Water Conservation Education

One of the main projects I worked on from about November through February was teaching environmental education to preschool through sixth graders at the Spanish/Kichwa bilingual school in town (ages 4 through 13ish). We had ten lessons that focused mainly on water: where does it come from, who uses it, why it's important, and how we can conserve it.

Some of my students. TOTALLY paying attention to what I'm saying...

We played games, learned some songs, and did a LOT of artwork, including toilet-paper-tube rain-shakers and egg-carton insects. The kids also learned how to express themselves through drawing, something that isn't encouraged in many parts of Ecuador. When they do draw in class, it's often just copy work.

For the "final exam," the younger kids drew pictures of things that need or use water. These are some of the things they came up with: animals (I think it's maybe a dog?), plants, swimming pools, and houses.

To help with classroom management, I had the different grades race each other in points. If they did well, they received more points. If they misbehaved, they lost points. We had a big chart with bar graphs so that the students could see their progress. The winning class got homemade cookies, but everyone received stickers and a badge as prizes.

Some girls from the winning class. They worked REALLY hard and definitely deserved those cookies!

A side-project tucked into these classes helped the students (and, hopefully, their teachers) understand how they are important to their family, school, and community. Many kids here, especially those from the "campo" (rural, agricultural areas), aren't expected to do anything more in life than to be farmers like their families. This isn't a bad thing on its own (I WANT TO BE A FARMER, TOO!!), but the truth is that many kids don't know their options, and many of them aren't encouraged or given the resources they need to even begin to look for those other life-paths. This project, called "Soy Importante" (I'm Important), was a first step in that direction for these kids.

Damaris proudly showing her work. She likes soup and dogs and helps her family by sweeping. She wants to be a nurse when she grows up. Older kids were encouraged to think about how they are important to their school and their community, and we discussed in more depth their future goals.

I don't know how many of these kids will remember what a renacuajo (a tadpole) is, or the symptoms of dehydration, or even what precipitation means (and well, why would you need such a big word in the rainforest when you already have a word for it: rain). But I did see some important things happening: the pre-schoolers got to use crayons without teachers interfering, the sixth graders learned that someone cares about their performance in school, the fourth graders learned that hard work can pay off, and the second graders learned that breaking the tree outside of their classroom just because they feel like it--well, they learned why they shouldn't do it, and they never did it again.

Me and "the sticky girl." I think she single-handedly kept me sniffly throughout the last holiday season.

I like to think that the best part of this project, however, is that we all became good friends.

..kirstie..

This post is part of the Peace Corps Projects series.