Teaching Adults

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I would have to say that the thing that sticks out most in my mind from this past week would be teaching adults.

It BLOWS MY MIND that I am teaching these women (three Marias) how to write and recognize their names. They write so slowly, so carefully, so timidly.

On the third day of class, two of the Marias were asking me about their daughters because I have them in art and first grade English (and it just so happens that their daughters are my smartes/quickest students in English), and we ended up talking about how it is so easy for kids to learn and just soak up everything, while it’s SO hard for adults to learn. All three of these women have been in the program for at least a year (one woman has been in the program for 4), and they still can’t write their names with ease or know the 5 vowels for sure…

I just can’t even fathom being 30, 40, 50, and not being able to write my name, or do simple math. But this is life here. This is not uncommon in any way.

The cutest moment of the week (I have this class every night for an hour) was when I brought out clay for them to form letters with. I need to get a picture of their smiles when they are playing with the dough, rolling it out to form the letters. It is PRICELESS. Their giggles are incredible. One Maria, who can barely communicate in Spanish (it is her second language, though I wouldn’t even call her proficient in understanding or speaking), had the hugest smile on her face when forming the letter A with the pretty pink clay.

These women are my heroes. There is no other way to put it.

One Maria has 10 kids, ages 30 to 3, but she isn’t working right now because she just had an operation. Another Maria is a widow with 4 kids and works at night from 7 to 7 to support her kids. The third Maria is the one who can barely speak Spanish. Her husband just had an operation and she is taking care of 7 kids by herself as well as working. She gets about 4 hours of sleep a night. All three Marias are indigenous, and Spanish is their second language, so learning to read is incredibly hard for them. This also means that they speak Quichua (their primary language) with each other, in front of me, (which is easier for them so I definitely understand), but I just sit there, confused a lot of the time haha. But I’m excited because I’m having them teach me a word a day, and they laugh and laugh and laugh at me trying to pronounce the words.

Sobretodo, all of this makes me so grateful for the education that I have received, and it makes me want that much more to give it all away to these three beautiful women.

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