Lets Learn

This week in Casa 5 we have been doing some lessons with the kids, especially Pepe and Yumi; who both do not speak yet (apart from ‘agua’ ‘ya’ and ‘no’)

The kids are really clever and pick up things really quickly, which is lucky saying as they pay attention for approximately 20 seconds, so our lessons have been more like workshops with them, with lots of active things to do so they don’t get bored.

First up, with all the children, numbers from 1 to 9. The children all got to colour in a number, and we have now hung them up in their play area and point and count with them whenever we can.

Next, we did colours! Using colours on paper we got the kids to match the coloured stools with the colour on the sheet given to them. They were surprisingly very good at this; here’s a rare occasion where Ariel isn’t eating the paper.

We’re also working on an alphabet wall with Pepe and Yumi, so we’re slowly giving them letters to colour in with an image of something beginning with that letter, I shall post a picture when the wall is fully done; for now have a picture of the chicos and their work.

Behind this wonderful artwork is a Yumi

y Pepe

Finally, we did our hands! We got the boys to colour in hands and then we counted our fingers and kept asking them ‘where are your hands?/¿Donde son tu manos?’.

It’s so much fun teaching the kids, I’ll keep you updated on how they’re doing too! It’s really rewarding when they actually point to your nose when you say ‘nariz’ and not just poke you in your eye or laugh at you confusingly. 

¡VIVA LA FIESTA!

La Aldea Infantil San Miguel is now 28 years old, and to celebrate there has been many fiestas this week. 

To start off there were disney characters, with dancing and games for the younger children one afternoon. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and the children had so much fun!

Then on Friday evening there was a lot of entertainment on, for all to watch, until the early hours of the morning. 

Some Dancing from the Kids

Singing from some of the older ones

Tradional Colombian dancing from Tias and Kids

Some Hip Hop dancing from the Kids too

A Traditional Band from the University

Even a Belly Dancer!

With such a variety of entertaiment it was great fun to watch and spend time with everyone, the children had clearly spent ours learning songs and dance routines and it was fantastic! They should all be very very proud of themselves! 

Then on Saturday a more traditional ceremony took place, with the children singing in the aldea church choir, a local priest coming in to give a practice and even some of the children were christened. It was lovely as many from outside the aldea came, including some potential parents to be (those thinking to adopt) and family of the children. 

Ariel found it rather difficult missing nap time...

Later on lunch was served and dancing occured, it was great to become really involved with the day, dance with the children, tias and other members of staff too. We felt super welcomed and it was great to practice some of our spanish too! 

El Pastel

Hannah Dancing

Peruvian Cerveza Tasting....Not too keen on the different cup sizes though!!!!

Overall the week has been a great way to celebrate the aldea and integrate with everyone, we even got a little shout out from the director in her speech!!

¡Viva La Fiesta!

Los Niños

For those not needing to constantly speak Spanish, and be told to do things via Spanish (9/10 I get it wrong!) Los Niños is ‘The Children’. So guess what this post is going to be about?

Tia Francis, Pepe, Milagros, Ariel, Yamile, Yumi, Luana, Hannah and one of the older girls

Meet my little ones, at the moment, whilst we’re still trying to grasp the lingo, we’re working in Casa 5 (house 5) which is the baby house, with three babies and 6 toddlers it’s pretty chaotic at all times so our help is really needed. In the first week I now know how to say ‘Chew ’ ‘Masticar’ which I must say around 2 million times per child per meal time, ‘Pasalo’ which I think means the same however we can’t find it in our dictionaries so it probably means ‘keep all the food in your mouth until you look like a hamster’ which would explain a lot!

Okay, so first up:

Yamile

This little cutie is the one who will take forever eating, forever on the potty, and forever doing anything she’s got to do, despite that her giggles are sounds of joy and her little smile is to die for.

On the Swings and at the Fiesta

Milagros

I think her picture sums her up quite well; her favourite pass time is to cry and point to whatever she wants, often to another toy that’s already being played with. Although she enjoys creating mayhem in the Jugartera (playroom) she is pretty well behaved and when she’s not being a grumpy bum she’s adorable.

On the Swings and at the Fiesta

Luana

Now here’s my little princess, the most well behaved 2 year old on the planet, she eats without being moaned at, does everything asked and only cries if she hurts herself! She also loves her cuddles and I’m pretty sure she’ll be a gymnast one day as she is incredibly flexible and often sits with her feet by her hair!

On the Swings and at the Fiesta

Carrot juice anyone?

Ariel

This crazy boy is hard to catch when he’s on a run for it and will never let go of anything (often bits of plastic or rubbish found on the floor), but is adorable when he runs up to you and throws himself on you to give you a cuddle.  

On the Swings and Getting Ready for the Fiesta

Yumi

The sweetest smile, but it still seems too suspicious to me, I’m sure he’s plotting something!! Yumi is incredibly well behaved but takes his time with everything, he is definitely a ‘slow and steady wins the race’ kinda kid, despite shouting ‘rapido’ during games he still plods along.

Playing Games

At the Fiesta

Pepé

Ahhh Pepé, now take your eye off of him for one moment and he’ll be gone, he’ll be running forever this boy will be and no one will catch him, I highly doubt it! He’s of course the cheekiest and naughtiest, but such a cutie pie when you can grab him for a 10 second cuddle!

At the Fiesta and in Casa 5