Learning Without Walls

Learning Without Walls

It really is amazing how advanced technology is these days. I am currently thousands of miles away, with internet on a USB drive, and I am still able to communicate with people through Skype! I was able to Skype with my kinder class from student teaching back home AND my brother's kindergarten class. With both of these classes I gave them a little tour around the school, and then we had a chance to do some question/answer time. Talk about learning without boundaries. These children are able to follow my blog, my journey, my experiences...and communicate with me! They are able to compare and contrast their school, culture, and life to people around the world. At the end of the day I had the biggest smile on my face because: A) I got to see my former students who I love and miss SO much and B) It was absolutely a beautiful experience to hear and answer the questions from very curious 5-6 year olds. Some of their questions were:

- Do they get anything for Christmas? 

- What do they have to eat for dinner?

- Why does your school have a kitchen?

- What is the weather like?

- How do you fit 24 students in that small tuk tuk?

- What is the school made out of?

- Do they have homework?

And the best thing to hear, "We love you Miss Talcott, and we miss you so much!" I miss them so much too, but I am so grateful, SO grateful that not only family and friends are following my journey, but my students are as well. 

If you don't step out of your comfort zone, the things you fear will keep growing. The more you step our of you comfort zone the more you grow as a person. 

This trip has been filled with experiences that push me out of my comfort zone every day. For those of you that know me well, you know that is one thing I need to work on the most. Pushing myself out of my comfort areas. In the past month I have learned so much about myself, and I have already grown so much as an individual. It is impossible not to under the circumstances I am living under. From the moment I wake up, to the moment I go to bed...I am speaking Spanish with Jackelyn. That alone is scary and uncomfortable for me. Each day it gets easier, and I am feeling more comfortable. But its more than that. For example, this weekend I took my first trips alone to Panajachel. I was confident that I knew the route, but scared to be alone. I proud to say I was able to make it there and back successfully without any problems. Another example, I went with Jackelyn to her house to enjoy lunch with her family. I was the only person there who spoke English, therefor all the conversing was in Spanish. I can understand Jackelyn very well, but it was much harder understanding other people in her family! And now, I am the teacher of three different classes at the school. And I have to do my best to instruct the students and manage the classroom in Spanish! I am trying my best every day to embrace these new experiences. But I have to be honest, some days it is very hard for me. I can feel myself growing, learning, and believing in myself more and more each and every day. And each day I gain more confidence. 

When I was at Jackelyn's home, I was apologizing for my poor Spanish, and her dad told me this...

"Your Spanish is beautiful. It does not sound the same as our Spanish, and you have your own American accent, but it is beautiful to hear someone try their best at another language. Especially when we do not speak English, you are at least using a language that is unknown to you and not your own. You should be proud."

After hearing this I could not help but smile. That is exactly what I tell myself every day. But thats all I can hope that the people around me think as well. I am trying my best, it is hard, and I know I do not sound the same...but I CAN communicate with people in another language. And that... is something to be proud of. 

In a place filled with so much poverty...beauty is all around us.

When you go to the markets in Guatemala, as a tourist you are overwhelmed with the vibrant colors and hand made items. It is a sensory overload for sure! The first couple times, I honestly wanted to buy EVERYTHING! But I had to step back and ask myself, do I really need this? The paintings especially are amazing! I decided I would like a painting by the time I leave. So far I have been doing really well. Until a couple days ago in Panajachel. We were walking through the market, and we came across this beautiful bedspread. This gigantic, colorful, hand made piece of art jumped out at us all. When we actually found out the price... we were all shocked. Imagine the amount of time something like this would take. It is almost sad that these people work SO hard on something like this, and only expect so little in return. We all just stared at this piece for quite awhile, brainstorming all the things you could do with this and looking at each individual square. Each square tells a story. Each square represents a piece of Guatemala. In the end, I bought this amazing bedspread, and this is all I will need to bring back with me. I could see this as a bedspread, quilt, or even as wall art in my future classroom. Something like this would brighten up a classroom for sure! This is something meaningful, beautiful, and special that I can treasure for the rest of my life. A painting would be something special as well, but there was something about this that made me feel like this was exactly what I needed. This surpasses anything a painting could have said and represented. 

