At Damas, the kids loved drawing with chalk. They drew pictures of our team and wrote how cool GVI is. Here are my favorites:
Tag Archives: Artwork
Blog posts update
Dear readers, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. My world moves at the speed of light and changes constantly. I’ve seen great dances and musical acts, danced with teachers and students, observed robots come to life, played around with kids, watched works of arts be created, enjoyed the beauty of Costa Rica, and much more. Here are some stories to catch your attention, make you ponder culture and warm your hearts.
Outlaws, Butterflies and Pirates
Workshops at Damas and Cocal have really taken off! The kids created sheriff badges and took pictures like outlaws, painted beautiful butterflies for the Special Education room, had an awesome pirate themes scavenger hunt, and much more! These workshops really let the kids express themselves and discover new talents.
Some kids are great painters, others builders, some love to practice English, some are excited to try out science experiments. Through this afterschool programming we are trying to provide a space for kids to express themselves and encourage personal growth. So far, so good. I can’t wait to see what our talented volunteers will come up with for next week!
Yes, We DO Love To Learn!
After all the walls were painted, the desks and chairs were sanded, given new wood and painted, the electricity was wired, the ceiling was finished, and the students were begging to enter, there was just one more detail to be added to the new English classroom at Damas. With the help of of stellar arts volunteer, Jessica, and the hard work of the the Damas GVI volunteers, we painted a cool graffiti style mural on the wall of the new English classroom.
It says “We (symbol of a heart) To Learn.” To make the mural even more special, we had every student from kindergarten to sixth grade place their hand print inside the heart. But, before they did, I explained what the words meant and by placing our hand prints, we agreed that we really do want to learn. One little boy in second grade thought about this and said, “Oh, so this is our signature.” 🙂 The whole project was lots of fun and very motivating for the volunteers and the children. Even though our volunteers come and go, their work lives on. Thank you everyone! Every time I see the mural I think of all the happy times we spent painting it and laughing with the kids together.
Festival de las Artes
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Last week Damas School where I am the lead staff member celebrated Festival de las Artes (Festival of the Arts). This is a national wide competition where students of all ages learn and present traditional and modern dances, sculpture, drawings, paintings, stomp routines and more! GVI volunteers alongside a visiting school group from England, Bancroft. Worked tirelessly to help the students find their talent. Even the pre-school classes worked on a traditional dance and a charming play to present for the exhibition day last Friday.
The day was full of color, music, talent, smiles and fun! Highlights for me were the traditional dances and the kinder play. The play included fairy tale characters that we all know and love, but their home (the enchanted forest) was contaminated by trash sent by the evil witch. It was so bad that a beautiful princes was put into a deep sleep from the contamination. Luckily, a handsome prince started a cleaning campaign and eventually vanquished the evil witch with air freshener and Lysol. It was an adorable play with a positive message.
The day ended in a massive dance party that was kicked off by volunteers and staff (yep, even me), starting a flash mob to the song Waka Waka by Shakira. The kids enjoyed it so much that they demanded we dance again and the second time they all danced with us! It was the perfect way to end such a happy day.
To make the day even more special, we inaugurated the classroom that the Bancroft School group helped build with GVI support. Great job guys! We will think of you every time we have an English class in there.
I have so many photos and videos I want to share from this day, but here are a few more of my favorites:
Videos
Click here to see a video of the Kinder Traditional Dance
Las Fallas is celebrated in Valencia, Spain everyday in honor of Saint Joseph, the carpenter saint. Artisans work hard all year to create a comic masterpiece and then burn it down at the end of a month long celebration.
While backpacking around Asturias, I came across this mosaic in the wall of a small town in Asturias, Spain.
Artisan Paintings in Otavalo, Ecuador