Bunches of Joy Traveling and Teaching

Parque del café

Just what I needed! A nice time at the first theme park I’ve been to in Colombia. Parque del café has so many beautiful gardens, plants and buildings. It has the cute historical colonial style houses and an amazing view of the mountains of cafe.

It was fun going in the lift cars to the Mountains and riding Krater and Yippee! We had just the perfect amount of time to enjoy 7 attractions and have things to save for the next visit!

You can ride horses, watch a show about the history and traditions and culture of coffee through dance and folklore. Take amazing photos dressed in the beautiful traditional outfits. Try traditional foods and delicious icecream.

Parque del café was an amazing experience, unforgettable.

Journey in Eje Cafetero

Been taking the time to enjoy quality time with a few of the profes from the immersion program.

Danny, Lilly, Caro at a teacher traing with Lions Club Quimbaya

All the experiences teaching at Uninorte, Los Corales, and Hartford international school have gained fruit to become the teacher, seño, docente, maestra, profe, miss that I am today and will continue to become.

The times reading the emotions and asking for feedback and suggestions and being able to adapt and flow with the teachers and cultures has helped develop that valuable rapport, relationship and confianza. The little moments like simply asking how they are each day or a simple act of “good morning, welcome to Quindio Bilingüe” the first day makes the difference.

My first memory of you Miss Kristin ws when you welcomed us the first day on the bus at UniQuindio. You had a smile and a sweet voice and said “Good morning and welcome to Quindio Bilingüe…who is gonna give me a smile.” I was sitting in the back and just smiled and kinda laughed. Como una lección de 🇻🇪 this welcome touched our hearts

-Student from Quindio

They invented me to their homes and I got to meet their families and celebrate moments like the 30th anniversary and a few sad moments like one daughter finding out she was pregnant but the baby didn’t fully develop and was aborting itself.

The secret to long lasting love…constancia y perseverancia and understanding each other

Life is full of highs and lows, enjoy each moment together even in the lowst moments

I had heart to heart conversations with them and gained perspective and wisdom about relationships and love.

Make a list of all the positives and the negatives and think how to make it work and if both people are doing their part to make the other person feel understood, loved, and Trusted

They showed me around Salento, Quimbaya, Filandia, Armenia, and Genova.

Eje cafetero is so beautiful with lots of art, colorful paintings and surrounded by mountains of cafe and plantains. It is in itself tranquilidad.

Cute colonial architecture in Filandia and Salento

Chontadurooooo

Los Corales Teaching Highschool

It is such a beautiful school near the coast with very calming views of the ocean.The cafeteria looks out onto the Atlantic ocean and has several palm trees and thr view of the classic architecture.The classroom looks out onto the oceanMorals and values are taught and encouraged with these cute posters and images.

At los Corales it was teaching in paradise surrounded by the ocean and beautiful gardens: palm trees, coconut, tropical flowers and aesthetically beautiful architecture and buildings.The first moment I had the interview I was with my suegra and Yasmine says “ojalá en el nombre de Jesús ese posición es tuyo” se siente un sentido de paz y tranquilidad.I was impressed by the architecture and the beautiful coastal views from the office and all the classrooms especially the lunch area.Lunch was very delicious too, always a traditional Colombian plate with fresh fruit juice and salad and soup. They had Chukuwata which helped kids learn about gardening and eating healthy and encouraged students to cook and experience food with all 5 senses.Doing projects was the main style of teaching. The students had Global Perspectives and Global Mini United Nations as classes to investigate global issues and create posters and presentations.

Uninorte my first year teaching

1st year, 2 years teaching….these shape who you are as a teacher and your experience.

I was blessed to work as a docente at the best private University in Barranquilla, Colombia my 1st year teaching. I had EVERYTHING in the classroom: a new videobeam, computer, speakers, wifi and tech support. It was dynamic and full of passion but was by no means easy.

Now I appreciate what I took for granted…things like wifi and a projector. I’m grateful for professional development with CEDU.

Level 3 intermediate students were my favorite, I enjoyed interacting with them and doing gap fill grammar and vocab games with their names! The girls would put little white flowers in my hair 🌸 the boys would come up with funny ways to do activities.