Opal House From a New Point of View

Maren Talcott

22 Years Old

WSU Graduate

Elementary Education & Spanish Minor

Opal House Jan. - Mar. 2014

Hi there, my name is Maren and I am currently living with Will and Diane at Opal House. We decided it would be a good idea for me to do some blogging on Diane's blog, to give you all a new point of view and perspective of Opal House. I have already been here for a month, so I have a lot to catch you up on! I graduated from WSU in December 2013, and I decided to spend the next three months here in Guatemala for a few different reasons: 1) To improve/practice my Spanish 2) To help with the school 3) To discover and learn about myself.  For me, an experience like this pushes me out of my comfort zone every day. Almost every day I experience something new! I used to be someone that hated to feel uncomfortable, and would avoid those situations. For example, speaking Spanish makes me so nervous and I would always avoid it at home. Here, I had to get over that very quickly! I use my Spanish every day, all day long with Jackelyn. I am slowly improving, but still lacking some confidence. She is currently living here at Opal House with me for these three months. She makes it so easy on me because she is so patient, kind, and genuinely here to help me improve. I am grateful to have a friend, and a personal teacher during my trip here.

My dad came with me to Opal House for the first week, and it was amazing to share this opportunity with him. Pretty sure we bonded more in one week, than we have in our whole life. I however am here for a total of three months. After a little over a month, I can confidently say that it isn't going to be that hard to be away from home for that long. Originally, before I left, I was terrified! I thought three months was an eternity, and the fear of the unknown was taking over my emotions. Now that I am here, and I can truly appreciate the beauty of this place, the children, and the presence of God...I am confident that things are going to be much different than I ever expected. 

I was so excited to find out I have specific responsibilities and classes for the school. I am officially the Art, English, and Computer class teacher. We took the outdoor room, which was being used for storage and other things, and turned it into my classroom! Its a fun environment, and this was my first week of classes with the students. It went very well, and I embrace the challenge! Organizing and planning is easy for me with my education background, but teaching in SPANISH...is another story! But, I am truly loving it! It allows for Jackelyn and Diane to have less students in the classroom, and the students get more one-on-one assistance.

I have many stories and things I want to share with you all, stay posted!

My Classroom: 

BEFORE

AFTER

Tis' the Season for Weeding

I am enjoying this slower pace here at Opal House now that the children are out for their summer vacation. Seems strange thinking of all our friends back in the states struggling with the cold and snow. The difference in seasons here makes it difficult to sense that Christmas is around the corner since we have beautiful blue skies and warm weather during the day. Only one morning have I felt  that autumn scent in the air, then 'poof' it was gone. So during this break I have had the opportunity to don old scrubs and tackle some weeding and pruning (not that I really know much about pruning as you will see)....

This is one of the small gardens around the house, crazy huh? I'm not even sure where to start here. We've got bougainvillea, cactus, hibiscus, some kind of demonic prickly bush that is looking to take over the world.....I'm sure our little furry mice friends enjoy the easy access to the roof, thankfully we have 4 cats to keep them in check.

This used to be what we term "Mercy's Garden". This little garden was planted by Will and a young lady who came to live with us for a while at the beginning. Now, it's basically one very large

Poinsettia bush and mountain growth. The mountain is always trying to recoup it's space. I mean, it was here before we were, it has a right to try and overtake us and believe you me, it does. If we did not have our great hardworking men who, 6 days a week, help us take care of this land we would be inside the house engulfed in wild plants and the grass.  Speaking of grass, I've never seen HARDY grass like we have. Definitely not the stuff we have stateside. Another plant that wants worldwide domination.

 

 

 This plant, I have no idea what it is. I call it the dinosaur plant. It's leaves are huge and it's in most of our gardens. I just spent a morning with pruners cutting back 3 of them that were growing up over a sidewalk and creeping over to the other side. Their roots wrap around posts like they know they are going to be targeted for pruning, kind of a genetic survival technique. I'm sure there is some kind of children's arts and craft project where these may be handy....small boats, wings for a plane etc.,

 

I catch myself praying that God will send us a gardener. Will and Glen have done a good job in planting the new gardens but it's the other ones that have a mind of their own and have been neglected after the previous owner sold it. We've had guests who took a lot of this on when they came and gave of their time and energy. I'm grateful to each and every one. Gardening can be so meditative and at the same time challenging. I laugh to think that we had this small suburban garden in our home in Bothell and now we are stewards to 59 acres. Somewhat daunting.


Okay, so here is one side of the house that had some unruly bushes/trees. I thought I'll trim a little here and I'll trim a little there.....

 

And now....

not pretty huh? Obviously, I need to take some class. Now I'm trying to water and fertilize

so they may have a chance to resurrect. They are in "ICU". So, my point in all this is simply to say
IF there is ANYONE who needs some time away from home in order to tend to someone else's gardens well HERE WE ARE! But the faint-hearted need not apply....

