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Reflecting on a productive summer and getting ready for the new school year
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Reading hour: an interview with Beatriz and Oriana
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Beatriz and Oriana receiving their thank you letters from Yspaniola
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In June, we wrote about our summer reading hour project, which was created to help prevent learning loss during the summer break.
Throughout the month of August, our fantastic local assistants, Beatriz and Oriana, two bright teenagers from Batey Libertad, continued hosting Reading Hours. As they concluded this successful summer initiative, they shared their experience.
Beatriz explained how they adapted to each class: "We began by reading stories. With older children who were already reading well, we decided to focus on comprehension, asking different questions and playing games related to the stories".
Oriana told us that one challenge they faced was to keep the students motivated and engaged. ¨"Maintaining students' attention was hard sometimes, but with a lot of patience and innovative teaching methods, we managed to keep them motivated," she said.
Beatriz and Oriana are both hoping for other opportunities to work to work for their community in the future, as they really enjoyed their summer with Yspaniola and the children of the Batey.
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Showcasing Yspaniola's new murals and our students' artistic talent
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(left to right) Angelica, Anderson and Yamilet with Yspaniola's assistant Johnny (left) and Yspaniola's scholar Daniel (right)
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After a week-long art class given by our teacher Mayra during Summer Camp, students had the chance to design murals and other types of art in order to develop their creativity!
We asked you to vote for the best mural designs to decorate one of Yspaniola's classrooms, and the three winners, Yamilet, Angelica and Anderson, had the chance to paint the final design! Click below to check out the mural designs on our instagram page.
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Following a difficult year of classes marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a busy summer of camp and literacy workshops, Yspaniola is ready to launch its academic activities for the 2021-2022 school year.
In August, the Dominican government made vaccines available to children aged 12 and over, and offered vaccination clinicas in Batey Libertad, so most students are now vaccinated. Yspaniola's staff will continue to follow vaccination and social distance protocols, and we are confident in our ability to go black to the classrooms safely.
Coming soon... stay tuned to our newsletters and social media channels for an update about the return of Yspaniola's Food Program, an initiative that provides nutritious daily snacks to our students, as well as some new exciting projects with the arrival of our new international Fellows!
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