Upon arriving in Bogota we went directly to Jean Pierre's apartment ( Jean Pierre is the commissioner of foreign trade at the Embassy [please excuse the error in title- this is not his actual title but it is what he does at the embassy]). We were greated with wine and h'orderves. We chatted and shared experiences with all the teachers, executives from SMARTechnologies and embassy staff. It was a lovely night of sharing and congratulations of a program well done.
I would like to thank SMARTechnologies for hosting our team during the last two weeks. They were fabulous hosts providing everything we could have ever imagined. I am very thankful for all the effort to show us the best of Colombia- from food to Fifa world cup games.
Thank you to Claudia Ledezma and her team for coordinating such a well run tour and thinking of all of our needs before we had even realized them.
Thank you to Luis Morales for providing coaching and support for the SMARTuser conference. I was quite nervous presenting at my first conference, however Luis made the experience as stressless as possible.
Thank you to the Canadian Embassy for meeting with us at the beginning and at the end of our trip.
Thank you to Sheila McLeod for providing such great leadership from the CBE end of the agreement. You lead us well and provided a lot of support in the process to make sure our experience was the best it could be.
Thank you to the teacher team from the CBE- Susan, Gary, Kelly, Lina, Linda, Maria Teresa, and Marlene, Colleen and Sheila. You were all great travel partners.
I know there are others that I should be thanking, there were so many people involved with this project. So thank you to you all. I look forward to meeting with the teachers from Colombia when they come to Canada. I also look forward to the projects that will go forth after making such wonderful connections with so many different teachers.
Thank you!
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Leaving Barranquilla
Friday started out with quite the shock. I never realized how incredible a little bit of rain could be. In Barranquilla before the streets were paved the rain would just soak up into the dirt and it would be muddy for a while. However, now that they have paved the roads the water has no where to go. Therefore it runs down one street and into another joining together to flood the streets. They used the word Arroyo to describe what happens. (the spanish word for creek). After visiting classrooms at Escuela Maria Poussin we were directed to leave the school as quickly as possible for danger of flash floods. Even with the warning we didn't leave right away. It turned out that we were just fine- Thankfully.
Susan and I hosted 25 students from grade two for the morning. We showed them a Powerpoint presentation on Canada and another one on the projects we did last year at Canyon Meadows. We shared with them an ABC book about Canada, and played Heads up 7-up. One thing I appreciate about travelling is that games can be the same all over the world. All of the grade twos and the grade tens that were with them loved playing.
We were fortunate after our visit to have lunch with the Secretary of Education in an Arab restaurant. The Arab influence is strong on the coast due to Barranquilla being a trade port. Going to a restaurant in a foreign language is always an adventure. I ordered something that I had no idea what it was. I'm pretty sure it was called Casta de Kafta. I thought I was getting shishkababs with meat and vegetables. It was definately not. It was long meatball type tubes with meat and parsley type spices mixed together. Either way it was absolutely delicious. Sometimes not knowing what you are eatting is an exciting experience in itself.
From lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready and on to the airport to return to Bogota- all prettied up for our fairwell coctail party with the embassy staff.
Susan and I hosted 25 students from grade two for the morning. We showed them a Powerpoint presentation on Canada and another one on the projects we did last year at Canyon Meadows. We shared with them an ABC book about Canada, and played Heads up 7-up. One thing I appreciate about travelling is that games can be the same all over the world. All of the grade twos and the grade tens that were with them loved playing.
We were fortunate after our visit to have lunch with the Secretary of Education in an Arab restaurant. The Arab influence is strong on the coast due to Barranquilla being a trade port. Going to a restaurant in a foreign language is always an adventure. I ordered something that I had no idea what it was. I'm pretty sure it was called Casta de Kafta. I thought I was getting shishkababs with meat and vegetables. It was definately not. It was long meatball type tubes with meat and parsley type spices mixed together. Either way it was absolutely delicious. Sometimes not knowing what you are eatting is an exciting experience in itself.
From lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready and on to the airport to return to Bogota- all prettied up for our fairwell coctail party with the embassy staff.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
SMART user conference- Barranquilla
After a late night preparing and an early morning we were up and ready to share our experiences as teachers in Canada with 75 different teachers- one from each school in the Barranquilla district. Three different classrooms were set up with SMARTboards (one delivered especially to the school by pick-up truck) at Escuela Marie Poussepin who hosted the event. Teachers rotated between the three sessions while 1200 students attended classes in the same building. We were all very impressed with how elegantly the whole conference flowed while classes continued as though we weren’t even there.
The three sessions were hosted by:
Luis Morales in room one where he did technical skills using SMARTboard and a SMARTslate (something that the Canadian teachers had never seen before!) Teachers got a chance to try out skills and techniques to make the use of SMARTboards in their classroom flow smoother and be more technically advanced than what they were previously doing.
Linda Vargas and Marleen Martin in room two where they shared lesson plans based around the idea of change. They compared and contrasted their experience with the Wayuu in Riohacha with that of Indigenous communities in Canada. They were especially pleased to find a Wayuu man in one of their sessions which added an authentic aspect to the activities that they did with their group.
Susan Marinucci and Danielle Mackinnon in room three with inquiry based learning using technology. They shared their experiences with inquiry based learning and problem based learning using technology and proposed possible ideas for global partnerships with Colombian and Canadian teachers through a common problem of interested. Some of the ideas proposed were sharing and comparing the problem that Alberta is having with Honey bees dying and their effects with that of Termites in Colombia(an insect that none of the teachers had seen before) and the environmental effects that are seen through them.
All of the Colombian teachers seemed quite eager to share their experiences and ideas for future projects. It was a successful conference with lots of excitement buzzing in the air over possible ideas.
We were amazed that after each session many of the teachers came up to get their picture taken with us. We didn't even have a moment to regroup from session one to session two because we took so many pictures. It is an odd experience being the object of attention.
The day was wonderful and I definately ggot a lot of experience presenting in front of a group (3-1.5 hour presentations will do that to you).
The three sessions were hosted by:
Luis Morales in room one where he did technical skills using SMARTboard and a SMARTslate (something that the Canadian teachers had never seen before!) Teachers got a chance to try out skills and techniques to make the use of SMARTboards in their classroom flow smoother and be more technically advanced than what they were previously doing.
Linda Vargas and Marleen Martin in room two where they shared lesson plans based around the idea of change. They compared and contrasted their experience with the Wayuu in Riohacha with that of Indigenous communities in Canada. They were especially pleased to find a Wayuu man in one of their sessions which added an authentic aspect to the activities that they did with their group.
Susan Marinucci and Danielle Mackinnon in room three with inquiry based learning using technology. They shared their experiences with inquiry based learning and problem based learning using technology and proposed possible ideas for global partnerships with Colombian and Canadian teachers through a common problem of interested. Some of the ideas proposed were sharing and comparing the problem that Alberta is having with Honey bees dying and their effects with that of Termites in Colombia(an insect that none of the teachers had seen before) and the environmental effects that are seen through them.
All of the Colombian teachers seemed quite eager to share their experiences and ideas for future projects. It was a successful conference with lots of excitement buzzing in the air over possible ideas.
We were amazed that after each session many of the teachers came up to get their picture taken with us. We didn't even have a moment to regroup from session one to session two because we took so many pictures. It is an odd experience being the object of attention.
The day was wonderful and I definately ggot a lot of experience presenting in front of a group (3-1.5 hour presentations will do that to you).
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Cartagena Pictures
Picture 1: Colleen and I went for a walk around Old Cartagena- the walled city. She stubbed her toe on a tree trunk hidden in some grass and her toe started bleeding like mad. Quite sad really- she's okay.
Picture 2: Me standing on top of the fort looking over the bay.
