everything has being going great with our new Project Discovery Center.We painted the two rooms PD colors and had the kids put their hand prints and signatures on one of the walls, SUPER COOL!!!!!!! Since finishing the painting, we moved some donated furniture and carpet in and bought some pillows, toys, and magazines! One room is used as a play/relax room and the other is for acadmics. I teach math classes with every kid in there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and LeeAnn teaches English to some of them on random days.....it´s so cool! The kids love it and we do too. It´s a fun place to get away from the daily grind and the noise level in Peti!
I´ve started back up with teaching computer classes to the kids and that´s been going well too. Some of the kids are excelling quickly and others are learning the very basics of typing and using computers. To motivate them to come, I promised to make them American cheescake if they come to every session! Tomorrow is our last one, so hopefully everyone shows up so I have a reason to make cheescake. :)
The capoeira master came in the middle of the month to teach a course to our students. It was rainy that day, so not a lot of kids showed up (but the ones who did had a great time). He was a very good teacher and taught them a lot of new things. After the course, he invited me to visit him in Campo Largo(a city not too far from here) to practice more capoeira and get to know the work he does there. I decided to take advantage of this invite, so I went to a capoeira baptism in Curitiba last weekend and then stayed with him and his family until the following Wednesday. I had a lot of fun, did a lot of capoeira, and met some great people!
We are spending a lot of time, these days, planning for a field trip to the beach. It should be very fun; we are going to take 50 students and 20 adults to a nearby beach for a weekend! The only thing I´m not excited about is trying to choose 50 out of 90 students who deserve to go. :( But, I know God will help us make the right choices!
The most recent, exciting event, though, was LeeAnn´s birthday yesterday! Our little girl is growing up...the big 20! Katie and I took her out dancing on Friday and then to her favorite cafe for coffee yesterday. We, also, made a poster about the top reasons we love her! After that, we went to a friend´s farm with our English students to celebrate Halloween. They had a lot of fun activities including a scavenger hunt and slip ´n slide! I think she had an enjoyable and memorable day!
I´m sure there are other things I left out on this blog, but I don´t want to write everything, because I won´t have any stories to tell when we get home. :) We continuously pray for all of oyu at home and hope everything´s going well!
God bless...
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Project Discovery Center!
This blog I would like to focus on our newest and most exciting addition to our program...a Project Discovery Center(PDC)! This past week the girls and I found a small two bedroom place to rent out and transform into our P.D. headquarters. There are two small rooms with a bathroom. The first room we decided to make a meeting/classroom. We will conduct our English and math classes in this space and the other room is a larger hangout place. We put a carpet down and will buy some pillows to put in there to relax. We, also, have a small dresser with lots of books, magazines, and games in it. The best part, though, about this room is the fact that we had each student put their hand print and signature on one of the walls....pictures are coming! Words really can´t explain how excited all of us are about this new outlet for the program!
Other than spending a lot of time getting the PDC up and running, we have been preparing ourselves for Children´s Day (tomorrow). We actually don´t have PETI tomorrow, because it´s a national holiday, but we had a nice festival for the kids today. We found a trampoline to put up for them and gave them a lot of sugar! (what´s a holiday without those things!??!)
We are, also, preparing to have a Capoeira master come to give a course to the kids this Saturday. It should be very fun and interesting how a master of the sport interacts with our kids!
Besides all of that, we have been travelling on the weekends and enjoying the mostly warm weather. We miss all of you in the states and continue to pray for you! Have a great week. God bless,
Megan
Other than spending a lot of time getting the PDC up and running, we have been preparing ourselves for Children´s Day (tomorrow). We actually don´t have PETI tomorrow, because it´s a national holiday, but we had a nice festival for the kids today. We found a trampoline to put up for them and gave them a lot of sugar! (what´s a holiday without those things!??!)
We are, also, preparing to have a Capoeira master come to give a course to the kids this Saturday. It should be very fun and interesting how a master of the sport interacts with our kids!
Besides all of that, we have been travelling on the weekends and enjoying the mostly warm weather. We miss all of you in the states and continue to pray for you! Have a great week. God bless,
Megan
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
September
I can´t believe I´ve been here a month already...time sure does fly....especially since we´ve been SUPER busy here. Since my last blog, we travelled to Londrina, for a weekend, to see a friend, spent another weekend on a very remote farm, and continued to do al lot of things at the program and with capoeira.
Two weeks ago I started teaching a computer class to the students. I chose five students from each the morning and afternoon groups. I eventually want all the kids to take this course, but can´t do more than a few students at a time given the little resources/computers we have. Each student will take three classes with me. I start them off easy the first class bu having them type out a letter to someone in the U.S. This activity is to help them learn how to type and form complete sentences (which, believe me....it´s definately a challenge for most of them!) I realized after this activity that most of these kids don´t know when or where to use punctuation and many don´t even know what a complete sentence is! The second class, I teach them how to change the font, color, and style of writing for their letters. After that, I let them playing a typing game to continue helping them with that skill. The last class will be focused on copying and pasting items. I am going to have them search a famous person on Google and then have them copy a paragraph of information about that person and paste it onto a word document. They will then need to type that exact paragraph themselves and copy and paste a picture of that person, too. The whole point of the course is to get them practising their typing and computer navigating skills. So far everything seems to be going well and they enjoy it, too!
