Bringing MELS to Colombia

On Monday, my host teacher Sandra asked me if I would be willing to give a one hour presentation to teachers about inquiry and/or critical thinking. Each of those topics are incredibly complex and I quickly texted some amazing MELS teachers for ideas about how to present these concepts in a way that was meaningful...in Spanish! When I asked for more details about the meeting location and number of teachers I slowly began to realize that the intimate gathering I had imagined was actually fifty teachers in their cafeteria. I was actually running their weekly PD session.

After receiving thoughtful emails from Hillary, Melissa and Hilary, I started to outline a plan. I decided to focus on how to promote critical thinking in the classroom.

In true MELS style, we would begin the session with an initiative. I told each group of teachers that they were stranded on a desert island and had to choose five out of fifteen items that would help them survive. They needed justify their selection of each item. To their credit, the teachers kindly translated my Spanish and jumped into the activity with lively debates all around. Each group then eagerly presented their choices. I then showed them a diagram of Bloom´s Taxonomy and asked them to identify which pieces they had to use in their activity - did they need to remember things, evaluate choices, analyze options, etc. Once again, teachers shared their thoughts and identified the top part of the pyramid as the space where critical thinking happens. Finally, we did a gallery walk where teachers answered the questions, ¨What are examples of critical thinking in your classroom?¨and ¨Why is critical thinking important?¨ Teachers discussed their responses and were excited to have a follow-up meeting with me about other activities or strategies they could use to increase critical thinking in their classes.

Overall it was a wonderful experience - the teachers were generous with my Spanish, excited to engage in conversations about critical thinking and interested in learning more. It was great to bring a little bit of MELS to Gimnasio Cantillana.

Teacher responses to the gallery walk

Cabecera Del Llano - Part 2

Today Lauren and I went back to Cabecera Del Llano to visit the English classes in the middle and high school. We were paraded around from room to room, handing out prizes to students who asked us questions in English and answering questions they had about the United States.

Initially we received the following questions:

• Where are you from?
• What is your favorite color?
• What is your favorite animal?
• Can you sing?

As we moved into the higher grades we started getting different questions:

• What do you think of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?
• Do you wear make-up?
• What are your impressions of Colombia?
• Are your eyes real?
• Do you drink and drive?

I, in turn, asked them about about their opinion of their president, Juan Santos (whom they gave a definitive thumbs down to) and their thoughts on the French soccer team (no competition to the Colombian team). 

The visit was over too soon - with only two hours and ten classes to visit we were not able to have the conversations with students I would have liked to have had. I want to know their thoughts about the education system, about the recent peace agreements in Colombia, and what they want to do in the future.

Students were excited to meet native English speakers and were trying to use their ntoebooks to hold conversations. I would love to return to this school and work with small groups of students and encourage their love of languages and motivate them to continue learning. 

Fun Times in Colombia

Patacones y guacamole

Mangostine

Meeting Teachers in Colombia

Trying Big Bottomed Ants

Cabecera Del Llano

The girls at Gimnasio Cantillana are required to complete 80 hours of community service in order to graduate. Once a week, the 10th and 11th graders teach English to primary school students at one of the local public schools in Bucaramanga, Cabecera del Llano. On Tuesday, Lauren and I joined them at the school. Lauren and I toured many elementary school classes and were warmly greeted with songs, questions (how much does a cup of coffee cost in the United States) and hugs.

Like many public schools in Colombia, the students come from families who have been forced to leave the countryside due to violence and lack of employment opportunities. In the morning, secondary students attend classes from 6:20 - 12:00. In the afternoon the primary school students enter the building from 12:30 - 6:20. The classes we observed had close to forty students in tight classroom spaces. Many of these students will stay in this school and will enter SENA, the technical training program for students in Colombia.

Ingrid, one of the English teachers, has been working to increase the level of English language and comprehension for her secondary school students but she is having a hard time motivating her students to learn. She asked Lauren and I to return to the school on Thursday morning to speak to her students in English and answer questions they have about education and about the United States.

We are looking forward to spending more time there on Thursday morning!

Entrance to the School

Answering questions about the United States

Middle School Students

What is American Culture?

Being in Colombia makes me think about American culture and the difficulty I have had in tryign to describe American culture to Colombians. Everywhere we go in Colombia we hear salsa music, get treated to dances such as cumbia and salsa, enjoy looking at the traditional and colorful Colombian clothing and eat traditional Colombian foods. Each element of Colombian culture is presented to us with pride and excitement. 

