Opal House

Opal House

About Me

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Hi, my name is Maren Talcott. I am 22 years old, and I just graduated Washington State University with a degree in Elementary Education and minor in Spanish. My passion is teaching... I love children! I was born in Minnesota, but spent all of my life growing up in Washington. My dream is to become a kindergarten teacher, and inspire children to love learning! I have done little to no traveling in my lifetime outside of the United States. My goal for this blog is to keep my family, friends, and loved ones up to date on my experiences. I will be living in Guatemala for three months, Jan.-March 2014. I will be volunteering at the Opal House School near Lake Atitlan. The reason for traveling to Guatemala is to have the experience of a lifetime, and improve my Spanish! This journey will push me out of my comfort zone, and open my eyes to a whole new world. I know that I will show my love and compassion to the guatemalan people every single day, and hope that I can impact their lives as much as I know they will impact my own. You can email me at marentalcott@yahoo.com

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Little Feet Can Still HIKE

 Lets Go on a HIKE!

The past three days at school has just been Jackelyn and I. Diane is very very sick, and staying away from the kiddos. This has been quite the test for Jackeline and I, but things are going great! Today, very last minute, I decided to take the kids on an adventure. Jackeline doesn't really like hiking or running or activities similar, so I was on my own! We went in two groups, so we each had half the class at a given moment. It worked out perfectly. Its much better to have only ten students in the class at a time, much more peaceful! I was so grateful that the kids actually listened to me on our adventure! We walked all over the farm, and down a very large hill. But the tricky part was getting back up the hill! Remember, things are a little different when you are 6,000 ft in the air. If I get winded, imagine how little three year olds feel. But I was so proud of them! I kept asking them if they wanted to go on, or return to school. They never wanted it to end.


The highlight of the hike today was that all the kids started pointing out colors...IN ENGLISH! For example the trees, "Green!" or flowers, "Yellow!" They have only had English class once a week for three weeks now...and they know about 4-5 colors and can recognize them and name them. That isn't too bad if you ask me. I think they feel quite accomplished. It is funny, most of them don't even know most of their colors in Spanish yet! :-) AND most of them can also count to five in English now too! 

Poco a poco...little by little!


It was such a fun day, and I have some pretty amazing pictures to share!


 




He got a little tired....

Enjoying the beauty every chance I can get!



The HILL

The school from afar!



I am turning out to be the "fun teacher"! The kids love my classes, and now I take them on adventures! It is really a good feeling to see how much they love me, and appreciate the fun things that I plan for them. I love acting like a complete goober in front of them. I was singing and dancing along our hike and they laugh at me...but I know they love it. 


PS: In the pics that I am in...the children took the pics. They are getting good at using my camera!

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