The Last Post

As of Friday 3rd July, I no longer work at FEISA.

A number of funding difficulties at FEISA have led the Anglican Church in Paraguay (the body financially responsible for FEISA) to carry out a restructuring of the institution. As part of that restructuring, several jobs have been eliminated and mine was one of them.

I feel privileged to have been part of FEISA for these three and a half years. I have worked with some very inspiring people. In particular, I have been captivated by Ana's dynamic vision, embraced by Noemí's gentle spirit and humbled by Sam's generous heart. Then there's Susi, who has such a great sense of humour, and Esteban, whose faith knows no bounds... I have had so very many meetings which have been peppered with raucous laughter, because of knowing each other well and having a shared joy in life. It has been such a wonderful blessing to be part of such a dynamic team and I am definitely going to miss the working atmosphere.

It has been an honour to be part of FEISA's vision; to hear testimonies of how our graduates have impacted the lives of children, bringing God's love into their classrooms. I have enjoyed pouring my experience into the students' teaching through my observations of them on teaching practice. It has been great to be part of the process of awarding scholarships to the most economically needy students, thereby giving them a helping hand out of the poverty cycle as well as helping them fulfill their vocation. I have been pleased to use my experience to enrich the curriculum for training the students how to teach English to young children. I have derived much joy from watching the students progress in my English classes.

One of my greatest pleasures has been to pass on my knowledge of how to teach English to young children to qualified teachers through my Fun English workshops. I have even had the opportunity to meet with some of these teachers at later dates and they have told me of their delight in using my ideas and materials. "The children love it," one teacher told me. There is no greater accolade in my book!

I am completely amazed by the way God has been leading me through my life. When I was preparing to come to Paraguay and work at FEISA, I could clearly see how the work I was expecting to do here was the culmination of all the work experience I had had up until that point. I could not imagine life after FEISA because I couldn't see how there could be another job that would fit me anywhere near as well, given my background.

Now, however, I can see that even this time at FEISA has been preparing me for something else, something new, something better. I have learned so much during my time in FEISA, and one of the most surprising things is that I enjoy writing and might even have a gift for it. Because of this, I'm not going home just yet. The SIM leadership here in Paraguay have asked me to do some writing projects for the team so even though my work at FEISA is done, I am going to stay here for the next few months. I am looking forward to this new challenge and excited about what the longer-term future may hold.

This is the final post on this blog. If you want to continue to read about what I'm up to, my new blog is anhelando el cielo ("longing for heaven")


© Fiona L Cooper 2009

FEISA Graduates

FEISA's vision is to train early years teachers to the highest standard in order to develop in children their full potential and so generate a transformation of society.  Our graduates are working in many different contexts.  Some of them are at the frontline of the struggle to transform Paraguay by giving children from disadvantaged backgrounds access to high quality education.  Here are some of their stories:

Anabel graduated in 2003 and now works for a government project aiming to tackle the huge numbers of children working on the streets in Asunción and surrounding towns.  The project works with the families to eliminate the need for the children to work by helping the parents generate sufficient income.  It also provides health, nutrition and educational support.  Of the 1,340 children being supported by the project, 96% are no longer working on the streets.  Annabel is completely fulfilled in her work. “I always knew I wanted to reach more than the children in one class. These children are vulnerable and isolated. Nothing was being done for them. To see the success of the project and know that this is possible for more and more children in Paraguay thrills me.”

Lili graduated in 2004 and now works with the indigenous Aché community.  Educational provision amongst indigenous communities is the worst in Paraguay and it is difficult to find teachers for these communities due to the harsh living conditions.  Lili’s dynamic, interactive teaching methods in pre-school made even the youngest children want to attend so she decided to start a nursery class as well! The community is delighted that their children are learning so much. Her teaching about basic hygiene is also ensuring better health for them and their families. Had Lili not received a full scholarship from FEISA, she would not be teaching today.

