Summary of My Work in Nicaragua

I took on three major projects during my time at Masinfa, in Masaya, Nicaragua. Upon leaving the country, I believe each was a success and they have the potential to make a lasting difference at Masinfa.

To be clear my projects were made possible because my organization FSD provided me with 200 dollars for sustainable small-scale projects during my 9 week internship. I had the ability to write a grant proposal and try to win more than 1,000 dollars for a project idea, but after assessing needs and coming up with ideas, I reasoned that in 9 weeks I didn’t see a problem striking enough that could be fixed with 1,000 dollars in 9 weeks. So working with 200 dollars, I can confidently say I made the most of every dollar.

If all (or most) goes as planned the most prominent and visible change will result from my trash can project at Masinfa. The problem of students throwing trash on the ground at the school, combined with watching people everyday regardless of where I was in Nicaragua, littering as a part of their daily routine, was too much to take without doing anything. When I began to discuss the problem with various friends and students I found that many people were disgusted by it as well. However, they were overwhelmed by the pessimism of “if one person changes what’s the difference?”

Using money from FSD I purchased a small trash can for all 11 classrooms and one large trash can to complement the two large ones that Masinfa already owned. While they had two large ones, when I got to Masinfa one of them was overturned in a corner, not used, and the other was unlabeled and rusted. Around the premises there were various buckets or old trash bins most with sizable holes in them and all were unlabeled. After purchasing the new trashcans, I painted them all bright green with the help of various students.








During the process of buying and painting the trashcans, I continuously was thinking that I needed a way to involve more students in the project. I had a couple students who helped out, and quite a few that asked me about it, but I wanted students to really understand it and begin to think about why protecting the environment is something important and how they could help. The afternoon and weekend students took interest in the project when I explained it in each class, and largely agreed to change their behavior. They, also, were not the primary contributors to the problem since they rarely ate or drank during their time at the school. Therefore, I chose to focus on the younger students who came 5 days a week from about 7:30-12:30.

I held a competition between the morning students to try and collect reasons from students why they should stop littering and use trashcans. The top eight submissions won a prize of a soccer ball, volleyball, or a translation dictionary. To advertise the competition and the project I spoke in front of every morning class and made a case for why littering needed to stop and how for that to happen everyone needs to do their part. Some of the classrooms were more excited about the project and the competition than others, but each of them had at least one student whose eyes doubled in size when I explained the potential prizes. In one of my first year classes, there was one boy who could barely contain himself with excitement over the idea and each of the three days of the competition when he saw me he berated me with questions about what type of soccer ball he could get.

I gave students 3 days to work on their suggestions for the trashcans and the night before the last day, after only receiving one list of suggestions from a student, I was quite nervous that the competition wasn’t going to work. I had told the students that I needed to receive 20 different submissions in order for the prizes to be awarded to anyone because I didn’t want eight submissions and eight winners. I encouraged students to submit as many ideas as they wanted. The night before the final day I was nervous that the competition was going to fail, because I had only received 2 or 3 submissions. However, the next day all of my nervous feelings dissolved as the office was frequented by students running in and giving me their list. In total 21 students gave me a list of phrases and messages resulting in almost 150 different ideas!

The suggestions!

The night when I read all of the suggestions and decided on the winners was certainly one of my best in Nicaragua. I could barely contain my excitement late at night reading so many positive ideas from students about the environment and why they need to protect it.

I chose a selection of students from 11 to 18 years old, here are the winners:

1. Las personas echan la basura en su lugar los animales no. ¡Cuidado te confundes!
(People throw away trash in its place, animals don't. Be careful! Or you will be confused.)

2. (originally submitted in English!) A world full of garbage is like a body with no soul (Un mundo esta lleno con basura es como un cuerpo sin una alma)

3. Piensa en verde antes de actuar, bota la basura en su lugar. (Think in green before you act, throw your trash in its place.)

4. I “heart(a drawing of dibujo de un corazón)” my planet

5. Cuidamos nuestro colegio: Es nuestro segundo hogar. (Care for our school: It's our second home.)

6. Dale la mano al planeta no tires desperdicios en lugares limpios. (Give a hand to the planet don't throw your litter in clean places)

7. Demostremos nuestra cultura!!! Ponga la basura en su lugar (Demonstrate our culture! Put the trash in its place)

8. Amo a mi planeta y colaboro con limpieza (I love my planet and I collaborate with cleaning it)

On the day I announced the winners I broke some hearts, but also made 8 students extremely happy. I did the contest to grab the attention of students and get them to think about why its important to change their actions. In one afternoon we covered each large trash can with their ideas (we used a lot more than the 8 winners to decorate the cans). Now everywhere you walk at Masinfa students are reminded by their own words to keep up the habit of using the trashcans and protecting the environment.