The next thing I started at the project was math practice. I gave every single PETI student a math worksheet to complete to assess their skillls. The younger students received a 21 question addition sheet and the older students completed a 100 question simple multiplication paper. After grading and categorizing them, I found that many of the students seem to know their math facts, but I plan on using flash cards and games to continue to help them. A lot of the kids actually had to use their fingers or make tallies to complete the questions, so I would like to make time every day to work on-on-one with some of them. All in all, they did very well and I´m very proud of them. I can´t wait to kick off another new portion of the project!
Next to all that, we had a capoeira demostration this past Sunday, in Telemaco. It was culture week and we brought some of our dedicated students here to participate in the festival. They loved being here with us and being apart of something so important! I enjoyed it too, but I realized that I need to start training more on my own if I want to get better this year!
Katie and I have both been sick on and off. I still blame the silly weather for that! One day it´s hotter than can be and the next day it´s cold and rainy....:( I am trying to get over a cold right now and want to do it quickly, because we will be travelling to Santa Catarina (another state) this weekend for a capoeira demonstration.
The last thing I am excited to post about is the family prayer nights I´ve been apart of here at Lourival´s house. Every Tuesday night, they invite all of their family memebers here to pray for an hour. It is very beautiful and I´m so grateful that I get to be apart of it. if anyone has an special intentions you would like us to pray for, please let me know! God bless you and have a great week!
"If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you." Psalm 91;9-10
Two weeks ago I started teaching a computer class to the students. I chose five students from each the morning and afternoon groups. I eventually want all the kids to take this course, but can´t do more than a few students at a time given the little resources/computers we have. Each student will take three classes with me. I start them off easy the first class bu having them type out a letter to someone in the U.S. This activity is to help them learn how to type and form complete sentences (which, believe me....it´s definately a challenge for most of them!) I realized after this activity that most of these kids don´t know when or where to use punctuation and many don´t even know what a complete sentence is! The second class, I teach them how to change the font, color, and style of writing for their letters. After that, I let them playing a typing game to continue helping them with that skill. The last class will be focused on copying and pasting items. I am going to have them search a famous person on Google and then have them copy a paragraph of information about that person and paste it onto a word document. They will then need to type that exact paragraph themselves and copy and paste a picture of that person, too. The whole point of the course is to get them practising their typing and computer navigating skills. So far everything seems to be going well and they enjoy it, too!
The next thing I started at the project was math practice. I gave every single PETI student a math worksheet to complete to assess their skillls. The younger students received a 21 question addition sheet and the older students completed a 100 question simple multiplication paper. After grading and categorizing them, I found that many of the students seem to know their math facts, but I plan on using flash cards and games to continue to help them. A lot of the kids actually had to use their fingers or make tallies to complete the questions, so I would like to make time every day to work on-on-one with some of them. All in all, they did very well and I´m very proud of them. I can´t wait to kick off another new portion of the project!
Next to all that, we had a capoeira demostration this past Sunday, in Telemaco. It was culture week and we brought some of our dedicated students here to participate in the festival. They loved being here with us and being apart of something so important! I enjoyed it too, but I realized that I need to start training more on my own if I want to get better this year!
Katie and I have both been sick on and off. I still blame the silly weather for that! One day it´s hotter than can be and the next day it´s cold and rainy....:( I am trying to get over a cold right now and want to do it quickly, because we will be travelling to Santa Catarina (another state) this weekend for a capoeira demonstration.
The last thing I am excited to post about is the family prayer nights I´ve been apart of here at Lourival´s house. Every Tuesday night, they invite all of their family memebers here to pray for an hour. It is very beautiful and I´m so grateful that I get to be apart of it. if anyone has an special intentions you would like us to pray for, please let me know! God bless you and have a great week!
"If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you." Psalm 91;9-10
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Second update!
Hello everybody! Making a second update in two weeks feels great...hope you´re loving it just as much as I am! I just can´t believe I´ve been here almost 2 weeks already.....I feel almost all the way accustomed to being back here. But, I have to say it´s been very different from when we were here last year. I´ve had to meet a lot of new people that we work with and people Katie and Lee Ann have become friends with. I am trying to form relationships that they have known for the past two months! But, all I need is a little time and I´ll be back in the game. :)
This past weekend(my 1st weekend here) went really well. I went to and English school on Saturday, where 8 of our students attend an English course. It was fun to watch someone else teach our students and see how much they´ve progressed! That night, Katie and Lee Ann took me out with friends for my birthday, where we danced the night away! The next morning, (my birthday) Leandro´s family had a bbq for us where we enjoyed a lot of food and conversation! My birthday was enjoyable and I am very thankful for everything God has given me this past year.