Silvia graduated in 2004 and now teaches in a day nursery run by a Mennonite charity.  As well as having a class of 25 four-year-olds, she co-ordinates the volunteers who work with all the children, aged from 6 months to 5 years.  The charity’s vision is to offer economic, social and spiritual help to disadvantaged families, most of whom come from shanty towns.  They wash, feed, educate and provide basic medical care for the children and they provide talks and workshops for the parents on parenting and life skills.  Silvia is now studying for the degree at FEISA and she says she’s learning an enormous amount.  She says, “My whole life I have wanted to be a teacher.  FEISA gave me very good training, which prepared me well for the job.  Now my desire is to become the director of a Christian school.  Doing the degree is the first step.  This is my vocation.”

Elisa graduated in 2006 and is now teaching in a charity-run school for children at risk.  She has a class of 23 five-year-olds, all of whom come from families where the parents are either in prison, working on the street or ill, often with AIDS.  She acts as nurse and mother as well as teacher to these very needy children.  Before she came to FEISA she felt called by God to work with young children, but did not have the economic means to pay for teacher training.  By offering her a scholarship, FEISA gave her the opportunity to qualify as a teacher and she says it was a dream come true for her to be able to study, a real gift from God.  She now feels fulfilled in her work; “I feel useful and I’ve got so much to give.  I try to make a difference to the children’s lives, giving them the love and attention they need.”

© Fiona L Cooper/FEISA 2009

Training Teachers in the Chaco

The river Paraguay splits this land-locked country in two: The eastern half is lush and fertile, while the western half is a dry, flat and harsh region they call the Chaco.

There are indigenous communities in both parts of the country, speaking a variety of languages. FEISA has had links for a number of years with indigenous communities in one particular part of the Chaco. The college has run several training programmes with teachers and mothers to improve education for the under-fives. All these programmes have come at the request of the communities themselves, who are largely neglected by the national government when it comes to useful and practical training and resources for teachers.

The mother tongue of most of these communities is Enxet, but the schools haven't had resources to teach in Enxet, so the children have been doing much of their learning in Guaraní, or Spanish. FEISA realised the importance of encouraging the use of Enxet in school, in order to preserve the language for future generations, and has been translating the teaching resources developed for indigenous Paraguayan contexts into this language over the past year or so.

This weekend, I had the privilege of accompanying a FEISA training visit to the Chaco, where the teachers, some of whom speak Spanish, but most either Guaraní or Enxet, were taught games, songs and other activities to do with their young pupils in their mother tongue.

I had the job of taking photos, which made me very happy! So do go see them, if you're interested:

Chaco visit FEISA training session

© Fiona L Cooper 2009

Successful "Fun English" Workshop

Following on from the success of my workshop erm, two years ago (!) I once again offered my wisdom and experience to any and all teachers who were interested in teaching young children English in a creative and fun way.

We'd done the publicity for the workshop, and asked people to sign up if they were interested, so that we knew how many people to expect. By yesterday evening, we had a grand total of 9 teachers signed up. It wasn't a huge number, but I didn't mind - I figured if God wanted just a small number to come then that was his prerogative and I would give it my best for those few. By the time the workshop started this morning, there were 14 teachers, and four more appeared over the next half hour or so... In the end, I had twice the number of people I was expecting. It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm! Most of the participants also bought my book and the CDs of songs and resources. Hooray!

I had a great time once again - I love helping others become more creative in their teaching and it's a wonderful privilege to be able to pass on what I've learnt to people who are keen to do the best they can. Oh, and I love the whole "performance" aspect of teaching anyway, and with such a willing group, it was a joy to encourage them to sing and play games with the eagerness of children!

Here's a wee look at what I do:





And you'll find some photos here:

Fun English Workshop 2009

© Fiona L Cooper 2009

Transition Blues

I went home for Christmas. I only told a very few people because I knew I wouldn't have time to see anyone else. I was in the UK for a month. I spent Christmas with my family in Newcastle, had a couple of wonderful days in the Lakes with a friend for Hogmanay and briefly saw other friends on my way down south to Heathrow and the journey back to Paraguay.

Now I'm back in Paraguay, where I belong for this time in my life and I'm feeling rather emotionally vulnerable. Which is unusual for me, being more of a logical than emotional personality type. And because of its unusualness, it's a rather uncomfortable place to be.

It's called Transition, this time between cultures, when you don't quite feel as though you fit anywhere. And it's what I'm going through. And I hate it. I've gone through it so many times in my life and recently, it's been every year. Yet it doesn't get any easier.

