Our First Day st School

Finally!  After a nearly a year of planning, scheduling, fundraising and constant communication with our counterparts in Cotuí, we brought our road show to the school.  The Centro Educativo Altagracia is a large (453 students) K-6 school in a challenging part of the city, 10 minutes from our hotel.  We ate breakfast, had a quick bus ride, and pulled through the sliding game into the walled compound surrounding the school. The school community had been planning our welcome for weeks.  Two sixth graders with very good English skills were the masters of ceremonies,  even politely telling us when to applaud.  The School Director welcomed us, and then a group of students performed a song and dance in English.  Another group of students with signs introduced us to the school’s core values. A third group of student dancers in colorful local costumes did a spirited dance number. Rita Severinghaus, feeling all of the emotion which comes with seeing a dream realized, introduced our group and then Frank Perotti, whose tireless efforts and trips on his own to the DR brought about the professional connections that allowed this school to be one of a very few selected for this pilot program. Finally we heard from Professor Juan Valdez, a superstar in the DR world of Education, and the head of a decades-long effort to bring English education to public schools in the DR.  Few schools have this, and it is truly a social justice issue.  The rich and those attending private schools have the chance to be bilingual, greatly increasing the possibilities for jobs and careers.  Professional Training Systems, the consulting firm led by Professor Valdez, has developed the curriculum to make it possible for English to be taught in underserved schools.  There is a significant cost for this, and our successful fundraising (thank you!) has already paid for all of this year and some of next. Thanks to the constant work of Rita and Frank, the Altagracia school in the city where Rita grew up was one of few selected, and it stared in December with two dedicated teachers who are in touch with Rita almost every day to share their work and receive advice and support.  Rita has also visited the school to support the program and plan our visit.  And today, 19 of us joined the effort.  After the ceremony we got right to work, splitting into two groups to work with the classes.  Each of us had the chance to work individually with small groups of students in the 4th-6th grades.  We followed the curriculum, which today had use working on words for family members, and also animals, colors and numbers.  We have brought all sorts of teaching tools and school materials, but the most important tool always will be relationship and enthusiasm for what we are doing.  The kids were excited and we were excited and the match is a good one.  Even with all of the excitement and confusion of this first day, it was clear that this program is off to a solid start and has caught the attention and imagination of the teachers and students.  They are grateful for our presence and support.  We are grateful for their trust and buy-in.  It’s a good match.  You will hear more every day about how this is unrolling, but we are so proud of the work being done by our nine students.  They are brave, flexible and dedicated to this task.  They know they are changing lives. They feel good about it.

The adults try to keep up, surrounded by noise, energy and synergy. We’re resting now, getting ready for three more days of intense engagement.  We already have many new friends.  One of our students already has a love letter, sent to the subject of his admiration by two female friends.  It was written in excellent English.