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Semuc Champay

Before our week of Spanish immersion at Escuela de la Montaña, the students of Beginning Spanish practiced descriptions and vocabulary related to "la familia."  They illustrated what they had learned  by designing and presenting their own cast of characters for a "telenovela" (the ever-popular Latin American soap opera).  The presentation had me laughing out loud with its intricate family tree and detailed illustrations, including some stellar artwork by Maddy and Hannah! Madeline kept an remarkably straight face as they presented, though she had dreamt up many of the unusual plot twists.

While at Escuela de la Montaña,  students participated in one-on-one language classes for four hours each day, and ate all of their meals with a host family. Local Spanish teachers not only provided grammar instruction, but also proved to be great resources for conversing about local history and culture. TTS students became friends with their teachers over the course of the week. Izzy, especially, could be heard laughing heartily with her teacher, Rony, as they spent each morning speaking Spanish  under a small palapa. 

A week of tremendous growth, the students' increased confidence and language skills are evident in their most recent weekly journals.  Since the beginning of the semester, each student has  written regular journal entries to reflect on conversations they had in Spanish.  Hannah went from journaling about the frustration of being unable to understand elementary school children on the playground to successfully asking her host mother about her children (then writing about it entirely in Spanish).  While students continue practicing their charades skills, their abilities to effectively communicate in Spanish has grown tremendously over the course of this past month in Guatemala.

The students of Intermediate Spanish left Escuela  de la Montaña with stories upon stories!  They can now gracefully share these stories using the pretérito and imperfecto verb forms, which they use in conversation as well as in writing.  Katy had especially rich conversations with her teacher, Lorena, which provoked her to think in new ways about the book, Tree Girl, which she had read for lit class.  Kaitlyn had extensive mealtime conversations, and believes she could now write her host mother's biography!  Sadie talked with her host brother at length about his interesting perspective on access to education. 

Between daily interactions with host families and teachers, as well as thought-provoking guest speakers, our time at Escuela de la Montaña left the Intermediate Spanish class with increased confidence and eagerness to learn more from those around us.  Students have been reflecting on the past month's experiences and mastering the ability to tell stories in Spanish. These new skills prepare them for an upcoming project in which they will write and illustrate their own picture books to share with children we meet along the way.

¡Saludos desde La Escuela de La Montaña! Advanced Spanish students thrived at the Mountain School, loving the chance to have their own individual teachers for the week and quickly enhnace vocab and grammar skills.  Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with host families provided the ideal opportunities to put Spanish skills to the test while learning more about the history of the region and exploring current community issues including immigration and economics.  Additionally, Mountain School provided ample chances for translation.  Sarah M. has stepped up as a phenomenal translator this week.  ¡Bien hecho, Sarah!

Advanced Spanish students continue to interview local communities as part of our ongoing A Day in the Life project.  Students are compiling their interviews into a collection of Spanish shorts on life in the region.  Very soon, we’ll delve into the novel by the same name and learn about the indigenous uprising and twelve year civil war in El Salvador.  The class novel will help us compare and contrast conflicts in the various Central American countries and no doubt launch us into deep conversation about negotiations and the peace-building processes post conflicts.  Hasta pronto. . . 

Global Studies class serves as a thread that ties together the myriad new experiences we encounter each day at TTS.  Our most recent unit on human rights  provided students with a lens through which to interrogate and make sense of history, as well as current social structures.  We opened our study of human rights by reading testimonies from Ariel Dorfman's play, Speak Truth to Power.  Students took on the characters of various human rights defenders, incited emotion and passionate discussion that would only become more real as we delved into conversations with host families, teachers, and community members in the highlands outside of Xela.  Each week, students write RRQs (Reaction, Reflection, Question) in which they reflect and provoke each other to dig deeper with probing questions.  This week, Bella showed how guest speakers helped change her perspective on daily life:

"'The mountains were the best university I ever had because they taught me how to love.' This was the response I received after asking an ex-guerilla what it  was like emotionally to fight up in the mountains.  I found this beautiful and moving. While I was listening to them talk, I was incredibly hungry and my stomach sounded like it was churning butter.  Then, the ex-guerillas began to speak of group dynamics in the mountains.  They talked of equality and sharing.  They said everyone had equal food and shared in the suffering.  They would all starve together if there was no food...This experience was important because as the ex-guerillas were talking about starvation and sharing every little bit of food, I was thinking about when I would get my lunch.  I realized I was not thinking about who else in my group was hungry.  I have never lived in a group setting where everything is shared. I further realized that I have recently been thrown into one.  On our trip with TTS, I want to use these ex-guerillas ideas of community and love as I go through the semester."