I think there are a number of factors which can make it easier or harder to cope with, such as how much I've enjoyed my time in the first culture, how much I miss friends and family, how settled I feel in the second culture, how much rest I've had recently, etc.

This time at home, I spent very good times with friends and family and I'm finding it quite hard that I can't spend more time with them, or see them more regularly. My friends have growing families - let me tell you about the 12 people I know who are pregnant at the moment!! - and I would love to be more a part of their lives, I particularly miss getting to know the children while they are young.

I've come back to what is very likely (though not definitely) my last year here in Paraguay. That means I'm inevitably thinking about the future beyond 2009 - where will I go? What will I do? This in turn makes me feel a bit restless about being here at all. I'm trying hard to focus on the here and now, but part of me is constantly evaluating what's going on, in an effort to discern which direction I should go in next.

I've returned to a job which, to all intents and purposes, is likely to be very similar in roles and responsibilities as it was last year. Last year was very hard and I'm expecting it to be a similar challenge this year. That doesn't exactly fill me with joy! Although the fact that I am convinced I'm in the right place for this time in my life does give me a certain functional contentment. However, being a details person means I often find it hard to notice the big picture and remember the reason I came when my mind is occupied with the nitty gritty of getting through the problem in front of me at the time.

So I'm generally a bit fed up and unmotivated at the moment. I'm also tired and the heat is affecting me more than usual because of that. I need to remember that this is a phase that will pass. I need to focus on the positives about being here and take time to enjoy them. I need to make sure I get enough rest, while being aware that sleeping too much is also a sign of stress. And I need to be able to talk about how I'm feeling. So thank you, because that's what this post has really been about - being able to articulate how I'm feeling in an effort to manage this horrid Transition process a bit better.

See more photos from my time in the UK:

Christmas break 08-09

© Fiona L Cooper 2009

Teaching and Learning in the Chaco

Last week I had the privilege of accompanying the third year FEISA students on a trip to various communities in the remote and inhospitable Chaco region of Paraguay. The purpose of this yearly outing is to give the students who are about to graduate the opportunity to see different kinds of educational projects being run in indigenous and Mennonite communities. Most of them only have experience of city life, so it can be very valuable indeed to show them the reality of life in indigenous areas as well as the very different way the Mennonites organise their communities.

We left Asunción on Tuesday at 6am on a bus which promised a working toilet, tv and dvd player. There was much disappointment when it was discovered that neither the toilet, the tv nor the dvd player worked properly. And that was before we'd even left the city! Later that morning, we arrived at a community boarding school called Pai Puku, where 500 children live and learn from February to November every year. They are the sons and daughters of parents who have to leave their homes to find work and this gives them an education they would not otherwise have access to. The school is run by the Catholic Church and funded, in part, from Belgium, where the founding priest came from. (He was named Pai Puku by the locals - Pai meaning priest and Puku meaning tall in Guaraní) It is an amazing place, in a remote area, with little access to anything. The children are involved in all the cleaning, washing, ironing, bread-making, gardening, carpentry that make sure the community runs smoothly. They are amazingly self-sufficient and independent. The girls and boys are taught life-skills along with regular lessons, so that when it comes time for them to leave they have at least some of the tools they need in order to make a go of life. I was very inspired!

Girls at the laundry sinks in Pai Puku.

Later that afternoon, we arrived at an indigenous community a long way from the tarmac'd road, called Dos Palmas, or Two Palms (though there wasn't even one palm to be seen!) This is one of the communities FEISA is helping this year through the pre-school training programme the college runs. We arrived at 3pm and it was 38º in the shade. Some of the students had been designated the task of painting murals on the pre-school classroom walls and the rest had organised games for the children outside. In the heat. I went between the two groups, taking photos, for a time. The children and their mothers thoroughly enjoyed the games and the painters were doing a really great job, though it was quite painstaking at times. After a while I really couldn't handle the heat outside any longer and stayed inside with the painters. I inevitably got roped in to help and am proud to say that the butterfly on the wall was painted by lil' old me! It was horribly hot and also extremely dusty, due to the severe drought that the Chaco experiences every year during the cooler (and drier) months between April and October.

