Summer 2017 Trip

The third official trip of the Cotinga Foundation is complete. From June 8th until June 18th, 2017, a team of 11 teachers traveled to Cayambe, Ecuador to work at Escuela de Educacion Especializada Cap. Giovanni Calles. This was a trip that included many firsts and created some great connections and building blocks for future trips.

Dave and Brenda Meyer are missionaries in Cayambe and are our hosts for the week. They both translate for us, arrange for all of our lodging and transportation, and host us in their home for most of our meals. They are an integral part of Cotinga Foundation. Additionally, two of our team members were translators.

On our first day, we took a trip to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Our team took the school director, two psychologists and the speech pathologist from our school in Cayambe with us. We visited Eina school, which is a private progressive school. It is run by a man that works at the Federation for Intellectual Disability. He has a lot of resources and ideas that can help our school in Cayambe. There were great conversations and Cotinga forged a partnership that will bring great benefit to our school.

Throughout the next few days, we did some sightseeing, but also sorted and organized the 990 pounds of supplies that we brought. As we organized, we planned how to present all of our lessons. We had been meeting every two weeks since January, so everyone was very familiar with our content.

Every morning, we broke into small groups (2-3) with a translator. Each group was assigned four classrooms to visit. This allowed every classroom to be visited each day, plus each group got to see each classroom throughout the week. They modeled a different lesson each day and worked with the students. The teachers not only benefitted from seeing our teachers interact with the students, but watching them teach a story book or math skill. It was exciting to see the changes in their classrooms since Terry first went to the school in 2014. They are utilizing many of the ideas for academics, calendars, behavior, classroom rules, and hands-on activities. Every classroom now has books that can be read to the students. Many of the teachers are using the worksheets and books that we printed for them.

We had fun things to give the students each day (small crafts, pipe cleaners) that helped with fine motor skills. One day we gave the students a pencil bag made from ladies in the U.S. with a Cotinga pencial, eraser and pencil sharpener. Another day we gave them a Cotinga string backpack with a book about brushing your teeth, plus a toothbrush.
Each day we had some recess activities planned with supplies we brought, such as parachutes, stretchy bands, balls and sidewalk chalk. These helped the students with their gross motor skills as they ran and played. We taught the students and teachers new games, how to take turns and cooperate.

In the afternoons, we had seminars with the teachers. We taught reading, math and writing lessons that included many simple ideas that they could utilize with every student. Each classroom now has beautiful alphabet charts, number lines to 30, and sentence clip charts, all sewn by ladies in the U.S. We did some daily behavior and sensory activities to use in their classroom. We also brought social stories that they had requested. This year, we gave many ideas, then left the supplies so that they could make things themselves that would be suited to their students. For the first time, the teachers participated in many small group activities and asked questions. We saw a big difference in their openness to share with us and with each other.

When Terry visited in March of this year, she was able to have great conversations with the teachers. They were able to share about things that they used and request certain items. Vocabulary cards were one of those things that we created for them, using their list of words. We left two sets of cards, plus the file so that they could create more. This visit also encouraged them to use items in different ways and gave them time to ask a lot of questions.

We held our annual parent meeting, but this time requested that the teachers attend also. For the first time, this bridged a gap between the parents and teachers. The parents would ask us questions, but were intimidated about approaching the teachers. Many, many conversations took place that day.

One afternoon we visited the sheltered workshop that was started last year. Cotinga was involved in helping with ideas for starting it, since the students must leave school at the age of 21. Students from our school go there a few afternoons a week, along with a parent and create items to sell at the marketplace. We purchased items that the students have made, and the money goes to them and their families. Cotinga Foundation purchased many bracelets to give to donors. They were very grateful for our support.

Two ladies from the Department of Education of the Cayambe schools met with Terry and Galo (the school director) one morning. They thanked Cotinga for its ongoing work in the school. Terry encouraged them to allow teachers from other schools to visit our school and learn from the ideas that Cotinga has shared. They also thanked us for our bracelet purchase last year. That purchase funded the sheltered workshop for the entire year. We assured them that we would continue that partnership.

When Terry was in Cayambe in March, she heard that many special education students from our school were being moved into the general education schools under the idea of inclusion. This has happened with no training for any of the teachers. Cotinga Foundation volunteered to hold a seminar to provide instruction and help with this situation. The director of our school invited the counselors and psychologists from the general educations schools in the area. Twenty nine people came, representing 35 schools. The seminar focused on the philosophy of inclusion, but also the practical methods involved. To show that we appreciated their interest in helping the special education students, we had packets of gifts and snacks throughout the day. They participated in small groups asked numerous questions. They were given templates that they can use to create instruction for their students. More importantly, it created a bridge between the schools. It was a huge success, very well received and they would like us to come back.

It was an amazing trip, with an amazing team this year. Each member of the team worked so hard and used all of their knowledge to create, share and pour into the teachers and students. Their work this year will continue for a long time, as the teachers there use the ideas and information that they have learned.