I felt this cultural pride most strongly in the public schools of Bogota and the small towns surrounding Bucaramanga. Students played traditional instruments and danced salsa. Being at a Cambridge School I wonder how students here connect or see their culture. The curriculum at Gimnasio Cantillana focuses on western history and values. In one fourth grade class the students were reading a passage about Neil Armstrong and one student asked the teacher to name a famous Colombian astronaut. The teacher responded, ¨there are no Colombian astronauts because, as everyone knows, Americans are smarter.¨ I saw this pattern repeat itself throughout the day and continue to think about the possible connection between private education in Colombia and student diconnect from their culture.

On the other hand, I have also been thinking about American culture. When thinking about American culture, it is hard for me to pin point specific elements that I would present to an international visitor. Can we claim pizza and hamburgers as American food? Is hip hop American music? Are jeans American clothing? The more I think about culture in the United States the more I appreciate the vast melting pot we have in our country and the importance of embracing our cultural differences. Every group of people who comes to the United States has added to the melting pot and it is important for us to acknowledge that America, its population and demographics and culture, will continue to shift and change. The culture of change and cultural exchange and diffusion, of religious freedom, of appreciating that we are a country of immigrants is who we are as a people and how I can best describe out culture. Even if we cannot claim a typical food as American, we need to embrace our culture of acceptance and curiosity because that, in the end, is what unites us.

Gimnasio Cantillana

My school placement in Colombia is at Gimnasio Cantillana, an all-girls, K-11 private school in Bucaramanga (schools in Colombia go through 11th grade; starting in 2019 school will move to a K-12 system).

The school is partnered with Cambridge University in England and Cambridge provides them with their curriculum and an international partner for exchange programs. Gimnasio Cantillana has a wonderful bilingual program where girls are taught in English starting in first grade. By the time they are in high school the girls are fluent in English and take classes in French as well. There is a strong commitment to global understanding. All girls must take a two-year course called Global Perspectives that address issues such as conflict and peace, trade and aid, sustainability, and poverty and inequality. Students then choose one of these issues and write a capstone paper that is part of their graduation requirement.

The Cafeteria

The school day is long. Girls begin classes at 7:00 in the morning and finish at 3:15 in the afternoon. Resources are readily available in the school with technology and school supplies in ample supply. The lunch is excellent - yesterday for lunch we had fish, mashed potatoes and ajiaco, a tradional Colombian corn soup. Classes range from 10 - 23 students and both students and teachers seem very happy and excited to be at school.

Core Values

The campus of the school is beautiful. It was constructed eight years ago and funded through generous parent contributions. It is a Catholic school and all girls get communion, go to mass and have religious classes and counseling throughout the year.

2nd grade classroom

Much of the private school culture feels similar to that in the United States. It is interesting going to classes and interacting with the girls who are warm, welcoming and excited to talk to the American teachers touring their school. Our host teacher, Sandra is the coordinator of International studies and teaches classes in history and English.

Sandra in her office

In addition to observing classes that range from topics about the Colombian healthcare system to food around the world, we have met wonderful people including two students who asked if we wanted to try a Bucaramanga speciality, big bottomed ants. So we did, when in Rome...

Big Bottomed Ants

Down they go

Being here also makes me appreciate MELS and its commitment to progressive education and the structures we use to facilitate learning and critical thinking for teachers and students. Students at Gimnasio Cantillana have a high level of global understanding and grasp of the English language however it still surprises me to see the prescribed lessons teachers use from their partners in Cambridge. I am so grateful for the thoughtfulness of MELS teachers and the agency we have over our curriculum. I appreciate the level of engagement from our students, the ways in which we use the city as an extension of our classroom and our commitment to teacher education as a way to improve student learning. This visit is a wonderful way to reflect on MELS and acknowledge its commitment to innovation and empowering students to be agents of change. 

Moving Education Forward

On Friday, our group spent the morning at CUN university and the afternoon speaking to a panel of education experts about Colombia's education initiatives.

CUN University is a private university that targets students from public schools who would not necessarily think about college as an attainable goal. They make college accessible in a few ways.

First, CUN offers a mox of on-site, distance, weekend and e-learning opportunities. With these programs, they are reaching students in underserved areas of Colombia and offering classes that work with student schedules.

Second, CUN offers three different types of degrees. The first level of certification is tecnico. It requires that students complete a year and a half of college and at leave 500 hours of project-based work that is tied to their area of focus. Technological training is the second step and provides students with a deeper understanding of their field of study with an additional 500 hours of project-based or internship practice. The final level is he professional level which often takes 5 years to complete. The purpose of this structure is for students to have the flexibility to return to college and enhance their skills while building off of a solid base.

CUN is also partnering with high schools to give students access to advanced classes and help them with the college application process. The ministry of education is also offering scholarships called pilo pago to students who receive a 380 or above on the standardized 11th grade exam.

