You remember that episode of The Simpsons where Springfield is competing for the Olympics, and Lisa’s class is on the bleachers singing “Children! Children! Future! Future! Children are the future!” ? That was playing through my head this morning while I was trying to plan activities for my Escojo mi Vida youth group. I’m mostly terrified of this group. So many 14/15/16 year olds, so few of me. All the charlas (chats/lectures) just sound like mush to me when I’m planning… It’s like the first episode of Daria, where Daria meets Jane in self-esteem class; “Today, lets talk about SELF ESTEEM! When we’re talking about self esteem, we’re talking about….US!”
Today, our topic was…. self esteem! In the previous class, I had gotten a muchacha to prepare something for this week, and she gave a pretty great charla today. Participation was actually pretty good, and lots of kids who just happened to be in the CTC sat down and listened. Pretty soon, we had about 20 kids, and some CTC workers came out and started talking too, which was awesome. I ended up just sitting in the back and directing who could talk, and moving them along to the next topic. My lesson plan was left unloved in my pack, which was probably for the best.
I pulled together a dinamica on the spot, and had them break into three groups to do mini-dramas related to self esteem. Then, everyone in the center came outside and watched the groups perform, which in hindsight may not have been good for those with low self esteem. We had visitors from the national HIV/AIDS organization (my town is kicking off a massive HIV/AIDS initiative, we had a parade yesterday), and they had their cameraman take pictures, which the kids thought was awesome. I’m going to work with them to organize charlas and activities, and they promised to give me all the materials and resources possible. They dropped off a box of about two thousand pamphlets.. wooooo! I got bonus points, because the CTC’s supervisor group was also meeting, and they saw me doing something other than working on my laptop.
So, I think I can do this whole youth group thing, maybe, without it blowing up in my face. As long as I stay away from activities that use dynamite. Or cake. You should see them with cake…
Just to make the day even more productive, I worked it out with a woman from the Ministry of Education to pick up literacy books and materials. Now, I just have to find a time to… do that.
Pictures from the HIV/AIDS kickoff parade and speeches:
Sugeidy with the kids. We all had hats!
This was before it downpoured.
My kids are cuter than your kids.
They discovered HIV! It was behind this pink sheet the whole time!
Words that begin with H! Heteros are smiley, and homos are shirtless and in large groups.
3 comments:
Hahaha - I love pretty much everything about this post. That's really awesome!! And I'm glad you worked it out with the MEE to get those lit materials - sorry I haven't had a chance to scan them and send them to you yet. Btw, are you still planning for an evening at Hotel Hefner?
I had to give the self esteem charla the other day. Mine did not go as well as yours did. A lot of "Me amo a mi mismo!"
What's odd is that your assessment of homos doesn't seem that far off from my experience. Why are they using pictures of my parties for their materials!!!!!11
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