Living in Ecuador can be a slippery slope of getting volunteered for things...
Kirstie has been working for a little over a month with a group of primary school kids on an English club. This is a way for her to get to know people, share about United States culture, and help the students learn English, which they are very excited about.
In honor of Jesus' birth, she decided to teach the kids some traditional Christmas carols, tapping into their excitement for music. She shared the origins of Christmas caroling and taught them a few songs.
To finish off the unit, she asked if I would be willing to play ocarina while she sang and played guitar. Since I've only been playing ocarina for a few weeks, I was hesitant at first, but trusted my prior musical experience to carry me through.
We played nine songs with the kids. It was really awesome to see them so excited about music, and they sang out strong on the songs they knew. Then a couple teachers walked into the room and asked if we would be willing to play the next day for "the kids before we hand out candy and send everyone home." Now, you have to understand - Ecuadorians are more offended by refusals than most Americans are, so we hesitantly agreed.
The next day, we arrived and discovered when they said "playing for the kids" they meant "being a part of the Christmas celebration with the entire school, teachers and parents." And they had costumes for us...
Anyway, here's a video (I apologize for the poor quality). Don't make fun of our goofy robes. There are 600 kids who can do that for us!
..Isaac..
Kirstie has been working for a little over a month with a group of primary school kids on an English club. This is a way for her to get to know people, share about United States culture, and help the students learn English, which they are very excited about.
In honor of Jesus' birth, she decided to teach the kids some traditional Christmas carols, tapping into their excitement for music. She shared the origins of Christmas caroling and taught them a few songs.
To finish off the unit, she asked if I would be willing to play ocarina while she sang and played guitar. Since I've only been playing ocarina for a few weeks, I was hesitant at first, but trusted my prior musical experience to carry me through.
We played nine songs with the kids. It was really awesome to see them so excited about music, and they sang out strong on the songs they knew. Then a couple teachers walked into the room and asked if we would be willing to play the next day for "the kids before we hand out candy and send everyone home." Now, you have to understand - Ecuadorians are more offended by refusals than most Americans are, so we hesitantly agreed.
The next day, we arrived and discovered when they said "playing for the kids" they meant "being a part of the Christmas celebration with the entire school, teachers and parents." And they had costumes for us...
Anyway, here's a video (I apologize for the poor quality). Don't make fun of our goofy robes. There are 600 kids who can do that for us!
..Isaac..
<3!!!Micah said to remind you of your toy ocarina from when you were little. Thank y'all for shareing the story and video. Love and miss you guys. Tracy
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