The winners (all but one who couldn't make the photos)








Class activities

Before leaving for Nicaragua I was told that in addition to working day to day in a classroom I would have opportunities to help create lesson plans or curriculum. Maybe if I had done an internship for a year or two I could have delved into altering curriculum or creating full and detailed lesson plans, but in my short time in Nicaragua I decided to create supplemental materials for the classes. In general I found that the English teachers and the books used in the classes were very good at teaching grammar and creating a foundation for learning within the students. However, I saw an opportunity in supplemental materials.

Especially with the longer 2 hour classes in the evenings and the 4 hour classes on weekends there was time spent every class on additional activities from the book. From my experience in conversational language (Spanish) classes, I understood how tiresome the book can be with activities. Sometimes the book had really interesting information to read and talk about, but usually dry and out of date is being kind. Seeing an opportunity I set out to help make parts of the English classes more informative and entertaining to complement already well established and effective grammar teaching materials. I started with a survey to find out what the students wanted to talk and read about in English. My goal with the additional materials was to inspire and inform students about the world and making it a better place, through information in English. To gauge the interest of students in various subjects I started the process of creating new materials with a survey of 50 afternoon and weekend students. The results were VERY encouraging ☺


(medio ambiente: environment)

Over three weeks or so I collected articles and stories from the Internet on a variety of topics. Each article or story I tried to change around words and phrasing to make it as simple as possible. Each activity had a section after the reading that defines any expressions or difficult vocabulary words in the text. The activities also included questions to test comprehension, as well as to catalyze conversation. The teachers requested that I make listening activities as well, so I added a listening component to 14 activities by making a CD for each teacher that had my voice reading the articles.

Below is the Table of Contents for the activities.

Table of Contents
1. History of Nicaragua
a. Pre-Colonial Times
b. Colonial Settlement **Listening Activity, Track 01**
c. Zelaya’s Coup & US Intervention
d. Rising Opposition (the Revolution)
e. 1990 Election
f. The New Millennium
g. History of the English Language
h. History of the World Cup

2. Changing the World
a. KickStart
b. Lessons Learned about Poverty, and How to Help According to Kickstart
c. The Girl Effect **Listening Activity Track 02**
d. The Special Olympics **Listening Activity Track 03**
e. Special Olympics, Empowering Athletes through Sport
f. Tom’s Shoes **Listening Activity Track 04**
g. Young People Part I
h. Young People Part II
i. Young People Part III **Listening Activity Track 05**
j. An Indestructible Soccer Ball **Listening Activity Track 06**
k. FC Barcelona and UNICEF **Listening Activity Track 07
l. The Zero Hunger Project in Brazil

3. Health and Wellness
a. Effects of Smoking
b. Smoking Stinks **Listening Activity Track 08**
c. Drinking Soda (Coca-Cola), and other eating/drinking habits
d. What can exercise do for your body? **Listening Activity Track 09**

4. Environment
a. Problems in Nicaragua
b. Questions about Global Warming **Listening Activity Track 10**
c. Global Warming
d. The Greenhouse Effect
e. We Can Stop Global Warming with Renewable Energy!
f. What Can You Do to Help? **Listening Activity Track 11**

5. President Obama on Immigration
a. Introduction (excerpt from speech July 1st, 2010)
b. The plan without alterations for advanced students/teachers only
c. Closing Remarks **Listening Activity Track 12**

6. Role Models:
a. Roberto Clemente: A Life Lost, But Not Forgotten **Listening Activity Track 13**
b. Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi **Listening Activity Track 14**

7. Tourism: New Ways to Travel that Do More to Help Developing Countries
a. Community Tourism
b. Ecotourism/Tourism Facts


So on my last day of work I gave the 6 different English teachers from Masinfa, as well as the library for future teachers to use, an all weather folder that included 37 reading activities (14 with corresponding listening activities), and 18 music activities for a total of 55 supplemental activities. The folders also included a letter thanking the teachers for opening their arms and their classrooms so enthusiastically to met. At the request of the teachers I also included in the letter a list of suggestions on how to improve the classes. After about two weeks the word from Masinfa is that the teachers are using my activities!

An example of an activity:

Changing the World: The Special Olympics (http://www.olimpiadasespeciales.net/) **Listening Activity Track 03**

Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization helping the nearly 200 million people round the world who have intellectual disabilities. With a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide and seven world-region offices, we are constantly growing. We can say with all truth that “the sun never sets on the Special Olympics movement.”

Special Olympics is made up of passionate, committed individuals from every walk of life, who recognize the value and unique gifts of people with intellectual disabilities. And who, together, share the common belief in dignity, equality and opportunity for ALL people. Every day, 365 days a year, our Board members, global leadership, staff and volunteers work to bring Special Olympics to as many communities as possible. Speaking hundreds of languages and coming from diverse cultures and backgrounds, the common thread tying us together is our belief in people with intellectual disabilities and in Special Olympics: its unique ability to envision and create a world where every person is celebrated and accepted — all through the simple platform of sport.

