Costa Rica... I keep coming back for more!: Day of the Children

Why don’t we have a day of the children in the United States? It seems like we should. We have a mother’s day. We have a father’s day. It would be only fair for us to also have a day of the children. We could learn a lot from the Costa Ricans.

Anyway….

Today was El Dia del Ninos, or Day of the Children. Lucky me got to celebrate twice. Because my students would be coming to Pacayitas today to celebrate El dia del ninos with the high school and elementary school here, we had our own celebrations in Mollejones this past Wednesday. I was told that all of the classes would be held on Wednesday, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t happen. I was right. After teaching one class in the morning, my director suggested we just take the rest of the day off to play. The children didn’t complain, and neither did I. The day was filled with games, candy, and of course soccer. It is fun to be able to let loose with my students. I feel like recently I’ve become stricter in the classroom. Due to class being cancelled more often, I try to pack as much information as they can handle into one class so that we can get through all the units. Unfortunately, this leaves little time for games. Some things just can’t be taught with a game. I still try to make class enjoyable. We spend a lot of time creating things, drawing pictures and writing sentences about what they are drawing. Even so, they constantly beg me to play Bingo or Jeopardy. My favorite days are when we play Bingo and Jeopardy, too. However, I have to teach them enough information to fill up a Bingo or Jeopardy board in order for us to play, and with classes being cancelled so often, game days keep getting pushed back. Anyway, my point being, it was fun to be able to play with the students on Wednesday.

It got even better today. I met my students at the high school here in Pacayitas this morning. They had been told they would get a surprise and they kept asking me what it was, but I had no idea. There was a ribbon cutting celebration happening at the high school because three new classrooms have been built. As far as I knew, that was all that was happening. I was just as surprised as the students when World Champion Boxer, Hanna Gabriel, was sitting at the main table. She is a huge celebrity here in Costa Rica and she also happens to be the sister in-law of the director of the high school. I knew that the director was related to her, but I never expected to see her in Pacayitas. It was pretty cool. She gave a speech about staying in school, something she didn’t do, and spoke about waiting to have children. This is a problem throughout Costa Rica. There are young mothers throughout the country, and Pacayitas is no exception. I feel like every where I look there is a new teenager pregnant, each one younger than the last. This part of her speech was especially awkward for me as I was sitting next to a girl in high school who happened to be breastfeeding her baby. However, I think it was a great message for these young kids to hear. I feel as though they don’t hear it from anyone else. After her speech the students lined up for autographs and pictures. I was fortunate enough to get a picture, however I passed on the poster, as she was running low and some students still hadn’t received one.

It was a great week. I had a blast playing with my students on Wednesday, and it was great to see them light up around a celebrity.