Summer Camp 2013

Change My Stars... Week 1 Hello, my name is Evelyn Bower. I am one of the volunteers this summer and will be updating the blog. I hope you enjoy what you read... :)

 I have never realized the amount of opportunity America hands it's people from education, to career, and finally the many ways to come out of the poor circumstances some Americans were born into, until I set foot in Munõz, Dominican Republic. The small community I live in is full of Haitian people who live in this endless cycle of poverty. With an education that doesn't go past 6th grade and the divide between two classes, there is no hope until someone from the outside comes like Project Esperanza, Change My Stars (Cambia Mis Estrellas) English School. I have never been more proud or excited to bring the hope I have learned to these people through teaching English, in this six week camp. We have the blessing of being a part of changing the path these kids can take, giving them hope for a better future! How awesome!!!

 Yesterday was the end of week one, which went well! Each week has a theme, this week was family and body parts. We taught the children songs, crafts, stories, and games that relate to the vocabulary. The children's favorite song was, "The Family Finger Song." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8anh48PfkQ These sweet kids loved "Simon Says," this also taught them the body parts. Arts and Crafts showed all the volunteers how creative these kids are, how happy they can be with simple things like a piece of paper and crayons can make them. The beauty of simplicity is overwhelming here.

 I believe the first week went as well as it could have. The first couple days were a little rocky because there were so many students and few volunteers (IF YOU WANT TO HELP GO TO: www.esperanzameanshope.org/ ). So the next three days we tweaked the way we were doing things, focused more on one volunteer for one group, instead of groups switching from one volunteer to the next - it was like night and day. At the end of each day we ask the students what they learned that day, the difference between what the students learned on Day 1&2 to Day 3-5 was great. I am proud of the things we accomplished the first week and it will only get better from here. These kids are great and are so amazingly smart! Stay tuned for next week's post.

Summer English Camp Starts Tomorrow!!

Summer camp t-shirt design. T-shirts donated by Atlanta printing company owned by the husband of one volunteer.

Summer camp starts tomorrow, Monday, June 24th, but in a different area of town than in the past two years. We are running the camp in our grassroots school in the community of Padre Granero. The camp will run until Friday, Aug. 2nd.

In the past years, we charged a fee for sponsored campers or registered campers to attend camp. We mainly did this because the building we rented was quite expensive, to cover transportation, as well as other odds and ends. This year, since we are doing the camp in an already existing school building, we are not charging the camp fee, but the biggest expense we have to cover is the transportation. It comes out to about $8 per week, per camper. We will bus in 5 campers from the community of Los Dominguez (Eriverto, Miguelina, Milena, Enelbi, and Miguel Angel), and 5 campers from our grassroots school in Muñoz, who will ride with the volunteers each morning. If you are a native English speaker in the Puerto Plata area and would like to help out with camp this summer, please e-mail cambia.mis.estrellas@gmail.com.

We want to invite you to sponsor one of these campers for their six weeks at camp, or to make a donation to the Change My Stars fund in general, which will go toward summer camp or toward the scholarship funds which are ongoing. Stay tuned for weekly updates and pictures!

A Note from Fefe

Here is a note from Freddy Jean Piet (Fefe) who is attending the university of OyM and studying Modern Languages on a Change My Stars scholarship. He has done exceptionally well so far, just finishing his second cycle where he received all A's and one C (the grading system is the same as in the US). He plans to argue the C because he lost many points on a group project where his group members did not include his student ID number when they turned in the project, although he did participate. Here is a note that he wrote in the English he is learning and a photo:

Hi to everybody: 

Ok, I feel very happy to write this letter in memory of everyone who is supporting me. In this cycle I had good notes and an excellent year. I want God to bless everyone and thanks for all! 

Fefe

I also want to announce that a laptop was donated to help him with his studies as well, which he says is very useful! Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Hello Volunteers, Supporters, & Followers! 

We have to announce (although late) that we have shut down the English immersion pre-school and other English education activities that took place in the house on the street 12 de Julio in Puerto Plata. We still have the scholarship program with three students on scholarship. We created this English immersion education program in order to more practically engage foreign volunteers and also to respond to the requests of the general Puerto Plata community who had asked for English lessons from native English speakers throughout the years.

