La Boquilla

On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, I volunteer in La Boquilla, helping teach the Adult English Level 3 Class. La Boquilla is one of the poor zones in Cartagena and predominately an Afro-Colombian community. This particular class is in the Marlinda neighborhood of La Boquilla. CoraJeM, is the organization that established the English class along with a Level 1/2 class, a kids class, and other programs. Marlinda sits on the shore and is beautiful. It was once a destination for tourist but because of petty crime, the tourist has steered away from the area. Which in turn further hampered the community because tourist dollars had a hefty impact on the economy. The bus to Marlinda cost $2,300 COP. The bus drops us off right on the beach which makes a pleasant entrance to and from “work”.

Here’s an article and the foundation and its goals. https://www.deine-korrespondentin.de/englisch-fuer-eine-bessere-zukunft/

The Adult Level 3 Class has always been run by volunteers. The head teacher for the class is a school administrator from Denver, Lisa. She’s been in the role for approximately three months. There have been a few volunteers that come through periodically, but she’s mostly run the class alone. On my first day, three other volunteers (two from Brazil, one from Argentina) were also starting. They were placed on the project by another organization from their countries that encourages young adult volunteering. So, the class went from one teacher to five just like that.

I had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it provides the students a lot more assistance but also divvies up the teaching time; reducing the amount of class-leading I can doo. Since part of being here is to stretch and challenge myself I welcome all the opportunities I can get. All in all, things have worked out well. A week ago, Sarah, a volunteer from London on the back end of a yearlong trip joined our group pushing the number of teachers to six (a couple of volunteers will be leaving soon and will be at four for the remainder of my stay).

There are seven regular students for the Adult English Class with the youngest student being 18. My guess is the oldest is maybe 25? But that’s just a guess. The regular students are Edward, Robinson, Adella, Francisco, Ruth, Angielene and Susanna. Ruth brings her toddler to class with her every day that serves as a pleasant distraction. Angielene is 21 and eight months pregnant. Edward is 18 and the star student. Being able to speak English in Cartagena is gold and pretty much assures someone a job. I’ve actually been surprised at how few people speak English here with it being such a touristed destination. The students come for the hope of a better life for the community and their families. I was talking to Edward once and he said, “I want to learn English so I can get a job because my family condition is not good”. When you hear a “kid” say that, in their strong accent, it tugs and inspires you at the same time. Edwards English is good. He just needs more practice speaking to gain more confidence. We’ve been encouraging him to come to the English Speaking Club Domino Volunteers offers on Tuesday and Thursdays. So, this past Tuesday he came and we treated him to dinner after.

When I first learned I’d be helping with English I wasn’t sure how that would work with my very limited Spanish and zero teaching experience. I was quickly told, the goal in class is to speak as much English as possible. There are times when instructions or word definitions need to be given in Spanish (not by me obviously), but for the most part, we only speak in English, very slowly and clearly.

The classes are designed to be fun. We incorporate a lot of games and songs that provide speaking, listening, and vocabulary recall with active participation. On the first day I found myself showing the students the Hokey Pokey. Quickly, I discovered I had to let it all go and have no shame. A game I introduced that everyone really enjoys is Hot Potato. We usually end the class with Hot Potato or a song as to close it on a high.