Spelling Bee 2011 in the Estancia

This year marked the first ever Spelling Bee in the Estancia Santa Gertrudis. Spelling bees in Honduras are typically only found in bilingual schools, but thanks to newly-created spelling bees in Spanish -found in New Mexico and New York- as well as thanks to H15 Youth Volunteer Erik, spelling bees are becoming more widely known in public schools.

The kids who participated were from 3rd to 6th grade. They were all very excited to be participating in a spelling bee and studied for weeks with their teacher Ruth, who has been taking them deeper into the amazing world of reading. At the judges table we had myself as the decider - I decided if the word had been spelled correctly. Alexander Nunez (who I work with in the Comvida office) looked up words if anyone asked for a definition. Berta Maria, the director of the Estancia, pronounced the words for the children.

As for the winners! Willian (center, left) came in 3rd place, and while there was no prize for 3rd he did win prize for Best Effort. He spent the most time studying. Also Willian is in third grade and remained in the competition longer than several fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Very impressive I think!

Pamela (top, right), a fifth grader, placed 2nd and took home a lovely prize of pencils, flip flops, and a cerfticate.

Josiel (bottom, right), a sixth grader, was our winner this year. He took home a nice prize of flip flops, pencils, a notebook, and a certificate.

Everyone worked hard for this spelling bee and the kids definitely have a higher interest in reading and writing. They are anticipating the next bee.

Theatre Workshop at Montana de Luz

At the end of May I went with my counterparts in the Comvida office and the Grupo de Teatro Maizales to an ophanage in Moreceli, El Paraiso - which is about 40 minutes from Danli. The director of this orphanage, Erika, is a buckeye herself, from my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. I found out about this orhanage because her husband Sergio, works at an elementary school that I volunteered at in Columbus Sergio told me about the orphange, and asked if I wanted to come and check it out. Also as it turns out there is a different group of volunteers that come from Columbus to the orphanage every three months, which I think is really cool.

Montana de Luz is an ophanage for orphaned or abandoned children, the majority living with HIV. For more information on the orphanage, you can visit the website. www.montanadeluz.org

For the theatre workshop, we divided them into two groups: children and adolescents. We taught them about theatre, using space, becoming a character, and finding and portraying different emotions. We put them into grous and helped them create and perform skits. Then we performed one of our own. The feedback afterward was good. The kids enjoyed the workshop.

*pictures to come later :)