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

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

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)

a busy couple of months

It's been a while, I know. There has been a lot going on at work but nothing new or unusual enough for me to feel the urge to write about it. I did workshops with the 1st and 2nd year teacher trainees on how to teach English to young children. The second year group are a lovely bunch of girls; we are blessed to have them at FEISA, and they were very enthusiastic from the beginning. The first years are a much more difficult group and, while doing the workshops I got the feeling that they were thinking it was a bit of a waste of time, so I was very surprised and gratified that my perceptions in fact had been wrong, when they wrote out their evaluation of the workshops. There were only one or two negative comments and almost all of them gave me 5 out of 5!

My parents came for their second visit in as many years! They had a fabulous time watching birds in the Chaco with a British bloke called Paul. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of birdwatching so I was pleased to leave them in the safe and capable hands of Paul while I got on with work at FEISA for a week! We visited the Iguazú falls again and the Jesuit ruins, in the south of Paraguay. I got to see a different part of the country with them, which was lovely. We stayed together at the SIM guest house in Asunción, so I had to get used to my mum's snoring quickly! And that meant Mum and Dad met (albeit briefly!) a number of the other missionaries I work alongside.

It was a very dry winter here, which meant drought for those living in the harsh western region called the Chaco, and it also provided fuel for thousands of forest fires to break out. Fortunately, there has been some rain in the past month or so, which has helped, though not enough to solve the water shortage yet.

I did my first solo visits to girls on teaching practice in October. A bit scary at first but I found I enjoyed being able to input into their training in a direct way. I saw some fantastic teaching and some decidedly underwhelming teaching too! Fortunately, there was a lot more that was positive than negative!

This photo shows one of our students as she supervises kids painting their playground wall

And here the children are painting themselves!


Other things I've been involved in include the design for a website we're putting together. There will be a Spanish part for prospective students and an English part for prospective donors/praying people. The Spanish part is with the website design company now and should be up and running within the next few weeks. The English part will take longer, but we're all quite excited about it, as you can imagine!

We have also taken the mobile play scheme to many, many schools over the past month. Our third year students have taken advantage of this service to enhance their teaching practices in schools in very poor areas. Some of the kids have been so overwhelmed they just didn't know what to do when faced with so many toys! I was playing in the home corner with one little girl, going along with the story she was making up and she was so delighted that I was responding to her play that she gave me a kiss on the cheek!



It's now near the end of the academic year so exams are coming up, which make the students quite stressed, as you can imagine. Everybody is exhausted and it's getting hotter, which makes everything that much more tiring, so we're all looking forward to the end of term!

At the end of October, I went away to a lovely hotel in the trees near a lake about an hour from Asunción, for a women's retreat with 6 others from the SIM team in Paraguay. It was a really wonderful weekend. We were the only guests at the hotel for most of the weekend, so it felt completely luxurious, swimming in the pool by ourselves, having the waiters at our beck and call...! It was fantastic to get to know everyone a bit better and to spend time with each other focusing on God and how to make Jesus our treasure. It really touched my heart and made me reassess my commitment to my Lord. If I really want to experience the joy of the Lord, I have realised this will entail discipline and sacrifice as well as suffering along the way. A hard thing to come to terms with but I am now convinced that the price is worth paying. If you want to pray for me, please pray that I will find fullness of joy in my relationship with my Saviour.

These are some of the women on the retreat; clockwise from left: Kelly, Alyssa, Vonnie, Lissy with Timmy


the extra ones in this picture are Sarah (front left) and Cherlynn (back right) oh, and me, as you can see!

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.