Ramon’s Weekly Bioregional Education Report
January 24th, 2007
We met in the Manuel Nevares park and sat under a tree. We began to have dialogue about everything we’ve learned in this class and the importance of being able to create a bioregion education class. I told the students they need to take advantage of all the information I have taught them. I also explained that they are now a unique group of individuals who can improve the environments in their communities. As young people they have their own, new ideas of how this can be done. At the end of the day we all planned the closing meeting of this bioregional education project.
January 26th, 2007
Before our ending festivities, I gave all the students a questionnaire with five questions about the class to answer.
- What have you learned in these ten weeks?
- “Everything about nature”
- “I learned about all the beauty that exists in nature”
- “I learned about planting in the greenhouse and met some foreigners”
- “I learned a lot about planting and what constitutes a bioregion”
- “I learned how to appreciate an ecosystem”
- “I learned how to share with my friends, and many things about plants, animals and all about nature”
- “The importance of taking care of the environment”
- What did you like best in all this time?
- “Everything”
- “What I liked most was going to the dry tropical forest and all the games we played”
- “I liked going to the forest and to Planet Drum’s greenhouse the most”
- “I liked when we went to Cerro Seco, Planet Drum’s greenhouse and transplanting
- “I liked going to La Cruz, Cerro Seco, when we took photos of us working and getting to know Tom (of Planet Drum)”
- “The times when we were all together, painting in the park at Fanca, and celebrating the birthday of Raisa and the teacher”
- What did you like the least?
- “I can’t say”
- “When there was a lot of sun and we had to hike over hills”
- “When Tom left without getting to say goodbye, and that we didn’t get a chance to plant trees in the sites because it didn’t rain”
- “That it’s over”
- “That some students didn’t attend the last three weeks of class”
- What would you recommend for the next class?
- “Nothing, because I liked it all”
- “That we have a specific site where we can meet to have class”
- “That the foreign volunteers don’t change as often”
- “That you only take diverse students who are mature”
- Would you return to be a part of this class?
- “Yes!” (Everyone)
After answering these questions, we hiked up to Cerro Seco which we had chosen as the site to end the first term of Bioregion Education. We had a big barbeque and the students had a great time. We all stayed until 7 o’clock at night.
In the end, our class had 18 active students, though only 10 could attend the final three classes because of vacations. For the next term, it would be helpful to have more information in Spanish about what we are teaching the children, such as pamphlets for each of the subjects we are teaching (Bioregions, Birds, Trees, Food, Indigenous history, etc). This would make it easier for them to learn. It would also be nice to have more interactive work for them to do, such as planting, which unfortunately we weren’t able to do this time because of the lack of rain. They always want to participate in activities and it helps keep them motivated and feel like they are a part of something bigger. But I was able to achieve my goal of having a large group of students (composed of a majority of girls) and next time I think I can recruit even more students.
Translated by Clay
(The vast majority of students have gone on break for a couple months. The classes will resume towards the end of April or the beginning of May. There are some students who aren’t going away for vacations and are interested in continuing to have informal meetings on occasion. We will try to include them in greenhouse transplanting, tree planting and other activities when feasible. Clay)
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