🌸putting little white flowers in my hair

However with level 7, I came in with high Academic standards and expectations because, well, they were graduating and learning Academic English.

I was the strict teacher. ✍📝It was by definition Culture shock, my costeña students let me know I was in their Country, their culture and it was in essence their class, not mine.

This broke me down to build me up as a teacher.

I saught advice from Colombian profes and used Kahoots and quizlet. I asked CEDU for tips on activities and strategies to use to engage the students.

I recorded and videotaped my class to reflect and also receive feedback. The vacation class was the best and very motivating. The students even brought food to do a compartir and made posters on different regions of Colombia.

I loved having students do projects and be creative. For example having students create surveys about what is the best age to get married and why, create and persuade us to buy a product and create the advertisement, do regional tourism projects about Colombia, book club and debate.

Level 4 students doing presentations on regions of Colombia — Regions of Colombia Presentations Level 4

The last semester at Uninorte was the best! I finally found my style as a teacher, used CEDU and had more dynamic activities.

I even had very memorable moments in class and saw the personalities of my students. I saw them as individuals and had a class group dynamic. The secret …let the students shine with their personalities. The class is theirs

The moments when students acted out skits or when they show humor in using vocabulary where some I’ll never forget. When I used the students names in activities for vocabulary and grammar and had dynamic games it made the classes más bacano and warm hearted.

A beautiful place

So this is to training teachers in TESOL and teaching theory similar to CELTA.Finally the 6 years of school doing Linguistics is paying off. Well it also got me a job coming to Colombia with Universidad del Norte that I now appreciate that much more.I have experience teaching levels 7, 3 and 4 at Uninorte. Experience in teaching in High school at Aspaen Gimnasio Los Corales with all girls, learning literature and Global perspectives for Cambridge and MUN. Primary school and secondary with Hartford International School teaching Social studies and Geography.I look forward to each adventure in teaching and learning new things. I am grateful for each experience to grow and continue to learn and become a great teacher and docente.

Breakfast Calentado

Starting the day a traditional way in eje cafetero with calentado…rice, red beans, avocado and egg with a nice runny yolk that gives a delicious taste to red beans and rice.

So if they are rancheros living in the mountains cultivating café this would be an excellent way to start the day. A nice hearty breakfast

The sweet sound of rain falling on a tin roof

You know the best way to wake up or go to sleep is the sound of rain falling on a tin roof like a sweet song.

Mom always said it rains during our special or milestone events…every birthday of my sister whose name means sunshine in Hebrew and even our mom’s funeral. It was raining last night and this morning as I make my new journey and adventure to train teachers in the eje cafetero.

Seeing the Andes Mountains in Quindio Eje Cafetero is amazing. Taking a jeep Willy ride through the pueblos even better. Thinking of how my sister describes so poetically the personality of different mountain ranges, priceless.

Andes, so lush and green painted with cafe and exotic plantain trees. I’d say the Andes eje cafetero are calm yet majestic and you are surrounded by these tall green mountains everywhere you walk. It’s like a city then when you go up the mountain it transforms into a finca like those painted on the back of pueblo busses.

Graffiti art in Eje Cafetero

There is so much art here in Colombia and eje cafetero. It is very colorful and extremely detailed. Most of the graffiti art is of rainforest animals and plants, cafe, flowers and farms, many of colorful people and the city.

Enjoy the city graffiti art

Graffiti art in Eje cafetero — This was the most amazing graffiti I love the design and detail

Wild Graffiti art — Love the artwork and the wild forest animals and vibrant color

Colombia mi tierra querida

The most dangerous part is wanting to stay…

Lo más peligroso es querer quedarse

En Barranquilla me quedo.

So it has been a vibrant colorful journey in becoming an English teacher and also teaching US and Latin American Geography. Full of vallanato and a bit of salsa and lots of pechichi from my primary school students.

I have stayed on the coast the past 2 years and love the warmth and color and the beach. But it has not always been an easy cultural adjustment. I have grown so much as a docente and learned to take things easier coge La suave.