CUN is working to improve the quality of the education they provide to students and is going through an accreditation process. During our panel discussion with some of the professors it seemed that the school was making genuine efforts to make higher education a priority for its students.

In the afternoon we met with an incredible panel of women who are teachers, members of the ministry of education, and Fulbright scholars. They spoke with us about their efforts to make bilingual education a priority, how they were establishing paths for better teacher training, the data they used to measure growth and success and their emphasis on project-based learning. All panel members admitted that their progress was slow due to resources and bureaucracy but they didsee movement forward. In the last three years Colombia has increased its numbers of exchange programs, has worked with the Fulbright program to place English-speaking assistant teachers into custody ilombian classrooms, will be distributing textbooks to schools for the first time and has distributed curriculum for teachers to use and modify in their English classrooms.

Our wonderful panel of teachers and educators

From an outsiders perspective, I met a lot of people who believe in the power of education and are working tirelessly to engage students, teachers and parents in this process.

At CUN

Students at CUN put on a great show for us with salsa dancing and live music

Barichara and Panachi: In and around Bucaramanga

On Sunday, my host teacher Sandra, her nephew Diego and Jorge took us to Barichara and Panachi. We left at 4:30 in the morning and started making our way along the long winding road. On our way we stopped at Chifles, a road side restaurant that has specialized in serving truck driver caldo for over thirty years.

Caldo is a delicious soup that had a rich broth with potatoes, cilantro and your choice of eggs or meat. At 6:30 in the morning on a cold and misty morning there is nothing I wanted more. Caldo along with cafe con leche and an arepa is a pretty perfect meal.

We continued on our way and finally arrived in Barichara, a colonial town founded by the Spanish in the mid-1700s after a sighting of the Virgin Mary. The town is lovely - white washed with beautiful views of the Andes Mountains. Throughout the town are artisans who specilize in handcrafted jewelry, ceramics and sculptures made out of stone the color of terra cotta.

After exploring Barichara we drove to Panachi National Park where we, once again, were treated to beautiful views and a delicious meal of mute, another traditional Colombian soup. It was a lovely day.

Apparently goat is a speciality in all things

Lauren, Jorge, me and Diego

The Andes

Me and Diego on a coffee break where he tried to teach me the past tense in Spanish

Sandra my host teacher

At Panachi National Park

The Andes Mountains

Barichara

View from Barichara

School visits: a warm welcome

Today exceeded the expectations I had for school visits in Bogota. The teachers were excited to share their work with us, the students couldn't wait to speak English and ask us questions about the United States and in both school we could not have expected a warmer welcome.

Our first school visit was to Brisas del Diamanté. This is a school in the southern portion of Bogota, a neighborhood known for its low socioeconomic levels. Students at this school are part of the SENA program which helps train students in a skill they can use after graduation. Students are trained as chefs, entrepreneurs and in the hospitality industry. Throughout the morning students gave us a tour around the school, spoke to us about the skills they were learning and practiced their English. Despite difficulties accessing resources, the teachers and students at this school are enthusiastic about education and are trying innovative approaches to helping students learn. Below are some pictures of Brisas del Diamanté.

 

In the afternoon, we traveled to the northern part of Bogata to visit I.E. District Usaquen. This is a K-12 public school of 2,000 students which has several unique programs including an English learning lab, a focus on green policies to improve the sustainability of their school and a focus on active and progressive learning. We were kindly received by the head of school and were able to observe classes. I observed an amazing 11th grade philosophy class which focused on debating relevant world issues. Today the students were split into various interest groups and were debating the human rights violations that impacted each group. The class was completely student run with two students acting as the president and Vice President to facilitate the discussion.

Half way through the class the students turned to us, their guests and asked us our opinion about the recent NAFTA Colombian-American peace and trade agreements. After we presented our opinions the class erupted in a spirited debate about free trade and its impact on Colombia. It was incredible to watch students who were passionate about issues that impacted their developing economy and to listen to them present their ideas about how the United States could truly help the Colombian economy.

Afterwards we were treated to a concert and dance performance where we all tried, some more successfully than others, to keep up with the students' dance moves. They prepared an incredible spread of traditional Colombian food for us and had a question and answer session. We asked them what we should tell our American students about Colombia. The students and teachers said we should tell the world that Colombia is a safe place that has people who are full of energy and life, who are passionate and spontaneous and warm. They want people to celebrate Colombia's culture and see beyond their past violence and drug trade. I was truly impressed with the enthusiasm of the students and teachers we met today. They are trying to educate their students for the 21st century in a country that is optimistic about its future and where students feel that they are true stakeholders in the future. Below are pictures from our visit to I.E. District Usaquen.

A beautiful meal in Bogota