English class at Mano a Mano

Last Tuesday Joel and I went with our friends to the Mano a Mano office and warehouse. Twice a week Patricia and Tony volunteer to teach English to the staff. We helped in the class. The first hour I spent with 6 staff members and 2 other English speakers. It was very basic beginning conversation along the lines of " Hello, my name is Juan, I am from Potosi . I live in Cochabamba. I make windows and doors for Mano a Mano buildings."

I have a great respect for anyone who attempts to learn another language! Of course some of the staff also speak Quechua if they are indigenous.

It was a lot of fun talking with Juan, he and the other beginning students were very sincere in their desire to learn English. Patricia and Tony helped them make a video clip and it is on YouTube site. The students wrote the script. I will post the link later, but if you go to youtube.com and put in the search area "mano a mano workers" you might find it.

The second group of students was at a more advanced level. I worked with Victor Hugo, he is a doctor at Mano a Mano and is part of the administration. We had fun talking about the customs of greeting in Bolivia compared to the US. He is very studious and writes down vocabulary .
At the end of the class I gave each student a tape of music with English lyrics as a gift, I brought some cassettes from home for the express reason that I know that it is helpful to listen to music to learn another language.

Time is flying by here in Cochabamba, we are so fortunate to have made new friendships and strengthen existing friendships. On Sunday we will leave for Uruguay via Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I hope all who read this are well , please post a comment or two!
abrazos,Robin