Welcome Packet!

¡Bienvenid@s a El Salvador!

Survival info:

Lodging in Santa Tecla:
Casa de Izel, Avenida Dr. Manuel Gallardo #3-2B, Santa Tecla
2566-6695
“A lo salvadoreño”: frente a la Mónica Herrera

ConTextos Office:

2a Avenida Norte #3-2, Santa Tecla
2556-4279

“A lo salvadoreño”: en la cuadra arriba de la alcaldía de Santa Tecla, dos cuadras arriba del Paseo del Carmen, frente a una yuquería

Lodging in Perquín:

Hotel Perquín Lenca
Km. 205 1/2 Carretera a Perquín
Perquín, Morazán
2680-4046

Taxis:

Don Israel 7551-8125
Don Marcelo 7737-6295

     

Emergency Contacts:
Anne Ruelle
7648-6584

María Teresa Funes

7218-7573

Semana de escritura por la paz en El Salvador / Creative Writing for Peace Week in El Salvador *All times are a guideline. Please respect departure times in the mornings, but know that in other parts of the day times may change as we are flexible to what the day has to teach us.

Sunday, August 6: Arrival

Lodging in Santa Tecla:
Casa de Izel, Avenida Dr. Manuel Gallardo #3-2B, Santa Tecla
2566-6695
“A lo salvadoreño”: frente a la Mónica Herrera

11:30pm, 2:00pm Flights arrive

11:21am, American Airline Flight #2622 from Miami: Richard Gorham, Maria Tejeda, Amaryllis Lopez
1:35pm, Avianca #571 from New York-JFK: Alan Nunez
Transportation leaves from airport to Santa Tecla upon arrival of Alan.
6:00pm Dinner: Paseo del Carmen

Monday, August 7: Observations in Ingeniero Guillermo Borja Nathan School, Apopa

6:00am Leave from ConTextos office
7:30am Acto Cívico (Civic Act) with morning students
8:15am-9:00am Teacher teams observe classes
9:00am Recess and snack
9:20am-10:50am Teacher teams observe classes
10:50am-12:00pm Lesson planning with teachers
12:00pm Lunch in school
1:15pm Acto Cívico (Civic Act) with afternoon students
2:00-2:45 Teacher teams observe classes
3:00pm Return to Santa Tecla
6:00pm Dinner: Pupusa Factory, Paseo del Carmen

Tuesday, August 8: Planning and co-teaching with teachers in Ingeniero Guillermo Borja Nathan School, Apopa

6:00am Leave from ConTextos office
7:30am-9:00 Teacher teams plan/co-teach with host teachers
9:00am Recess and snack
9:20am-10:50am Teacher teams plan/co-teach with host teachers
10:50am-12:00pm Reflection
12:00pm Lunch in school
1:15pm-2:45pm Teacher teams plan/co-teach with host teachers
3:00pm Return to Santa Tecla
6:00pm Dinner: Cafetería Tin, Paseo del Carmen

Wednesday, August 9: Planning for writing conference and camp in ConTextos office

7:00 Breakfast in Casa Izel
8:00am-9:30 Welcome to ConTextos, Unpacking School Visits

Goals: Conference and Camp
9:30am-11:30am Planning in teacher teams
11:30am-12:00pm What we’ve done, what we need
12:00pm Lunch with whole ConTextos team
1:30-1:45pm Specific Perquín goals
1:45-5:00pm Continued planning in teacher teams
6:00pm Dinner in Peche Cosme (traditional Salvadoran food)

Thursday, August 10: Creative Writing for Peace Conference in Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios

6:30am Leave from ConTextos office
8:00 Registration
8:30 Performance from visitors and welcome
9:00-10:30am Writing and creating workshops

Note: Two Bread Loaf teachers and two teacher leaders will facilitate.

