Hey!
It's been a while since this blog's been updated - however Clara Luna has still been going strong! This entry mainly concerns the happenings at Cafe de Lenguas during the month of May.
English lessons were still being conducted on a daily basis by Mark (Tx, US), Joe (UK), Kiera (BM), Jennie (UK) and the newly arrived Eddie (Or, US) and Greis (NL) Ages ranged from Kids as young as 10 right to adults.
Kiera and Jennie went to the local schools every morning to conduct English lessons to classes of kids ranging from 20 noisy kids to 35noisy kids! Jennie, every so prepared, was the Queen of prep - she thought up fun games and activities to aid English learning.
The local schools was also the location for a new activity that Paola brought in. Us volunteers helped out with a spanish reading activity which would involve some drawing of some kind.
May saw 'Club de Niños' go from strength to strength - at the start we had smaller groups of kids where we did group reading and then played some football on the beach...but week after week more kids came (through promotion in the local schools where Kiera and Jennie teach). To celebrate Clara Luna's anniversary we had a big party where over 50 kids came - party games, dancing, jelly and face painting helped to make it a great day!
Sandra (UK) and Donna (NL) helped out every day at the local Foundation for children with disabilities where they would help kids with reading and do some arts activities.
Everyone helped out with the weekly each clean up on Tuesdays (along with other volunteer organisations) and every Wednesday we had Intercambio, an English-Spanish language exchange where speakers of either language got the opportunity to speak in the other language with a native.
Quite a unique activity at Clara Luna saw Joe teach French in the evenings to Paola (the Organiser of Clara Luna) and several local Tour Guides and Hostel owners. French travellers are quite common in Puerto Lopez and many don't speak Spanish or even English.
These lessons summed up the international-feel to Clara Luna - an Englishman teaching Spanish-speaking students the language of French with his Italian-sounding accent...
On the social side of things, May certainly saw a lot of partying - among the highlights was Sandra entertaining everyone with her Donna Summer moves and generally any excise for a weekend get-together-party.
So, as the whale season approaches, Sandra Jennie and new guys Eddie and Greis will take the reins in June, which, will no doubt be another fantastic month at Clara Luna.
Que mes inolvidable!
Un abrazo,
El italianito, Joe x
Ps Eddie - you have a lot to live up to with the dance-routines