We have had a good week with the kids...the first few days were very hot and then we got a lot of rain and it´s cooled down since. We do capoeira and music lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Monday and Wednesdays we have been rotating groups of students between English lessons, morals class, and soccer lessons. Tomorrow (Friday) we will have a "store" open for the kids where they can spend the fake money they´ve earned by good behavior and participation. We will sell things like soccer balls, make up, toys, and clothes.... they love it!
Other than that, I was sick yesterday because of the temperature changes and trying to get accustomed to everything here. I feel a bit better today, but have been trying to take it easy. It´s hard to eat so healthy and be active all the time! :)
Every morning, I walk to Lucas´s house and LeeAnn, Katie, and I have morning prayer. Each time we have intentions, we pray for all you amazing people who continue to support us in the states. Thanks for you love and prayers!
God bless you,
Megan
This past weekend(my 1st weekend here) went really well. I went to and English school on Saturday, where 8 of our students attend an English course. It was fun to watch someone else teach our students and see how much they´ve progressed! That night, Katie and Lee Ann took me out with friends for my birthday, where we danced the night away! The next morning, (my birthday) Leandro´s family had a bbq for us where we enjoyed a lot of food and conversation! My birthday was enjoyable and I am very thankful for everything God has given me this past year.
We have had a good week with the kids...the first few days were very hot and then we got a lot of rain and it´s cooled down since. We do capoeira and music lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Monday and Wednesdays we have been rotating groups of students between English lessons, morals class, and soccer lessons. Tomorrow (Friday) we will have a "store" open for the kids where they can spend the fake money they´ve earned by good behavior and participation. We will sell things like soccer balls, make up, toys, and clothes.... they love it!
Other than that, I was sick yesterday because of the temperature changes and trying to get accustomed to everything here. I feel a bit better today, but have been trying to take it easy. It´s hard to eat so healthy and be active all the time! :)
Every morning, I walk to Lucas´s house and LeeAnn, Katie, and I have morning prayer. Each time we have intentions, we pray for all you amazing people who continue to support us in the states. Thanks for you love and prayers!
God bless you,
Megan
Thursday, August 25, 2011
BACK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
WOW....it´s been awhile since I last wrote a blog......let´s play catch up.....
Katie, Lee Ann, and I finished out a wonderful year in Brazil last December. Upon returning to the U.S. we all got jobs and worked hard to raise more money to return to Brasil. The two of them came back in June and I stayed in Fishers all summer, working to raise money.
I finally returned to Telemaco Borba, Brasil this past Monday, the 22nd of August.
I travelled here by myself, but found it to be a smooth and safe trip!
Since returning a few days ago, I have jumped right back in to our routine with the students, capoeira, and friends! The students I had last year were excited upon my return and to my surprise, there are many new children apart of the program! I was, also, very excited to learn that the PETI program, that we are apart of, hired professional teachers to teach and help our students. How exciting!
Since Tuesday, I have been to two capoeira classes (I´m soooo sore!) and two days at the program. We spent yesterday at a school for children with special needs. Our students enjoyed interacting and playing with these kids and it was nice to see them be so helpful and polite!
We have some fun plans for my birthday this weekend, but other than that, I am going to enjoy being back here and living with a wonderful family! (Leandro´s family) I hope and pray all of you in the states are doing well and enjoying the nice weather! I am going to attempt to update my blog every week, as to keep everyone informed about things here.
God bless you and have a great week!
Megan
Katie, Lee Ann, and I finished out a wonderful year in Brazil last December. Upon returning to the U.S. we all got jobs and worked hard to raise more money to return to Brasil. The two of them came back in June and I stayed in Fishers all summer, working to raise money.
I finally returned to Telemaco Borba, Brasil this past Monday, the 22nd of August.
I travelled here by myself, but found it to be a smooth and safe trip!
Since returning a few days ago, I have jumped right back in to our routine with the students, capoeira, and friends! The students I had last year were excited upon my return and to my surprise, there are many new children apart of the program! I was, also, very excited to learn that the PETI program, that we are apart of, hired professional teachers to teach and help our students. How exciting!
Since Tuesday, I have been to two capoeira classes (I´m soooo sore!) and two days at the program. We spent yesterday at a school for children with special needs. Our students enjoyed interacting and playing with these kids and it was nice to see them be so helpful and polite!
We have some fun plans for my birthday this weekend, but other than that, I am going to enjoy being back here and living with a wonderful family! (Leandro´s family) I hope and pray all of you in the states are doing well and enjoying the nice weather! I am going to attempt to update my blog every week, as to keep everyone informed about things here.
God bless you and have a great week!
Megan
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