Kids at Dos Palmas playing games.

Me and my butterfly!

Three hours after we arrived, much hotter and quite exhausted, we left Dos Palmas to head further north to a Mennonite town called Loma Plata. This is a community with a population of about 5,000, very efficiently run by people whose ancestry comes from Germany, via Canada, for the most part. They speak German and often English, but many don't speak Spanish at all. On Tuesday night we stayed with friends and family of one of our students who comes from the town. They looked after us very well and I enjoyed meeting new people I could talk to in English!

The following morning we visited an indigenous school which is part of a Mennonite-run project to train indigenous mothers to teach pre-school aged children. The project provides the resources and the training, but the community has to provide a committed teacher and food for the children, which is cooked over an open fire every morning. The children are taught in their own language (in this case Enxet) and we watched as they sang songs, recited poems, played games, practised the alphabet and did an art activity which involved glue! The wonderful thing about seeing this school was the obvious love the teacher and her helper exhibited towards the children and their joy in what they do, which was transmitted to the children and all who were watching that day.

Indigenous teacher and kids, marking attendance, using a wonderfully creative system!

We then went to the resource centre for this project and one of the co-ordinators explained to our students how the project is run and some of the difficulties they encounter. This was also very inspiring for me. It is just great to see people who are relatively well-off taking an interest in improving the opportunities of those near them who don't have the same access to resources and training. Glory be to God!

Indigenous kids brushing their teeth after eating.

After a good lunch in Loma Plata we went to visit a nursery school, run by the local council for the town's residents. It was now 42º in the shade! We were very excited to see one of FEISA's 2007 graduates working there and obviously enjoying it. The education system in the Mennonite community was much more like the kind of thing our girls are used to in schools in Asunción than the indigenous communities; it was easy to see the similarities there. After that we had the privilege of visiting an education centre for adults with learning disabilities. We saw the men doing woodwork and the women doing embroidery, all of which things were for a purpose, not just to keep the folk occupied. There was a little shop where you could buy the finished products and we later saw some items from there for sale in the town bookshop. Once again I was very inspired by the work going on there. I worked for two years with mentally handicapped adults in the UK and none of them did anything approaching as productive as these people were doing. I don't know how representative my experience was of what goes on with this sector of society in the UK, but having seen these Mennonite folk with disabilities actually working with their hands and producing something at the end of it, I feel it's a shame there isn't more of that at home. It gives them a purpose to their lives that they don't have if all they do is activities such as art, crafts, games, swimming etc. We were created to work and surely people with learning disabilities have that same innate need.

After a visit to the library and bookshop in Loma Plata, we started for home. On our way back south towards Asunción the countryside was noticeably greener than it had been the previous day. There had been torrential rain in Asunción that morning, we'd heard, and the lower part of the Chaco had obviously benefited too.

It was very encouraging to hear what the students had gained from the experience. They all said they had been impacted by the different things they saw. Some were affected by the school at Pai Puku. Others were touched by the joy on the faces of the children at Dos Palmas when they were playing games. One girl said she was very impressed with the way the Mennonites took care of the less-fortunate people in their community. It was certainly a memorable experience for everyone, including me.

Some of the students having fun on the journey home.

I arrived back in my flat at 10pm on the Wednesday. Extremely tired, hot and in desperate need of a shower!

© Fiona L Cooper 2008

Teacher Training

Did you know that for every time you say something critical to a child, you need to say six positive things to counteract the bad feeling caused by that one negative comment? I found it very useful when I was told that during my own teacher training and I tried to put it into practice, though I must admit to never making it to that ratio. When you think about it, though, even as adults we feel criticism very strongly but quickly forget the praise we're given. It's a very helpful idea to bear in mind when you're teaching because it forces you to make the effort to say positive things, when it's not the most natural thing to do. And that can make teaching a more rewarding experience, because you are focusing on the positive things more, so you feel better about your work.

Perhaps it's a principle we should put into practice in our everyday lives. I know I tend to focus on the negative in every situation and, although I perhaps don't do a lot of verbal criticising of people, neither do I say a lot that's positive. In fact, this week, as I've visited students on teaching practice to assess them, I know I haven't followed my own advice. Oh, sure I've said positive things about their lessons - I always start with the positive - but then I move on to the "areas for improvement" and tend to linger there, giving advice about how they could improve etc. I fear there was one girl who was a bit disheartened at the end of our feedback time. So next time, I'm going to try to end on a positive note.