 - Bella, Junior, Montana

GEOMETRY

Izzy and Leila have been doing a stellar job working together to master the intricacies of essential geometry formulas: distance, midpoint, special triangles, regular polygons, etc.  Students solve problems on whiteboards then prove their answers aloud.  This was particularly helpful in our recent study of circles which emphasized special rules for arc and angle measurements.  As we move onwards towards the jungles of Peten, we’ll study

how Mayans intentionally made use of geometry in their construction of pyramids and temples.  We can’t wait for Tikal.

Roasting marshmallows on Pacaya

Travel Journalism has been busy writing, writing, writing!  Very soon friends and family can look forward to a few articles on this blog as students spent time while at the Mountain School editing one another’s short pieces.  Students wrote about a variety of topics from the infamously touristy Arch Street in Antigua to the bustle of the mercardo, from the three day hike with Quetzal Trekkers to their lancha ride across Lake Atitlan.  We’re excited to be polishing the pieces and publishing them soon.

At Mountain School, students also worked on their photojournalism portfolios, revising their bios and taking lots of shots.  Hannah, Leila, and Sharleen focused on landscapes and panoramic views as well as portraits of their host families.  As we head towards Semuc Champey and then the jungle, we’re excited for opportunities to continue building our photo collections, adding wildlife and nature to the mix.

Spring break TTS style

Wahoo! Spring Break 2015! What does that mean for TTS students?

Well, it means classes, experiential activities and life as normally un-normal for TTS25. Last week they slid down natural water slides to refresh after a steep hike in Semuc Champay. The slides connect seven different pools of aqua marine water. To get to the final pool, everyone had to swim through an underwater tunnel, popping up for air in little hidden pockets before ducking back under. Giddy with adrenaline and laughter, they re-booted for their return hike to the trail head. Throughout the week, students also completed classes, prepared presentations and packed up their cabanas. After a full travel day in two micro buses on Friday, the group is deep in heart of the Guatemalan jungle.

This week students will wander through Tikal, experiencing the enormity of ancient civilizations. They may wake up well before the sunrise and creep into the reserve with a guide to witness the waking sun through the architectural and artistic remains of the Mayan ruins. They may trek into the wetlands, savannah, broadleaf and palm forests for PE to reflect on times past.

Back at the hostel, students will soak in free time between classes - resting, laughing, chatting and possibly catching up on daily tasks such as laundry.

Take a look at what they have been up to in classes over the past few weeks. (More class updates to come)

Precalculus

During the week of Spanish Immersion, the students also had days filled with math immersion. I am continually impressed by their diligence: after studying Spanish for four hours every morning, we met for afternoons of precalculus. We just finished polar functions. McKinley is great at drawing beautiful rose curves, almost better than the calculator can!  Sharleen worked hard converting between the Cartesian and polar planes while swinging on a hammock at the Mountain School. Bella was right beside her in another hammock, completing the square to have each rectangular equation in circle format. Ash preferred to work at a desk, solving intricate triangles and word problems. Today we are having our first test of the semester, focusing on the law of sines, cosines, and polar coordinates. As we finish chapter six, we will delve into the imaginary plane and vectors! Math comes to life with magnitude and direction and the students will get a glimpse of physics as well.

Algebra II

Every morning at the Mountain School was filled with Algebra 2! Now in Lanquin, we have algebra class alongside a beautiful river. We are almost to the end of chapter six. Maddy is proving yet again to be the polynomial queen, solving any polynomial no matter how high the degree. Sarah Jane is fascinated by the world of complex numbers and is busy calculating "i" to every degree. Katy is great at the rational root theorem, figuring out all the rational roots of any equation. Annie is working hard at graphing on the TTS graphing calculator, calculating zeroes and multiplicity. Tomorrow is our first test of the semester. The students are studying hard and excited to put their math skills to work. In the next two weeks we will be studying graphs in more detail and discovering how to predict end behavior.

Science

When you're a student at the Traveling School, science class is all around you.  To learn about coffee, the class toured an organic coffee farm in Antigua.  The intricate process came alive as they tasted beans right off the plant, saw the mills and drying areas, and learned the difference between high altitude and low altitude coffee. Later on at the Mountain School, the students met with coffee farmers and learned the rich history of the area.  All of the students' host families are associated with coffee farms; they have organized for better working conditions and pay for coffee farmers across Guatemala. And what is a delicious cup of coffee without clean drinking water? After our coffee tours we toured a water purification manufacturer called Ecofiltro.  There, the students learned about an ingenious and simple way for millions to purify their water. It was an amazing sight to see how sometimes the simplest method, such as filtering water through clay, can save lives. Next week we head to Tikal, and the students will be searching for various animals and plants only seen in the rainforest.

