Teach to Teach: Training Women to Teach Spanish

Since our last update, the women of Awamaki’s Spanish teachers cooperative have continued to improve their teaching skills, and are constantly looking for ways to expand the success of their cooperative.  In the past few months, the women have opened new lines of communication between themselves and their students in an effort to identify gaps in both their teaching style and their curriculum.  Together, the women have decided to create evaluations to distribute to their students through which the women hope to learn new ways they can improve their classes. A tight knit group, the women of the Spanish teacher’s cooperative work very well together, and because of this they have been able to come up with some really effective ideas and plans of action over the past few months.

Alongside of their teaching commitments, the women of the cooperative have also been participating in computer and English classes held here at the Awamaki office in Ollantaytambo every week.  As the women themselves work to improve their technical and idiomatic skills, they can continue to become qualified teachers with the appropriate knowledge needed to educate others.  With your support, capacity building and skills training will remain successful and thriving, and the women of the cooperative can keep on building blocks of success for the future.

Goals for the women are always adding up, and at last week’s meeting the teachers expressed their interest in learning to teach Quechua so that they can teach others interested in learning their native language.  The cooperative also hopes to gain some basic marketing skills so that they can begin to promote their own classes and programs.  Most of the women in the cooperative agreed that what they need right now is support from the staff and volunteers at Awamaki; support that will allow them to develop their own outreach strategies and expand their teaching efforts into niche markets in Ollantaytambo, such as Quechua.  Skills, like those of marketing, will put power in the hands of the women, allowing them to make their own decisions and eventually assume complete responsibility of the cooperative.

The considerable successes for Awamaki’s Spanish teachers cooperative would not be possible without the kind and continued support of the organization’s donors.  Awamaki’s GlobalGiving donors have aided the development of the cooperative, and now with continued giving will be supporting improvements and advanced skills training amongst the women involved.  Each dollar donated positively impacts the women’s lives in a profound way, and allows them to develop expertise of their own that will help them continue to support themselves, their family and their community!

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Dear GlobalGiving donors,

Thank you for supporting Awamaki this year.It was a big year for the Spanish teachers' cooperative. Since January, our 11 teachers have finished their initial training and started teaching classes. As of 1 December 2012, the anniversary of their first six months of teaching, the 11 teachers had earned a collective $3350. To assist the school's start-up, Awamaki has invested in classroom facilities, including painting, varnishing, furniture and materials. We have also provided an intensive boost of 6 teacher-training workshops to provide support in what students and the teachers identified as the most pressing areas of teacher training, including how to communicate to students who speak no Spanish, and tactics for explaining simple word definitions if the teacher does not know the English word.

This year, thanks to their months of hard work, market access provided by Awamaki and the support of our GlobalGiving donors, the Awamaki Spanish teachers have the skills and tools they need to earn an improved income so they can lift themselves and their families out of poverty. We'd like to share the story of one teacher, Ruth Roque, and how the project is helping her support herself and her son.

Ruth Fransisca Roque Huaman is a 32-year-old single mom. She has a 12-year-old son, from whose father she is divorced. Programs Coordinator Yovanna Candela sat down with Ruth to ask her about the most significant changes in her life since she started with Awamaki.

“As a person, I have improved my self-esteem and my quality of life” since starting with Awamaki, Ruth said. “As a woman, my value” has improved. When asked what she has done with the money she has earned teaching with Awamaki since June, she tells us that she took her son out of public school to put him in a private school. “Practically all of the money that I earn teaching is for the education of my son,” says Ruth.

We at Awamaki would like to extend our sincerest thanks to you, our GlobalGiving supporters, for supporting Ruth and her ten fellow teachers this year. With your support, they are earning an income that empowers them to change their lives and the lives of their children.

Links:

• Awamaki site

Together with our 12 newly certified teachers, we have successfully launched the Spanish program at the Awamaki Language Center.  That means that after 6 months of dedication in our intensive training program, our local Spanish teachers are being rewarded with the additional income they need and deserve for their hard work.  For two weeks starting at the end of May, our teachers received their first classroom experience teaching with Fair Services in Cusco and then promptly returned to Ollantaytambo to begin teaching in Awamaki’s freshly supplied classrooms.

So far, the members of our new women’s teaching cooperative have earned a total of 9,314 soles by providing Spanish classes. That is over $300 each in just under 3 months. This is is a fantastic start and higher than we projected, and this money that will go directly towards supporting their families with the food and materials they need while helping cover the costs of a better education for their children- and this is just the beginning.  After these successful first months, we are expanding our advertising and continuing to provide flexible, quality Spanish education services for anyone in the area who is interested and wants to support our teachers.  In the coming months, we hope to fill our teacher’s schedules to maximize the impact of the program.   

