Our First Day at School Rocks!

 February 20, 2024

What a day! We had such an incredible day today at the local school, Centro Educativo Altagracia. We arrived to a sea of students (400+) who were beyond excited to see us (and us them). They surprised us with a morning assembly that featured singing, dancing, and various speeches. It started with the singing of the National Anthem of the Dominican Republic and then a singing of the National Anthem of the United States. Did you know there is more than one main verse to our National Anthem?! We didn’t, but we certainly do now! Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and were read a speech by one of the students welcoming us and thanking us for being at their school. The highlight of the event came next – dancing! There were two traditional dances that were demonstrated by a group of students in traditional Dominican Republic clothing. It was beautiful!

Our next event was the moment we were all waiting for – working with the students on their English. We met several classes of students in grades 4-6 and taught them the words for various animals, fruits and vegetables. It was a humbling experience to work with these students while only having a white board and marker to assist our teaching. This did NOT, however, stop our crew from doing some truly incredible work! We split into small groups and sat on the gravel ground with 7-8 students in each group. We began to chat with the students and introduce them to new vocabulary as if we had known them forever! The students were so eager to learn and to please their new ‘teachers’. The time truly flew by as we worked with these wonderful human beings. 

During our daily debrief, we reflected on our experiences at the school and items that stood out to us. The common theme was the joy that the students brought to each of us in different ways. Some commented on the excitement of seeing students they had met before and had remembered them (especially the ‘Lily Fan Club’ who had fond memories with one of our group members, Lily). Others commented on the eagerness of the students and how amazed they were that the students were often teaching us just as much as we taught them. It reminded me of the saying ‘one hand washes the other’ for many reasons; the most notable being that they have been generous enough to let us join them in their school while in return we have provided them with materials and knowledge to use in the future. Very few people are able to experience something such as this; I am lucky to be one of them!

As we look forward to tomorrow, our group shows great exhaustion but even greater excitement. Thoughts and ideas of what we can gather and donate in the future have begun! The teachers have begun planning new ways to help the local English teacher become more effective in her 30+ student classes and our student volunteers have planned new games for teaching vocabulary. We are now rather tired and enjoying a quiet evening of playing Dominoes with our local translator, Lewis, and getting ready for a very early bedtime! Buenas Noches! 

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