Last Weeks
I’m way overdue for an entry. It’s been harder than I expected to condense everything that happens in a week into a coherent entry that’s simultaneously appropriate for friends, family, and strangers. Plus, things like the three hours I spent trying to get a Python update to install correctly do not exactly make for thrilling blog entries, even if they happen in a foreign country. But I will try to keep you all awake.
The work with Flor de Ceibo (the group from the University of the Republic) is slow going, and I’m slow to understand what does happen. For the Uruguayan students, Flor de Ceibo is a much longer program, so they’re not in a rush. A few trips have been cancelled, and I missed one last weekend because the leaders didn’t call to tell me until the night before, and I stupidly didn’t have my phone on me, or even check it until Sunday. There’s supposed to be one this weekend and then again next week before I leave Montevideo.
With ceibalJAM!, I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to put together a larger project, and I’ll focus on it for the rest of my time here. The idea, called “blog-pals” is a website that will link the blogs of Uruguayan classrooms to each other, and hopefully to classes in the U.S. as well. There will be a theme for the entries every week or two, and games that teach some related vocabulary in English and Spanish that they can then use in their blog entries. Various logistical and technical issues (for example, Flash doesn’t work great on the XOs) have made this a longer project than I envisioned. At this point, my goal before leaving is to modify a geography game ceibalJAM! volunteers already wrote called Conozco Uruguay (“I know Uruguay”) to teach vocabulary instead. The website probably won’t get finished before I leave, especially with the Flor de Ceibo trips planned, but hopefully my summer term classes will not control my life and I can stay involved via the Internet. There is another blogging workshop next week too, in the town of Salinas. I should have more interesting updates in a week or so!