The decision to shut down was based on the lack of local registrations and the high costs of the building we were renting. If we have the opportunity to start this program up again in the future, we will do so in a different part of town with a different approach, and building on top of relationships we have formed and lessons learned throughout this effort. Thank you to those of you who have sponsored a camper, a pre-school student, volunteered, or taught. It has been a blast and hopefully we can start it up again someday! In the meantime, we'll continue with the scholarships. If anyone takes special interest in the English immersion pre-school and would like to dedicate resources toward a wiser and stronger re-start, please write to us at cambia.mis.estrellas@gmail.com.

I never did post the family photo of the boy who was sponsored to go to pre-school. Although the school year ended early for him, he learned and grew so much during the months he attended pre-school! Here is Pedro (Alamson) Toussaint and his mother Etienne.

Lastly, a special thank you to Julienne, Hannah, and Mary Ellen who came and taught in the pre-school this year, as well as Nicole who volunteered with the club, and of course everyone who helped out wtih the summer camp! We will do the English camp this summer but in the grassroots school in Padre Granero. We'll continue to post about scholarships.

Introducing: Mary Ellen

Hello Everyone!

My name is Mary Ellen and I am the new teacher at Cambia Mis Estrellas! I've been here two weeks now and I'm really excited to be playing games, singing songs and watching the students learn and grow! (Learning goal for this week: teach one of our kids that not all colors are pink...something he is completely convinced of.)

Let me tell you a bit about myself.

This is me. I am from the United States. 

I taught English as a volunteer in Peru two years ago. 

Last semester I was in the country of Georgia (it's in between Russia and Turkey) teaching English in an elementary school. 

Some of my Georgian students!

The Georgian language looks like this-  როგორ ხარ? 

(that says "how are you?") 

I went from the snow and mountains of Eastern Europe -

to the beaches of the Caribbean! 

With only a week stopover in the States in between. Talk about some culture shock!

I'm pumped to be soaking up the sun, improving my Spanish, 

and especially hanging out with some fabulous little ones! 

Check out a version of Musical Chairs I introduced this past week: 

(Or click here)

Follow the blog (or like us on facebook) for the continuing adventures!

2012-2013 Scholarships Announced

Eriverto at camp.

       We are happy to announce that three scholarships have been awarded for the 2012-2013 school year. Miguelina Joseph and Eriverto Osvaldo both received scholarships again, which have allowed them to continue their education in El Colegio Sueño de Los Niños. Miguelina is in 7th grade and Eriverto is in 5th grade. 

Miguelina at camp.

Freddy Jean Piet, who is more commonly called Fefe, has begun his first year of university studies at the University OyM in Puerto Plata. He is studying modern languages. 

Fefe at high school graduation.

Thank you to those of you who have supported these scholarships! These are truly life changing opportunities for these kids and young adult. 

End of Camp, Transition to Weekly Club!

Our apologies for never posting summaries of week 5 and 6 of camp. With volunteers leaving and transitioning into the new school year, we got busy! But the last two weeks of camp were great. During the last few days of camp, along with having some end of camp fun time, we gave quizzes in each station to see how much campers had learned throughout the summer.  Here are the averages:

Active Games Station

Body parts - 73%

Actions & Directions - 73%

Arts & Crafts Station

Colors - 92%

Weather - 97%

Songs Station

Baby Shark - 91%

Old McDonald - 87%

Story Station

Emotions - 59%

We will run our next English camp over Winter Break for one week beginning Monday, December 31st. Camp will run from 9 am-12 pm each day of the week and will cost 200 pesos (about $5.10 US). For parents who work early, we will have before care from 8-9 am but the week will then cost 250 pesos. After this winter camp, our summer camp will run during summer vacation for six weeks, beginning Monday, June 24th. If you are interested in sponsoring a camper to attend either winter or summer camp or are interested in participating as a volunteer counselor, please e-mail cambia.mis.estrellas@gmail.com. 

Also, to continue with a little English education throughout the year for youth 5-14 years old, we have begun an English club. The club runs on Thursday afternoons from 2-4 pm. Registration is 100 pesos and the monthly fee is 200 pesos. Participants who need to be picked up will be charged 300 pesos a month. Again, if you are interested in sponsoring a camper or participating as a volunteer counselor, please e-mail cambia.mis.estrellas@gmail.com. 

Thank you! We look forward to giving you more updates!