To date, our teachers’ cooperative has received a total of 69 Spanish students, including both volunteers and tourists in Ollantaytambo.  By providing them with the highest quality education that we can, we are starting to spread the word to make Awamaki Language Center the socially responsible Spanish school of choice in town.

Right now the members of our women’s teaching cooperative are continuing to improve their skills in language education through hands-on experience.  In addition, we are currently collaborating with teachers and students to plan the next phase of trainings and workshops.  We want to base these workshops on the direct needs of the cooperative members so that they can continue to improve as teachers, develop the knowledge to lead their cooperative sustainably, and be enriched as independent people.  The educational options we want to provide them with range from financial literacy to nutritional cooking and yoga. 

We would like to thank each of you who supported this project for making these women’s success possible.  In the last 3 months, funding from the GlobalGiving site has been essential for continuing our teacher training programs and equipping our classrooms with the basics.  As we continue to support our teachers and look towards the future of our program, we are counting on additional support to upgrade our facilities and make sure that teachers receive the support they need in order to place Awamaki Language Center among the best language schools in Cusco.   

We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to keeping you updated on our new Spanish program.

Links:

• Awamaki Language Center Website

Congratulations to Maritza, Anita, Abigail, Roxana, Ruth, Giovana, Jenny, Silvia, Yesica, Mery, Luz Marina, and Luz Delia!

After completing six months and over 440 hours of intensive training in Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru, last Friday the twelve teachers of the Awamaki Language Center graduated from their training course.  We celebrated their hard work and perseverance with a lively party where many people made speeches, recounted memories, and shared hopes for the future.  With a lot of laughter and a few tears, we congratulated each of the women for the incredible determination they have demonstrated as well as the way they have supported one another in their path toward becoming Spanish Teachers, and awarded them certificates of achievement. For most, this is the first higher-education course they have completed.

Now, the new teachers are ready to put their training into action in order to begin earning a higher income to support themselves and their children. In the next two weeks, each teacher will begin offering Spanish classes to volunteers and tourists in Ollantaytambo. They will work flexible hours and earn a very competitive wage for their work. This economic opportunity will enable them to fulfill both the important family roles they hold and to improve their families' financial and social well-being.

In this moment of accomplishment, we most of all want to thank each of you who have supported this project. Funding for the training has been raised entirely through the GlobalGiving site. Your generosity has also supported much of the ongoing costs of construction and renovation of the classrooms the teachers use.

As the new teachers begin their classes, we will use the funds raised through this page to continue improving the teacher's classrooms and fund their additional trainings in teaching methods, cooperative management, and life skills. Once the teachers are teaching, they will recieve ongoing support improving their teaching methods and troubleshooting any problems they encounter in the classroom. Next steps include offering the additional trainings they need to successfully manage their teachers' cooperative and finances, including computer and business skills training; and the life skills curriculum Awamaki is developing for all its cooperatives that will help the women improve thier and their families' well-being through trainings in family health, nutrition, parenting, financial savings and other vital skills. This comprehensive approach will allow the women to gain the skills and financial independence they need to provide a better life for themselves and their families.

We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to keeping you updated on our progress.

The twelve members of Awamaki’s newest women’s cooperative are making incredible strides in their training to become Spanish teachers!  Last Friday, we celebrated the completion of their third segment of preparation with an incredible feast prepared by the women.  As we enjoyed rocoto relleno, aji de gallina, and ocopa, the teachers-in-training shared their excitement and pride in their progress, and expressed heartfelt thanks to all those who have made this opportunity possible.  Each participant in this capacitacion (training) has an extremely high level of commitment, and in the last month the women have even extended their class time each week to include an English course taught by Awamaki volunteers.

The women are growing in skills and confidence, and are excited for upcoming practice teaching sessions with volunteers.  Additionally, plans are progressing well for the Awamaki Language Center—the name for our newly-formed Spanish school—which will be up and running in time for our high season this summer!  We are certain that the demand for these Spanish courses will be extremely high, as we already have regular inquiries regarding Spanish instruction from volunteers and tourists alike.

We are incredibly grateful for your contributions to this effort; you are empowering this group of women to improve their economic and social wellbeing while providing an essential service to the Ollantaytambo community!  Stay tuned for updates on the women’s progress, and keep us informed of any ideas you may have as we seek to empower this wonderful group of teachers!