I have loved watching the students teach; for the most part they have done very well. It's been a particular joy to see those who I also observed last year, and how they've progressed. I find it very fulfilling to have such a direct impact on their training. I remember the teaching practice parts of my training as being the times when I learnt most about teaching. It's particularly useful when you get feedback about how you're doing so that you can improve, even in the next lesson.

So I hope that my own efforts (in sometimes stumbling Spanish) will have an overall positive effect on the students I observe. I would love for them to learn something from me which they can then put into practice and so can see for themselves how much they are improving.

(photo: 3rd year student Marisa on teaching practice)

© Fiona L Cooper 2008

Teaching News

Yesterday was the final exam for the English part of the new degree extension course. Hooray that it's finally over! Not that I didn't enjoy teaching it, but on the whole, this new 2 year program has been extraordinarily badly organised. Things seem to get started without enough thought as to how exactly they're going to work out, then when problems begin to appear, changes are made in haste and (inevitably) are badly thought through.

Anyway, English has been both a challenge and a joy to teach to these students. We decided that it would be most useful to them if it was relevant to their jobs (they're all qualified pre-school teachers), rather than just a course on improving their own spoken English. So we did vocabulary, songs, instructions and games that you'd need if you wanted to teach English to young children. That was the first semester. Then the second semester, the structure of the course changed to a modular system, so instead of an hour and a half once a week for 17 weeks, I suddenly had to teach 3 hours a week for 6 weeks!!! Still, once I got over the shock of that, and with an enormous amount of reliance on God in the lesson planning, I taught them about planning and other methodology useful for teaching English to very young children.

Well, the exam yesterday consisted in them pretty much writing down everything they'd learnt about how to teach English to young children. They also had to choose three things they'd learnt that were most useful to them and tell me how they were going to put them into practice in their own teaching (in whatever subject) and then they had to plan a lesson, according to given criteria. They did amazingly well!! I was so impressed with how much they've learnt, it really sounds as though they could all plan and teach English with no problems. I was particularly excited to read the things they're going to put into practice (or already are putting into practice!), having been inspired by this module. So I'm very excited and so happy to have done the course, even if it was extremely stressful at times! The best thing for me (and the biggest reason I came) is to see people trained to teach English (or any foreign language) in a way that is fun and motivates the kids. I've achieved my goal. I guess I can go home now!!!!! (Only kidding, Sam!)

Oh, and did I say it's finally over? Well, actually of course the final exam is not the final exam - I mean, the students who didn't have the right to do the final exam (maybe because they didn't do enough coursework, didn't come to enough lessons, didn't do the mid-term test or didn't pay their fees) get to do the resit next week. If they still have problems, then they get to do it the week after that. If, after these three chances they still can't pass, then at some point in the future (maybe just the following week, who knows?) they get to do the 3rd resit. I think that's really their last chance. And by that time, the teacher, the academic head and the academic secretary are all fed up, both with the subject and with the students who can't get their backsides into gear and do what's necessary. It's a pretty frustrating system for someone coming from the UK, where a pass is a pass and a fail means "goodbye."

And then there's the pass mark: 70%. SEVENTY PERCENT!!! Just to PASS! This means, of course, that the majority of the exam (and all coursework as well) has to be dead easy, so that all students get the chance to pass, at least. Oh, oops, you may be thinking that that's not so obvious, but I forgot to mention (though it may be clear by now!) that the students should all be able to pass. Hmm. What about those who don't quite have the brain cells to make it? Ah, well, poor wee things, they'll get all upset if they actually find out they're not up to the task. So the exam, the coursework and all the figures are manipulated so that they do pass, whether they are good enough or not.

AAAARRGGHHH! It drives me up the wall.

However, I do my best to take it all in my stride nowadays - it took a bit of getting used to but after 2 and a half years of it, I think at work I generally give the impression all this is quite normal, though in private I tear my hair out!

