Teaching and Learning- at the Same Time

Teaching using a new language, is like a kid running through sprinklers. You remember, ripping your clothes off with abandon, and racing full speed through the icy jets of water on a hot summer day. Now, don’t worry, I didn’t present my lessons in my chonies, but they could still see what I had or didn’t, what I could convey or couldn’t.

What is Compost?

Never the less, instead of waiting until we had a better command of Spanish, we decided to begin teaching short lessons in the schools, four times per week, (after all, one Principal asked me to teach second grade this year, as they were one teacher short. This did not fit within our goals for service, nor would it have been sustainable, so I declined).

Is there really cow manure in that stuff?

Reviewing what we learned

As it goes, I create my lesson plans in Spanish, practice what I will say, and it turns out to be a great way to study language in addition to the one hour+ every day. Mark creates visuals on chart paper to reinforce content, and off we go! So far, we have taught lessons about the water cycle in honor of “Dia de Agua”, and on creating compost boxes for our future school gardens. Next week, we will be teaching lessons about protecting our environment, in conjunction with “World Earth Day”.

Putting our new learning into action!

It has been so much fun to teach again! The kids are so excited about learning- their enthusiasm is contagious! Which makes it easier to tear forward, with our shaky Spanish, hitting the sprinklers, head on!

Chicken Coop- Ryguazu Renda!

Keeping in mind: sustainable practice, access to very few and simple tools, and not using wood, (not adding to the deforestation problems in Paraguay), can present a challenge when considering even a small construction project. Be that as it may, we were "gifted" 5 chickens and needed a coop to protect them from the weather, and our garden from them. In addition, a chicken coop would be a nice addition to our demonstration garden, giving Paraguayans another option for "housing" their chickens and protecting their gardens at the same time.

A picture of an A-frame chicken coop and a survey of available materials in our community put the wheels in motion. After receiving permission from a neighbor, with machete in hand, Mark cut/hacked 10, 15 foot long pieces of bamboo, which we carried on our shoulders the half mile back to our house. Along the way, we got lots of smiles, nods, and "Guapas/ Guapos", (hardworking), and as you can imagine, my shoulders complained about that chore for the next couple of days!

First, Mark worked his magic measuring, cutting angles, considering lashing techniques using wire, and building in support systems. His gate was a bamboo masterpiece, resembling a subtropical xylophone, sin the little sticks with the balls on the ends! :)







 

 

Many of the houses in our town have roofs made of kapi' i, (water reed or thatched roof), so we thought it would be a good option for our project, as well.

 

So next, we headed off to another house to purchase kapi' i for the chicken coop roof. Again, carrying it home was an experience- a friend along the way helped me tie three bunches together and taught me to carry it, balanced, (well, kind of), on top of my head! Once we got the kapi' i home, we created a thatched roof and attached it to the structure.

 

The addition of a fruit crate filled with left over kapi' i for a nesting box, a waterer made from a plastic bottle, and a bamboo perch, made our project complete!

Today, as we watched the rain come down, it was a satisfying feeling to see our chickens, safe, secure, and dry in their new "Ryguazu Renda", (chicken place, in Guarani)!