Physical Education

All of our days in Guatemala have been packed with outdoor activities. Together the students hiked from Xela to Lake Atitlan, averaging over seven miles a day. Heavy packs, high altitudes, and steep ascents and descents kept all of us huffing and puffing. Finishing the hike was extremely rewarding and the sunrise on the final morning was beautiful. Other activities have included kayaking in Lake Atitlan, swimming at Semuc Champey (beautiful turquoise pools in Lanquin), morning runs, circuits, and yoga.  The rest of the semester will hold more of the same exciting opportunities to keep physically fit, improve our flexibility, and most importantly have fun!

History

In the mountains outside of Xela, Guatemala, students read Bridge of Courage, an anthology of stories from the Guatemalan civil war. The most amazing thing occurred two days ago. We visited the community of Santa Anita, a pueblo of ex-combatants. After hiking to a waterfall through coffee fields, and before eating a lunch of chicken, beans, rice and tortillas, a woman named Wilma shared her story of fighting as a guerrilla. Her companero then spoke, and shared a story that blew the student's minds. In their books they had just read about a man named Comandante Everardo, who was eventually shot by the army, tortured and killed. Mauricio, our guest speaker, told a story of how he was next to Everardo when he was shot. That day, Mauricio didn't know if the Comandante was alive or dead, only that he was shot in the leg in a moment when they all needed to run. It turned out that Everardo lived, dug himself into a hole and covered himself in banana leaves to hide, but was discovered and dragged away. Of all the people to encounter in Guatemala we ate lunch with someone who was next to the man in our books. History comes alive on a daily basis at TTS.

Coming up next students will dig into the history behind the civil war. After listening to harrowing stories, watching documentaries, and reading articles, students will learn how the rift between Latinos and Mayans came to be, what the United States had to do with it, and about the role of corporations and the military. We will then dive into ancient history with the Mayan civilizations during our time in the ruins of Tikal, and help complete the picture of who what why when and how in Guatemala.

Today Literature & Composition class began with a surprise open-book exam on Tree Girl, their first book of the semester. Now that a few weeks have passed, students have a deeper understanding of the context of the novel, and are able to more fully process Mikaelson's message, relating the book to their own lives. Students also learned the art of 'found' poetry, creating original poems from words gathered from the novel.

At the moment, students are brainstorming for their first big written assignment, the Testimony. After reading Tree Girl, excerpts from I, Rigoberta Menchu, and Bridge of Courage, all examples of testimonies, students are becoming more familiar with the popular Central American genre. Last week they created emotional arcs, specific outlines for the stories they plan to write. Students have the ability to choose to tell another's story by interviewing those we encounter, or telling their own, by choosing specific memories from their past.

Coming up next we will continue to hold writing workshops to support the process of creation, and begin reading place-based short stories.

Classes coming to life

History class opened with a story about the medical anthropologist Paul Farmer, and his idea on 'reading the world'. How can students uncover the layers of social, environmental, and political history in each place they pass? Students are learning the foundations of the semester, tools of analysis such as the root cause tree and the iceberg model of violence. These tools will aid students in processing and understanding the world around them. Students will learn how to make sense and ask a better set of questions on social and political issues. What happened here? Why do people think what they think? What does it mean to be a human? Why is that? Students are not only engaged in articles outlining Spanish colonialism, but walking Antigua through ruins and cobblestone streets, bringing history alive.


Literature & Composition class began with each student writing an "I Am" poem. Students shared their roots aloud, bringing their friends, family and loved ones into the TTS setting. Gathered under the avocado trees, students of Literature then listened to the story of Rigoberta Menchu Tum, one of the most famous Guatemalans due to her testimony called "I, Rigoberta Menchu". Menchu Tum describes her life as a poor indigenous farmer during the time of the Civil War. Students are also reading a children's book called "Tree Girl", an intense introduction to the realities of the Maya only a few decades ago. These pieces leave students with questions such as, 'What is the relationship between Latinos and Mayans today? How has the trauma of the past affected the Guatemalan population? How is the United States implicated in this history?' Students are exploring these questions through poetry, short stories, and novels of the region.