Now I have to ask myself how much of my frustration is justified because there's really a better way to do things, and how much of it is due to the difference in cultures between my home country and the place I'm now serving? How much should I just swallow the frustration and get on with it and how much do I have a right/duty/obligation to try and convince others that it might be better for everyone (the college, the teachers and the students) if things were done in a different way?

Well, firstly, it's not just FEISA that runs this way, it's the whole education system in Paraguay, from state primary schools to private universities. Secondly, I'm not in a decision-making role at FEISA, so I don't have a platform for suggesting any kind of change in the academic systems at the college.

So my approach has been one of going along with it, mostly uncomplainingly. And when I have complained, it's been to one of my British colleagues, so as not to offend the Paraguayans I work with. It would be extremely easy for me to start criticising the system left right and centre, from a position of "I come from an education system which is far superior to yours." However, I wouldn't make many friends that way! And since the system is so entrenched, any comments I made would not actually make any difference - the fact is, I and the rest of the teachers at FEISA have to work within the system, doing the best we can in the circumstances.

I think one of the most important cross-cultural approaches anyone can have is to look at the system, learn how it works and why it works that way and if you truthfully see that it could be improved, limit yourself to your own, rightful sphere of influence. For me, that influence stays within the classroom. So I turn up on time; I prepare thoroughly; I make sure what I teach is as relevant and interesting as possible, within the subject matter; I do my best to make my lessons interactive and engaging; I set homework which is an extension to the learning they have done in the lesson and I expect it to be handed in on time, etc. In this way, I hope to model excellence, in an effort to show the students that it can be done. If someone with a bigger sphere of influence within the college were interested, they could find out how I teach and maybe be inspired to encourage others to work to similar standards. Then things might begin to change.

As it is, the students I've been teaching are qualified pre-school teachers, so it is possible that they themselves might see the possibilities of giving yourself high expectations and be inspired to follow my example in their own classrooms. The knock-on effect of this in itself could be huge: Other teachers may copy them. However, the children themselves will reap the biggest reward, having committed teachers at an age when they are forming their own attitudes to learning. If they have good teachers in pre-school, they will enjoy learning throughout their lives. And that's got to be a good thing. Even if it is a bit pie in the sky!

© Fiona L Cooper 2008

Fun English on the web!

I've just uploaded my guidebook for teaching English to young children to a site called Scribd. There's a Spanish version and an English version, both available either to look at online or to download as a pdf.

Here is the English version for you to read right now! If you want to see it full-screen, click on the small rectangular icon on the top right of the viewer.

It is the product of many months of hard work, mostly undertaken during my first year in Paraguay and completed in February 2007. The Spanish version has been very popular with our students and those who attended my workshops last year.

Fun English for Kids (English) - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Fun English for Kids (English)

© Fiona L Cooper 2008

Work Update

This photo shows students during a games afternoon

My different roles at the college are very much a challenge this year, particularly as Head of English. The situation with English is complicated and involves unhappy students, staff shortages and over-demanding teachers. I’m not enjoying the responsibility at all. I'd appreciate your prayers for the wisdom to know what to do, the courage to do it and the grace to do it with love.

I am enjoying teaching the level 1 students from the first year of the diploma course. They are a lovely group of girls and we have a lot of fun together. It’s the first time I’ve taught the same thing 3 years running and I like the fact that I’ve been able to improve the way I teach each year. (My poor class the first year I was here; they were definitely the guinea pigs!)

My students in the degree-level class have been a huge challenge because of the wide range of abilities they have. I have been teaching them the English they would need to be able to teach it to 3-6 year olds. It’s been fun, since I’ve been using activities suitable for pre-school age children. Those who have a high level of English have opted out of this first semester since they felt their time could be used more effectively in other ways. One of my other students told me she's been using some of the songs I've taught them with her nursery class, which is just wonderful to hear. Next semester the focus is on strategies and planning, so they all have to come to that.