First School Year Ends

Yes, it's hard to believe that our first school

year has ended as of October 11th. Jackelyn and I can finally raise our head above the water! We really felt like this was baptism by fire but we did it. It has been an incredible learning curve for me. Unfamiliar to the Montessori method of teaching, I have had to learn simply to observe the children as they interacted with the materials each day. Even learning how to present the material taught me to slow down......really sloooooooowwwww down. But one of the benefits is that you learn to be present. And isn't that one of the hardest things to learn nowadays? Be present. Be aware of what is in front of you or who is in front of you at this present moment. And learning to observe the children was not easy. In a traditional classroom it's more of who is misbehaving or talking or not doing their work. But we are learning to watch to see how focused the child is on their 'work'. And they do focus. What I found amazing was at the end of the school year, we had the children share what they would miss the most here and instead of  playing, which I thought would be the response, it was 'the work!'.
The children are natural learners and just as we have learned through Maria Montessori's philosophy, the children will advance to the next stage when they are ready. I'm so grateful for the donation of the materials. The children really do learn better with the concrete learning materials rather than standing in front of them with their notebooks out. We've taught them to respect the materials and they know that the school and the materials are theirs. That way they learn stewardship. Their mothers shared with us how much their child has changed and we are encouraged to continue to learn all that we can. Right now, I am taking an on-line class called KHT Montessori and it is wonderful. The manuals they provide will provide so much more learning opportunities for the children as well as help Jackelyn and I feel more confident in the future. The woman who teaches us is so helpful and so knowledgeable. We sent Jackelyn also to Mexico this past year for a 3 week intensive. But as with learning in general, it never ends. This school year really was all absorbing but right now I want to focus on the afternoon children as I feel that my attention was taken away for awhile to focus on the school. Right now I'm trying to slow down, be present, and do some things that have nothing to do with teaching children such as pulling weeds from our overgrown gardens! I've actually found it rather meditative. Gardening can really help to slow my mind down and help me to just enjoy being outdoors. I actually sat in the chapel alone yesterday morning with my cup of coffee praying. It felt like it had been too long since I have taken the time to talk to God. Like people back home you feel like you have more things to do than you have daylight. I need to remind myself that being in the moment is important and to watch for those 'divine interruptions' in  my day, like people showing up unexpectedly, which can be a common occurrence here. God had to remind me awhile back that folding laundry is not more important than sitting down with a couple of children and spending time reading to them or having a conversation. The 'stuff' can wait. I'll be merciful to myself and say that I'm learning this lesson. One day the weather was so beautiful I changed our plans at school and we hiked the property with the children. We had a great time! What was most precious to me was climbing a very steep part of the property, which was rather muddy after the rains, and watching one of my boys helping the little girls by holding their hands and helping them maneuver over around the coffee plants. He has turned into a little gentleman. Afterwards, we roasted marshmallows in our fire pit that Will had built on the back patio....

P.S. no....I was not the only one eating them!

All in all, I am in awe of having a school and I see how important it is to steward it well and how important these children are to the future of Guatemala. I love each and every one of them and am so glad that we started slowly with just 13, I think I may have been overwhelmed otherwise. I came to know them individually, their personalities, strengths and weaknesses. One thing is clear, they all respond to love!

 

Down In Honduras

     I'm visiting NPH, the orphange down in Honduras and enjoying the break from teaching school and afternoon classes. I left on Sunday at 3:30 a.m. and finally made it to the orphanage at 8 p.m. That made for a very long day. I was fortunate to be traveling in one of those tour buses but alas the roads to Honduras were still bumpy and windy. I slept or tried to sleep the whole way down. This place is much more rustic than NPH in Guatemala. They have many, many acres of land. They have about 300 children here from surrounding towns. They also have a home for aged, a home for HIV children,  a home for special needs children, a surgery center, lots of different training buildings where they learn to do carpenter work, a metal shop, sewing (they sew their own uniforms), mechanics shop, shoe making shop etc., I'm excited to visit their Montessosi school tomorrow. I'm actually here being trained in the Montessori method but for religious education called "The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd". And I love it! The materials that are used are made by the teacher's and are beautiful and thought provoking. I have so much work to do. Though I have many of the figures for teaching the parables, I do not have many of the things for the 1st level which makes up children 3-6 years old. But I have a wonderful instructor who is generously donating her time to teach many of us during the next two weeks. I am enjoying drawing and copying the Scripture and making them into simple children's booklets that they can read and then trace and make their own booklets to take home. A visiting Deacon even made me a set of clay figures for the Annunciation and Visitation presentations. People are so generous here. They work together like a HUGE family. It seems that the more I am in Guatemala I am amazed how God weaves His children together, like that beautiful tapestry that is symbolic of our differences and our similiarities. Our world gets bigger for Will and I it seems with each passing year.
     While I am away, Jacklyn and her sister Alice are holding down the fort. I know the children are in good hands. And with the school fresh on my mind

Here I am with some of our children in front of the school...to include JoJo our Bichon and Chispita our German Shepherd puppy who is oh so much trouble!

