Casa Xalteva - Language School

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Well i successflly completed my first week in Nicaragua! It has been a lot of fun but super busy! We are both volunteering and taking classes at Casa Xalteva, so I spend around 12 hours of my day there! Casa Xalteva doubles as a Spanish School for foreigners and also daycare of sorts for local children. I get in at 8am every day; from 8-10am I tutor a great 12 yr boy with his homework. (they have tutoring/homework help for 2 hours each day; if there are enough volunteers its 1 on 1). Three days a week they have a local man teach chess lessons from 10-11...and these kids are incredible chess players! The other days we play futbol or games inside (its super hot! right now i am sitting still with a fan on my back and still dripping wih sweat!) anyways.. from 11-12 we continue with different games until noon when we go home for an hour to eat. The kids go to school at that time. Casa Xalteva really does a great job teaching the kids and keeping them off the streets. They have basketball teams, fiestas, and many have them have learned all the traditional dances (girls and boys) and they are awesome dancers! The school also provides them with breakfast and lunch. There are currently 15 kids at the school. They all come from different backgrounds and they all have suffered a great deal in their young lives. Most return home each night to tough family situations. Its really nice to know that my time with the kids makes a difference and just the fact that we pay for classes there is awesome, because all the money goes to these programs for the kids.

At 1pm I return for my spanish class. We are split into three groups, so its 2 students with one teacher. Susan and I share a profesor (Manuel). Our classes are discussions about Nicaraguan culture, history, food, government, etc. Its perfect because we are learning the local spanish and all about Nicaragua at the same time.

We have class until 5, then i have a break until about 5:45. (normally just enough time to go grab a coke because everyone there loves to talk 😊 ) At 6 I teach an english class of 5 20-25 yrs olds. They are great and really sweet..and thankfully understanding to the fact that I've never taught english before! Sometimes after english class we all stick around and have a dance lesson until about 8:30 or so.

So as you can see they keep us really busy here! Its been a lot of fun! I am really enjoying the people here and I love the work that Casa Xalteva does. http://www.casaxalteva.org/

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Photos

antonio
the newest of the group and the biggest smile!

ajedres
a VERY common pasttime at Casa Xalteva

mmmm
desayuno! (breakfast)

Larry
Larry is the kids permenant teacher, and is great with them!

Granada 405
teacher/student love

learning english
"the helmet protects my head" ... Fares is my student for 2 hours each morning!