I went on my fist visit of the year to the state adoption centre's orphanage for abandoned babies last week. Each week from now until the end of the year, our first year students will go in groups to do activities with the children. This is a great help to the staff, who are overworked and have so much to do in order to keep the babies clean, fed and clothed that they don't have much time at all to focus on their individual developmental needs. There were five of us (four students and me) and ten babies, between the ages of about 9 and 18 months. Some of the children were very active; at one point one of them started to climb up the shelves! Others needed a lot of attention and interaction to keep them from crying. One baby was content just to sit in my lap the whole time, watching what was going on in the rest of the room. It can be quite hard to leave them at the end of the session! The state does its best to find members of the child's extended family to take care of him/her and if they can't, the baby is put up for adoption.

The first teaching practice of the year is due to begin shortly so I will be going to visit some of the second year students on placement. I look forward to seeing how much the students have learnt and to being able to give each of them encouragement and constructive advice.

"This is your year!"

"Este es tu año" (This is your year), said Gloria, the Head of the Academic Dept at FEISA, just after she'd suggested that perhaps I should take on the role of Co-ordinator of the English Dept. It was not the first time I'd been approached about the role, but the last time had been over a year ago and I'd put the kibosh on it quite quickly and effectively by stating my lack of experience, which was accepted as a valid reason. The four of us in the English dept spent all last year trundling along quite happily without a co-ordinator and I just imagined that was the way it would stay, until Gloria blindsided me with the suggestion on Tuesday this week.

I'd already agreed to take on the responsibility of teaching English to the new degree students we'd be getting this year and then I was asked to lead the Scholarship dept, which felt quite scary and challenging but I was quite content thinking about these two new responsibilities, which felt pretty big to me.

I was feeling quite stunned when I left Gloria. I went and spoke to Sam, who had been the English Co-ordinator until the beginning of last year, only to find out that Gloria and Estela (FEISA's Head) had already mentioned it to her and that she'd told them I'd be good at it!!!! Sleep came slowly on Tuesday night.... and on Wednesday, Gloria and Estela called me in for a meeting, where they formally offered me the job and I accepted, having realised that there was a need for someone to do it and I was the logical person.

I'm not sure at all about whether this is my year. I feel quite out of my depth. Still, God sometimes pushes to uncomfortable places so we learn more about him... I'll let you know if it works!

So here's a current list of my job titles at FEISA:
(in no particular order)

• English Teacher (diploma course)
• English Teacher (degree course)
• English Co-ordinator
• "how to teach English to young children" Teacher
• Teaching Practices Teacher
• Mobile Play Scheme Worker
• Scholarship Co-ordinator
  
• Communications Co-ordinator (as part of the Donor Relations Team) - including writing the monthly prayer letter...

I think that's all. I also seem to be the resident expert on Microsoft Word and PowerPoint - not, I hasten to clarify, that I really am an expert, I just happen to know more than most people here at FEISA! So from time to time I get to do some troubleshooting, though it's not always successful!

So this year already feels like a HUGE challenge, though in a good way! And the students aren't even back yet! (they start on Monday)

Cynthia's Story

In order to give you a view of how FEISA is impacting lives, here's the story of one student, who was in my English class last year:

(photo of Cynthia at a play scheme this year)

"The love of God called me in 2006 when I was lost in the world, in religiosity, empty and with serious problems in my marriage. That January, I saw an advert in the newspaper for the Early Years Teacher Training course at FEISA. Teaching had been my dream for a long time but I had never had the opportunity or the finances to study. I found out that FEISA offers scholarships so I applied and a few days later I was accepted on the course. The scholarship was a real blessing because I was in a difficult situation; my husband was the only wage earner in the family and studying was difficult because I had 3 children who were also going to school. In this way, God was preparing the way for me towards an encounter with him.

"When I arrived at FEISA, I encountered the love of God through the people there and, in the Christian Worldview classes I discovered that salvation comes through faith and not by works, as I had believed.

"By July 2006, my relationship with my husband was deteriorating to the point that I wanted to leave him, even though I loved him a lot. I couldn't take the jealousy or the physical and verbal abuse any longer. The following month, my sister Liliana invited me to meetings where they talked about God and in September, I met him, God the Father, (Abba, Daddy!) at church. I continued to grow and that very month I started going to a Bible study where the Lord began shaping my life. In April 2007 I was baptised by full immersion, also known as water baptism.

"My brothers and sisters at FEISA were the fertile soil which welcomed this little seed.