Picture 3: Gary being bitten by the toucan. Beautiful bird but arrogant. I swear it was posing for pictures!
Picture 4: A boy holding his kite. August is known as kite month in Colombia. It is windier than other months which makes it perfect for flying kites. The area where this boy is standing turns into an open air bar in the evening. Interesting concept!
Cartagena
On Friday we took a trip from Riohacha into Cartagena. The trip was excruciatingly long! I was expecting a 5 hour bus ride but it was all day. Mind you we stopped for lunch in Santa Marta- incredible by the way! The view was spectacular.
Cartagena consisted of lots of shopping, eatting and the best of which SNORKLING! I have never been snorkling before because I don't really like fish and generally I'm too cheap to do anything like that. However we all went together and had an amazing time. I was nervous at first jumping out of the boat, but once I was in the water it was like I turned into a fish. The coral was blue in some places and in others I almost scraped myself on pillars. Kelly actually did.
There were so many incredible fish. My favourite was a black fish with lines of white polkadots on it, it also had a red belly and red fins. I can see my mother wearing a hat designed the same way as this fish. There was also black fish with blue sparkles on them, and teal ones with a shimmer of a rainbow on it's side, and two yellow stripes along its tail. I was absolutely stunned.
Marlene said that she thought she saw a lion fish. She couldn't really describe it at first but on our way back into Cartagena we saw an alert message saying they were an invasive species and highly dangerous because of their poison. They had been spotted in the area and the authorities had closed down sections of the beach because of them. Interesting- it was way at the bottom so no one got hurt.
I also went to a mangrove lagoon where I saw oysters growing on the roots and a blowfish under the dock. It was amazing to see all the variety of living things in such a small area.
I would definately go snorkling again.
In the old city we visited the gold museum, and San Pedro- a very fancy restaurant. I tried a new beverage: Coconut and lime juice. Limonada de coco. It was heavenly. The hotel Santa Clara had the best one served in a glass that was a circle at the rim but an oval at the base. A beautiful glass.
I would like to say thank you too Colleen for hanging out with me all of Sunday- I had a blast exploring with you!
Thank you to Gary as well for attracting the toucan so we could get some pictures.
All in all- a lovely weekend.
Cartagena consisted of lots of shopping, eatting and the best of which SNORKLING! I have never been snorkling before because I don't really like fish and generally I'm too cheap to do anything like that. However we all went together and had an amazing time. I was nervous at first jumping out of the boat, but once I was in the water it was like I turned into a fish. The coral was blue in some places and in others I almost scraped myself on pillars. Kelly actually did.
There were so many incredible fish. My favourite was a black fish with lines of white polkadots on it, it also had a red belly and red fins. I can see my mother wearing a hat designed the same way as this fish. There was also black fish with blue sparkles on them, and teal ones with a shimmer of a rainbow on it's side, and two yellow stripes along its tail. I was absolutely stunned.
Marlene said that she thought she saw a lion fish. She couldn't really describe it at first but on our way back into Cartagena we saw an alert message saying they were an invasive species and highly dangerous because of their poison. They had been spotted in the area and the authorities had closed down sections of the beach because of them. Interesting- it was way at the bottom so no one got hurt.
I also went to a mangrove lagoon where I saw oysters growing on the roots and a blowfish under the dock. It was amazing to see all the variety of living things in such a small area.
I would definately go snorkling again.
In the old city we visited the gold museum, and San Pedro- a very fancy restaurant. I tried a new beverage: Coconut and lime juice. Limonada de coco. It was heavenly. The hotel Santa Clara had the best one served in a glass that was a circle at the rim but an oval at the base. A beautiful glass.
I would like to say thank you too Colleen for hanging out with me all of Sunday- I had a blast exploring with you!
Thank you to Gary as well for attracting the toucan so we could get some pictures.
All in all- a lovely weekend.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Pictures from the Wayuu visit
Picture 2: Luis Morales from SMART technologies in Texas- he is in charge of Southern Texas and Latin America. He is organizing our SMART user workshop which we will all be presenting at. Two students from the Wayuu school and a teacher (I don't know her name) who teaches traditional Wayuu beliefs at the school.
