By Chonita Pablo Lacan + Julia Pretsfelder | Social Programs & Development Team
Our artisan’s children fight daily to perform well in school and improve their abilities.This year, all members of Cojolya’s office have been chipping in to work with small study groups to offer academic mentorship for students who want to do better in the subjects most difficult for. We have found that the hardest subjects for them are computing, English, and math.
The current education system requires the use of technology, but the largest obstacle for our students is that they don’t have computers in their homes and far fewer have internet. Because of this, Mano a Mano is supporting them with a space where they can count on having computers and internet to improve their computer skills and knowledge about technology, while getting their homework done.
Another challenging subject for some of our older students is English. This course is particularly difficult for students in writing and pronunciation as their mother tongue is Tz’utujil, one of the predominantly oral Maya languages, which has a very different structure than English. In order to improve, the program is helping with group tutoring sessions in English, to improve our students’ language acquisition and to practice pronunciation all together.
For subjects such as mathematics, Chonita worked one on one with Lourdes, who wants to strengthen her abilities in solving math problems. In our community, many young people have trouble with math, but our program always seeks new solutions to support these young indigenous students in their academic careers.
We loved seeing the hands-on support for Mano a Mano in our small office here in Santiago Atitlán. Our Executive Director, Carina, helped Yulissa and Chonita with textual analysis. Our Design Assistant, Camila, tutored Dolores in reading. Our Communications & Development Coordinator Julia worked with Pedro, Israel, and José Miguel on English pronunciation and spelling of fruits, and Chonita, our Mano a Mano Director, also joined to practice her English!
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