We had a group of wonderful ladies come and visit us recently. Patti (to the very right) Julie (in the middle of the pic) and her two daughters Annaliese and Sarah and their friend Aya. Here they are visiting a family whose little baby girl had a stricture above her ankle bit with surgery was able to remove it and the little girl is thriving.

These loving ladies were such a help to us at the farm, painting, weeding, spending time with our children at school. They brought educational gifts for our school and as always the children are thrilled to use new material. One of our special treats was the gift of a concert: Annaliese, who plays violin and Aya, who played the piano performed a mini concert for the mothers of our preschool children and classical music no less! It was heaven to listen to the music surrounded by the view that is ours everyday.

Aya is to the left, Annaliese to the right and Sarah in the back with the children.

 

 

I have to admit the children were relatively quiet, I suspect watching and listening to them play was a new experience.

 

I love the dress that little Katy is wearing on the right, her little princess dress solely for special occasions like the concert ;)

 

 

Oh, and by the way...Patti and Julie you will NEVER know exactly how much I appreciated your cooking for us! You are the best! Thank you to all you young ladies for the good conversation around the table, for the encouragement and fellowship we received daily, for your help around the farm and loving on our kids! Remember: Nuestra casa es suya! Hasta pronto ;)

She's Back!

It's been such a long time since I've blogged! We have been busy with the school, training, afternoon classes, first communion classes from the church.....and our welcomed visitors. But I'm back and thought it would be nice to just show the pics of our school. This was our atrium or place where we had hoped to have 'our quiet time', our time of prayer and reflection. But it wa such a small cubby space that we are now using it for our coat and backpack space. We are moving all of our Bible figures and stories to our chapel. We had 4 bookshelves made by our local carpenter to house our materiales in the chapel. We have them on wheels so that we can move them aroud when we have classes for our Montessori children or our afternoon kids.

This is a wide view of our Montessori classroom. It really is a beautiful room and the furniture is made from the trees on the property. I am so grateful for our carpenter. How wonderful to be able to show him a picture of something that I want, we bring him the wood and 'ya esta'!

This is a child size 'pila'. A pila is a 3-part cement container that the locals use for washing clothes, dishes, themselves and dead chickens. This is where our children wash their hands in the a.m., wash their dishes and the towels and rags that we use daily. They LOVE using soap and washing, washing, washing. Something about water and soap. Normally, kids have an aversion to both :)

This is the view from the back patio. The children enjoy 'sneaking' out of class and just hanging out and observing things. We took a morning and used our binoculars to look at the surrounding volcanos, pueblos,birds, trees. These are the things that these children would not have an opportunity to do and it thrills me to watch them learn something new or use a material that they would probably not have access to.

 

These are the stairs leading up to our second floor. Notice our wooden quetzal which is their countrie's bird, not easily found but has beautiful plummage and long, long tail feathers.

Well, I will blog more pics as the 'hamsters' that allow this computer to function have slowed down on the hamster wheel....hasta luego

Here are a few pictures of the children during their normal school day. Jacklyn is the young lady patiently introducing how to fold napkins to the little girl. The picture below is our Practical Life shelf/shelves. This is where the children learn how to do basic skills like pouring, spooning, transfering liquids or solids. It is amazing to me that the children can repeatedly use this material (or as we say in Montessori "work") and not get bored. Infact, just as Maria Montessori has shown the children can become quite focused on fine tuning these skills. They learn how to wash their hands, how to cook, clean, take care of their environment inside and outside their school.

What they probably have not been used to is actually having the freedom to choose what they will do during a normal 'work cycle'. They receive some guidance from Jacklyn and I, especially with learning how to use the new material, and we watch and observe to find out what areas they are growing in and where they might need some encouragement to continue to fine tune those skills. Definitely a different way from conventional schooling. We don't have tons of copied work sheets and notebooks etc., that you would find in typical classroom. Which, of course, is cost effective for us and is wasteful to boot. They learn math for example, with sand-paper shaped numbers and letters that are placed on wooden tablets. Then they have a box of wooden alphabet letters that can be moved around to form their first words. The children love the materials. Boys and girls are learning to hammer and use a screwdriver. They are going to begin gardening soon. I have a huge bag of seeds of flowers, herbs and vegetables. I've been collecting ideas to make the garden a fun place to be. And our animals are right outside for them to observe and visit. We moved the parrots to the aviary that is attached to the side of the school. We can hear them talk, scream etc., when we are outside eating our lunch. Will had the guys construct a child-size door where they can enter. We also have a fire-pit on our patio.

Below is one of our little girls unfolding a 'mantelito', a hand-woven mat that the children use to place their work on. Just the rolling and unrolling of these mats creates a more calm child. And it gives them their own space in which to work. I enjoy this philosophy of teaching. It does provide a more independent child and it is less about keeping them all in their seats and  teaching them the same thing.

I thought this just about sums up some of the challenges we face with children......