10:30-10:50am Coffee break

10:50-12:00pm Writing and creating workshops (continued with the same)
1:00-1:30pm Connection to the classroom (continued with same groups from the morning)
1:30-3:00pm General open mic, Group photo
6:00pm Dinner in Yuquería de Juayua

Friday, August 11: Writing Camp with youth in Amún Shea school in Perquín, Morazán

6:00am Leave from ConTextos office
Snacks on the way
11:00am Arrive in Perquín and additional prep for camp
12:00pm Lunch in Amún Shea School
Writing Camp with 100 youth and teachers
1:00pm-1:45pm Participants arrive, performance from visitors and welcome
1:45pm-2:30pm Writing workshop 1
Note: Two Bread Loaf teachers and supporting teacher leaders will work with the same group of youth for the whole afternoon. One will teach a workshop in the first half and the other will teach a workshop in the second half, but the group of youth will stay in the same space.

2:30pm-3:00pm Snack

3:00pm-3:45pm Writing workshop 2
3:45pm-4:30pm Open mic, Group photo
6:00pm Dinner in Perquín Lenca Hotel

Saturday, August 12: Next steps and reflection in Perquín

7:00am Breakfast in Perquín Lenca Hotel
8:00am-11:30am Next steps and reflection in the Casa de la Cultura (Cultural Center), Perquín
Rich/someone: personal growth
Achievements, lessons learned, what to improve
Next steps
11:00am Lunch in Perquín Lenca Hotel
1:00pm Leave for Santa Tecla
7:00pm (depending on arrival time from Perquín) Farewell dinner in Paraguas Taquería, San Salvador Volcano

Sunday, August 13: Departures

12:16pm American Airlines #1520 for Miami: Rich, Amaryllis, Maria
7:45am, Avianca #670 for New York: Alan Nunez

Who’s on my team?

Monday-Tuesday

	BLTN	ConTextos Team	Teacher leaders
Equipo 1	Rich Gorham	Carlos Recinos	Berfalia (Borja School)
Equipo 2	Rex Lee Jim	Jennifer Coreas	Ixkik / SF*
Equipo 3	Alan Nunez	Melvin Moreno	Celena/ SF*
Equipo 4	María Tejeda	Esmeralda Zarceño	Roxana Chiguila
Equipo 5	Lily Lopez		Lorena Lima

*Teacher from Starfish School (all girls) in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. Fluent in Kaqchikel and Spanish. Check them out! http://starfish-impact.org/

Things to remember:
·         It’s important to explain and ask about the “why/so what?”
·         Literacy goes beyond the text and the written word.
·         Dialogue means we build an idea together.
·         Reading and writing skills are central to success in all school subjects and life!
·         At the end of this conference, everyone should feel like a writer/author.

What are our teachers/schools like?

·         Schools are have two “shifts” of class, 7:30-12:00 and 1:00-5:00. Teachers often work double shifts, working 8-10 hours a day and then traveling long distances to get home to their families. Especially in rural areas, many teachers rent a room close to the school during the week and only see their families on weekends.

·         The vast majority of teachers are women. On top of their teaching hours, they are responsible for their children and other family members at home.

·         In El Salvador, teachers take three years of classes to receive a technical degree, not a bachelor’s.

·         Today, anyone 30 years old or older experienced some part of the violence El Salvador’s Civil War, 1980-1992. Now, violence has continued in the post-war years. They are survivors, but have lived with repression of their ideas for long periods.

·         Mechanisms to measure achievements of learning objectives and teacher performance are very weak.

·         Teachers are witnesses to many social issues in their communities. They want to help, but they need the socioemotional tools to do so. Without them, after years and decades of seeing the same problems, it’s easy to become jaded and want to throw in the towel.  

BUT

·         Teachers are a great, untapped resource in El Salvador. They are open to learning and are inspired by proud teachers!

·         Teachers, especially in rural areas, are incredibly committed to their students, often acting as third parents.

·         Some of their favorite books for the classroom are:

o   Pastel para enemigos (Enemy Pie) by Derek Munson

o   La vaca que decía OINK (The cow that said oink) by Bernard Most

o   Froggy (series) by Jonathan London

o   Clifford (series) by Normal Bridwell

o   Bizcocho (series) by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

o   La verdadera historia de los tres cerditos (The True Story of the Three Little Pigs) by Jon Scieszka

We have these and many more in the office for you to use!