Evaluation of the status of english teaching

in the area of Morona

The work we started was teaching basic English to children in San Jose and La Union. We feel that it is really important that future volunteers continue the work, so this document contains information for future volunteers and should be updated every time somebody leaves.

La Union

Situation: The children know very little english. They have never had an english teacher and they don´t have course books. They seem to have some vocabulary in their notebooks, because the director of the school has been teaching them some words, though he does not speak english. They are familiar with a few greetings and so on, but have no understanding of grammar. Depending on the day there are approximately 40 pupils from 9-12 years old. It is hard to maintain consistency as some pupils do not attend every day.

What we have done: We have been teaching them (a revision of these should be sufficient):

Hello

What is your name

My name is

How are you

I am fine

Where are you from

I am from

Also we have been teaching the ”head and shoulders, knees and toes” song, and body parts. They may remember some of it. Some have done colours.

Recommendations:

–Asking them to repeat loudly, e.g new vocabulary and greetings. This is an effective way to help them remember, and practice pronounciation.

–Playing games and singing songs are effective ways of getting all to participate, as some are very shy.

–There is a notebook for the school, that will be handed with comments from earlier volunteers. Write what you do. If we have to continue without books this is very important.

The voluntary afternoon kids from the San José primary school

Situation: They come voluntarily and are quite enthusiastic. They have notebooks with some words from the school, but they are basically starting from scratch. Being out of the school environment (we have been doing the classes on Doña Nube´s terrace) makes the teaching environment more relaxed and informal, but there are no facilities (e. g. blackboard), and naturally there are many kids that don´t attend.

What we have done: We have been teaching them (a revision of these should be sufficient):

Hello

What is your name

My name is

How are you

I am fine

Where are you from

I am from

Also we have been teaching the ”head and shoulders, knees and toes” song, and a few other body parts.

26/2 We taught them various kinds of animals, and asked them to draw them, which they enjoyed very much. We tried the ”Old McDonell had a farm”-song, but it was a bit difficult for them.

Recommendations:

–Drawings, songs, and games seems to motivate the children easily.

The secondary school (el colegio) of San José

Situation: They are taught english and have english text books, but they are all below the level of their book. Their theoretic understanding is better than their pronounciation and conversation is very basic. The older pupils are keen to learn and seem to enjoy being taught english by volunteers. They are enthusiastic and the environment is pleasant.

What we have done: We divided into 3 groups. Michael and Lisa spent all their time with 6th grade

(17 years +), doing conversation, greetings and a few other things like the verb ”to be”. They are a pleasure to work with, and have adjectives in their notebooks. Tom and Bjarke did pronounciation with different classes; difficult sounds and tongue twisters(difficult sounds: -me, -ve, -m, -sk, th, t, r). Helen used the children's english text book, and based activities (easier than those of the book) on this: e. g. christmas, spare time activities etc.

Recommendations:

General recommendations

–A good idea would be to watch a lesson with the english teachers to get an idea of the level and the teaching methods.

–Volunteers should always keep a record of what they have taught, so that future volunteers will have a reference.