During my Freshman year of college at UW-Madison I discovered the Alternative Breaks program-- a student-run program through the Wisconsin Union that coordinates volunteer trips throughout the US and abroad. During my spring break, I had traveled through the program to Bridgeport, Alabama which inspired me to do a summer trip abroad.
I traveled to Huancayo, Peru with nine other University of Wisconsin students where we stayed with the director of an educational program called Tinkuy Peru. The organization had started a small school to teach english and math as a supplement to the public education that many local children were receiving. The program also acted as an after school program with recreational time and cultural activities after classes.
As volunteers, we assisted with English classes-- working with kids 5-16 years of age. We started off observing the classes, but by the end of the week they had us up in front of the class going over vocabulary and verb tenses. While there is not much we could do with the week that we were there, it was a tremendous experience for all of us and it has inspired me to pursue other projects with a basis in education.
No comments:
Post a Comment