Picture 3: One of the boys from the school using his Laptop to take pictures and videos during the presentations. He took quite a few pictures of me because I was the most accessible in the front row on the corner.
Picture 4: Maria Teresa and I showing off our SMART/ CBE exchange t-shirts.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Wayuu
We headed out on Thursday to the Peninsula where we met many Wayuu people. They are an indigenous group in the area. We attended a school opening there. The governor was there presenting the school to the people. I could hardly believe the press that was there! Everyone was snapping pictures, even of us! As a tourist I take pictures of lots of people all over the place, posing and not posing. However, this time the locals were taking pictures of us. It was quite the odd sensation.
There was a ceremony where many people spoke and honoured education and the traditions of the local people. The chief, the governor, the principal of the school, the mayor, Luis from SMART, and Sheila McLeood from the CBE all spoke among others. It was very humbling to be part of such an important celebration of education.
After all the speeches, we were able to tour some of the classrooms and see what kinds of things were already happening. Each student is assigned a MAC laptop and there are SMARTboards in each classroom. As well as IPAD's and all sorts of other technology. This school was designed to be decked out with technology.
The money for this school was paid by a joint venture between the governor's office and the mayor's office through royalties from the coal mine and the oil rigs that are in that region. I was quite glad to hear a young boy speak of his passion for his community and the desire to use technology to show the rest of the world his culture. It seems like a combination of traditional values with the modern values that technology brings.
We also were able to see tradional dances and stories from the Wayuu. My favourite was the story of how their weaving began. An ugly girl was found in the jungle by a young man while eatting ants, he felt pity for her and took her back with him to his home. There he gave her to his three sisters for them to take care of her, but instead they mistreated her and made her do all the work. However at night she would transform into a beautiful woman and weave beautiful bags. The sisters did not know what to do with this and thought she was a witch, they summoned the help of an evil spirit to help them get rid of her, but instead it turned them into a bat. The young man came back and was in love with her so they lived happily ever after.
This is a much longer story than I have told but this is what I got from the explaination between bites of goat meat and a plantain type side dish.
It was a wonderful night with lots of sharing in educational values and experiences. I really enjoyed it.
You can visit the school's website at: akuaipa.blogspot.com
There was a ceremony where many people spoke and honoured education and the traditions of the local people. The chief, the governor, the principal of the school, the mayor, Luis from SMART, and Sheila McLeood from the CBE all spoke among others. It was very humbling to be part of such an important celebration of education.
After all the speeches, we were able to tour some of the classrooms and see what kinds of things were already happening. Each student is assigned a MAC laptop and there are SMARTboards in each classroom. As well as IPAD's and all sorts of other technology. This school was designed to be decked out with technology.
The money for this school was paid by a joint venture between the governor's office and the mayor's office through royalties from the coal mine and the oil rigs that are in that region. I was quite glad to hear a young boy speak of his passion for his community and the desire to use technology to show the rest of the world his culture. It seems like a combination of traditional values with the modern values that technology brings.
We also were able to see tradional dances and stories from the Wayuu. My favourite was the story of how their weaving began. An ugly girl was found in the jungle by a young man while eatting ants, he felt pity for her and took her back with him to his home. There he gave her to his three sisters for them to take care of her, but instead they mistreated her and made her do all the work. However at night she would transform into a beautiful woman and weave beautiful bags. The sisters did not know what to do with this and thought she was a witch, they summoned the help of an evil spirit to help them get rid of her, but instead it turned them into a bat. The young man came back and was in love with her so they lived happily ever after.
This is a much longer story than I have told but this is what I got from the explaination between bites of goat meat and a plantain type side dish.
It was a wonderful night with lots of sharing in educational values and experiences. I really enjoyed it.
You can visit the school's website at: akuaipa.blogspot.com
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