Daniel the Teacher

Daniel had a week off school this week, but as Neil's parents have just arrived in Peru (eeeee!!), we were working as normal - we have a fortnight's holiday now. Every Friday, we teach English lessons in Huambutio, about 45 minutes bus ride from Cusco.  The church hopes to work more in the area in the future, possibly opening a clinic.  We gave Daniel the option of staying at home with one of us, or coming to take part in the lesson.  He was really keen, so after dropping Sophia off at her nursery, we crammed into a combi (bus) for the trek over to the school.

The lesson started well, as we got a great response; the class began chanting 'Gringos' with great enthusiasm as soon as they saw us approaching.  We thought he was going to have a real mission experience as the teacher was nowhere to be seen when we arrived, and it turned out that there were lots of parents meetings. We thought perhaps that we would have travelled all that way only to have get back on the crowded bus. However, all was fine and we started a lesson with the 4th grade.

Daniel had a great time.  He helped to pronounce the words, and helped with some of the number games.  He also enjoyed playing one of the games with the children and was very good at finding the fish with the correct number and letter. Afterwards, we played some games during the break before it started raining, and he was very happy joining in.

We love teaching in this school. We always receive a great welcome and really enjoy spending time with these children.  The children that we have taught previously often run up and kiss and hug us.  There is a great atmosphere there and we love the opportunity to be with them.  The school are delighted to have English speakers to teach, as learning the language is very important here.  We love doing it, but are hoping to develop the work by running some other lessons in November. The photos aren't great, but I was taking action shots during the class. Here is Daniel walking on the train tracks back to the bus. Daniel and Sophia both miss out on various things from the UK.

However, they also get to experience so many great things in a different culture. As a parent, it is wonderful to hear his Spanish improving daily and see him enjoying participating in our work, What an opportunity.