"Nowadays my parents are studying the Bible, as is my husband. That monster changed into a wonderful and handsome prince, but, unlike the story of Beauty and the Beast, where everything ends when Beauty kisses the Beast and he changes and becomes handsome and they fall in love, in this story, it was God who showed us his love and this love changed us both.

"I thank the people at FEISA for their prayers and their support because the Word tells us that faith without works is dead and I feel the love of God through them, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank them because they are instruments in God's hands and thanks to this, God can change the lives of his children."

half way through the year already!

How time flies! We're just about to start our 2 week winter break and I'm quite amazed at how this first semester has sped by.

We had the exam for the 3rd years' course on teaching English to young children and I was very impressed with how well all the students did. They had to teach an activity to the rest of the students, as though they were doing it with a class of 5-year-olds. I was really very pleased with the quality of their teaching, I couldn't have hoped for anything better! Hooray! It is wonderful to think that I’ve trained students who are now capable of teaching English really well.

I asked the students to fill in evaluation sheets at the end of the course and they all came back with really positive comments. They enjoyed the practical nature of the course and the fact that the assessments were designed to help them teach, not just to give them marks. They were also very positive about me as a teacher, which is really affirming. Overall, they gave the course 5/5, so I feel quite confident that I managed to meet their needs and make the course enjoyable enough.

I'm going to a wedding tomorrow evening; a young couple from church. The worry is that the only clothes I've got that are suitably smart are not going to be warm enough. It's forecast to drop in temperature tomorrow and there's a chance of rain. Still, at least I've got clothes to wear!

On Sunday, I'm leaving for the SIM Paraguay team's annual conference. This year it's at a hotel in the countryside and will last 5 days, including some teaching and relaxing as well as a great opportunity to just spend time with the team. As a group we don't get together very often because there are families in a number of different places, some very far away. So I'm looking forward to that.

And that's all my news, I think.

college life continues...

“We want to have fun!” said the 3rd year girls when I asked them what their expectations were for the course I’m teaching them on how to teach English to very young children. It was the beginning of the first lesson of the module and it was really not the kind of response I was expecting at all!! They obviously remember the workshops I did with them on the same topic last September and were expecting a similar teaching style for this module. I was very sorry to have to disappoint them because this course has to be more academic than the workshops; they were a taste of the different activities you can do, but this module has to include theory and the development of lesson plans and schemes of work. I am including some fun activities in all the lessons but there are inevitable moments of dullness!

I am more involved with the teaching practices team this year, going on visits to an orphanage to supervise the students doing stimulation activities with the babies.

This year we have been taking the mobile play scheme to a wider range of places, including church pre-schools in very poor areas. It is a welcome break for the teachers and the children are over the moon at the chance to play freely for an hour or so.

Fun English for Kids

My workshop on Saturday was a success!

Thank you to all who prayed. It was a miracle, but everything got done in time and I was only a little bit nervous! I spent last week running around doing last minute things like getting my flashcards laminated and recording the songs onto CD (yes, I am officially a Recording Artist!) and supervising the printing and photocopying of the booklet (see the photos below). As you can see, Leo (the graphic designer) did a fantastic job making the booklet look fab. There are similar designs throughout the booklet and it's just wonderful to see my work looking so lovely. The booklet is manual for how to teach English to young children, including advice on classroom management, lesson structure, curriculum development and a prepared curriculum for 5 year olds, including a list of games and songs as well as advice for the first ever lesson. It's taken me about a year to put it together with the flashcards, worksheets and songs, which are now on CDs the participants were able to buy. (All proceeds going to FEISA, of course!)





12 teachers came from different schools in and around Asunción; we sang songs, played games, did a worksheet and looked at how to structure a lesson and how to design a curriculum. I enjoyed it very much and the teachers were very enthusiastic. One has asked me to do a workshop with the other English teachers from her group of schools. There's also the possibility of doing another workshop in the next couple of months, for teachers who didn't hear about this one. We need to work on the publicity a bit more!

Last May we did a workshop on learning through play at the Paraguayan Conference of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). Then in September, we went to Argentina to do the same workshop with the Argentinian ACSI Conference. Well ACSI seem to be quite keen to have me do a workshop on teaching English at the Paraguayan Conference this year... Watch this space!!!