We work so that we may realize founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s vision: to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities everywhere, and, in turn, transform the lives of everyone they touch – building a better, more accepting world for all of us.

Changing Attitudes
Special Olympics is humanity’s greatest classroom, where lessons of ability, acceptance and inclusion are taught on the fields of competition by our greatest teachers – the Special Olympics athletes.

New Friends. Japanese football star Hidetoshi Nakata befriended Special Olympics athlete Peter Okocha of Nigeria while both were in South Africa for the Unity Cup (a Special Olympics soccer event during the World Cup).

Misconceptions Create Attitudes
Most attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities are created by negative stereotypes and misconceptions. Yet when people see Special Olympics athletes in competition, they find their attitudes changing – not just about what those with intellectual disabilities can do, but also about what they themselves can do to help build a better world. Part of the Special Olympics mission is educating people about the dignity and gifts of all people, not only those who have intellectual disabilities. Evidence of this occurred recently in Afghanistan. Eleven young athletes traveled to the United States for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter games. When they returned home, there was an entire country waiting to rejoice with them, with government leaders at the head of the line.

Playing Together Paves the Way
Special Olympics Slovakia saw an opportunity to change attitudes when it started a Unified Sports® football (soccer) team, pairing up students from a special school and a mainstream school. Until then, students in the mainstream school ignored or were occasionally unkind to the students with intellectual disabilities. After the students played on the same team, everything changed. A teacher reported, “Now there is no teasing of special students on the street any more. An understanding developed that there are no differences between the regular and the special students.” Special Olympics athlete Milan Palencar learned how to get along with people who are different. “What I like most about this team is that we are together — the boys from the regular school and we from the special school. We got to know each other and we became real friends.”
Expressions
The common thread tying us all together – que mantiene nosotros con juntos

Vocabulary
Intellectual disabilities – discapacidades intelectuales
Passionate – apasionado
Committed – comprometido
Belief – creencia
Unique – único
Gifts – regalos
Special school – escuelas para personas con discapacidades
Mainstream school – escuelas normales

Questions
1. Explain in your own words what Special Olympics does?
2. How many intellectually disabled people are there?
3. Do you know someone who is disabled?
4. What is the difference between an intellectual disability and a physical disability?
5. What can you do to improve the lives of those with intellectual disabilities?


DVD Rental in the Library


The Library at Masinfa

You cannot believe how far $200 dollars goes in Nicaragua. Towards the end of my summer I realized I would have a good amount of money left over from my minifund so I began thinking about ways to use the money. It dawned on me that one of my favorite ways to practice my Spanish was to watch movies in Spanish. While I enjoyed watching the movies in Spanish on television, the best experience was without a doubt when I watched a DVD in Spanish on my laptop and I could pause and replay scenes I had trouble understanding. So naturally I came across the idea that for about 75 cents a DVD at a store near the market I could start a decent DVD collection for less than 30 dollars. At the store I tested 40 or so DVDs to be sure they could be watched in English with English or Spanish subtitles and then purchased the 34 that worked correctly.

After purchasing the DVDs and havingfurther discussion about implementing the project I decided along with the employee, Ronald, at the library that we needed to make the library more secure. During breaks from class students pack into the library making it easy for a student to take something small like a DVD from the library. So I used an additional 30 dollars from my minifund to pay a carpenter to create a small gate to the back of the one room library. Since Ronald is always in the library when its open the gate will provide enough security, it allows him to control how many people are allowed in the back part of the room at one time. Ronald is keeping me up to date on the success of the new DVD collection in the library. So far its going really well! I committed to him and Masinfa that if students are frequently renting DVDs than I will run a collection drive this semester and send a lot more DVDs to build a better library. So stay tuned on that!

Evaluation and translation of website

Finally, while it wasn't a major project I tried to help the administration of Masinfa improve their website. I have worked in two different communications departments in Washington DC and taken quite a few computer classes so I have some experience in website development and maintenance. I don’t do code or building from scratch, but I think I was able to make suggestions for their contracted web developer to change about the website in order to make it more accessible and clear. Also, a previous employee of Masinfa had tried to translate the website into English, but it was pretty rough around the edges, so I converted that person’s work into professional English based on the Spanish text on the website. I was not able to invest a lot of time into being sure that the administration applied the changes I suggested or created the option to view the website in English. I decided to prioritize my other projects, but wanted to contribute to the administration in some way. So I am unsure if this part of my work will result in sustainable changes, but no money was spent here so I am not that concerned.