Global Studies is the 'make-sense-of-it-all class', a space for students to process their experiences, and debrief with each other. Why did that happen? How did it make them feel? What does that mean? What are the larger themes that can be drawn out? How can it be connected to what we're learning in class? Global Studies includes the site-visits to places such as an organic farm on the outskirts of Antigua, a day trip to Guatemala City to learn about children who pick through the garbage dump to survive, a visit to an international school, a coffee farm, an eco-filter project on providing clean drinking water for Guatemala, and even a chocolate museum to learn about the cultivation and production processes of cacao! Themes of human rights, trade relations, and immigration are woven together. The first week included a Central American "meet-and-greet" in which students took on the role of a famous Central American or U.S. figure and interviewed each other over appetizers to learn more about the region's political history. 

Life at the Mountain School (La Escuela de la Montaña)

When we arrived to La Escuela de la Montaña last Sunday we were warmly greeted by Candace and Tomás who currently run a language learning sanctuary in the mountains of Guatemala. Before the students could comprehend what was about to take place, they were thrown into immersion. Student pairs were dropped off at host-families for lunch. The community is composed of two towns, a short walk from one to the other-  Fátima and Nuevo San Jose - composed of families who relocated from a nearby coffee finca after not getting paid by the patron for several years.

After lunch, TTS students arrived back at the school, our base for the week where we sleep and hold classes, already sharing stories of their families, communication successes and errors, adorable children and great food!

Sharing three meals a day with host-families has been a highlight this week as everyone has practiced their Spanish, learning the stories and daily life of their families while tasting the local cuisine. Favorites have included the typical frijoles y huevos (beans and eggs), sweet bread and pancakes for breakfast, and various verduras (vegetables), arroz (rice) or even pasta for lunch and dinner. And of course always lots of tortillas, which some of the girls have even had a hand in making! 

Classes fill the day, as each student has an individual Spanish teacher for either a morning or afternoon four-hour session of conversation and grammar practice. Some students are engaging in service projects in the library, helping to sort books and tutor children in their homework. I can already hear the excitement and improvement in each TTS students’ Spanish. Advanced students are using their skills to translate guest speakers, and learn more about the history of the place while beginning students are enjoying getting to know the basics and are learning to form questions and converse with each other and their families.  Everyone is seeing the importance of language as a lens and door into understanding another culture.

The other half of the day is filled with Spanish homework, math class and keeping up with other work in history, literature TJ and Science. History of this place is tied together through the stories of the people we’ve met. TTS is learning by experiencing this culture and this place. We are reading excerpts from Bridge of Courage to gain broader stories about life during the war. These readings matched with activities and conversations are enriching our experience here. Each local Spanish teacher has their own story to tell from the civil war; many hiking up mountains to supply guerrilla fighters with food and supplies, while others were just children who have their own tales of running from death squads. We are all learning how each person is a resource to enrich our own perspectives. For example, Letty, one of the guest speakers this week humbly shared her story as the daughter of a refugee and member of the Santa Anita community of ex-guerrillas, where we will most likely be visiting this weekend – another, perfect opportunity to continue our exploration and use our budding confidence in the Spanish language to continue to dig deeper in to the complicated history and current situation of Guatemala. 

More photos added to Earth Lodge album today!

Bravery

For some, bravery is spending a semester in foreign lands, far from home, with new friends. And for others, bravery is posting on a group blog.

 Dear TTS25 Parents,

      My husband Jim and I are so excited to send our daughter, McKinley, on an incredible journey.  I hope all our daughters will embrace each other in friendship and contribute authentic perspectives and insight to the group’s learning experience. I was so happy to meet the team of inspiring TTS teachers for breakfast in Bozeman. Our daughters are going to learn from their wealth of knowledge, experience and more importantly, our girls are going to love them! We parents have given our daughters a unique opportunity to seize beautiful Central American for classroom venues and embrace fellow students, local residents and TTS25 staff as teachers.  

     Fellow parents, I have a confession to make. After spending countless hours helping McKinley in planning, acquisition of compact/light weight equipment, clothing, toiletries and meds, I was honestly relieved to finally be DONE and send her on her way.  That relief lasted a few days morphing into missing her. I flipped through pictures of her on my phone last night, then looked to the blog for news.  Jim, my husband, admits to checking the blog daily, hoping to be thrown a bone, rewarded with pictures or a tidbit of news. 

     TTS staff is rightly focusing their time on our girls right now, establishing team-bonding, and a daily groove of academic curriculum, meals, sightseeing and rest. I’m posting this in solidarity with any fellow parents who are checking the blog too.  We are used to receiving texts, news and requests every day from our beloved daughters. Parents, I know this isn’t the blog or pictures for which you were hoping. Take courage, we’ll make it to the first phone call which comes in what.. two weeks? 

Buena Suerte y Felices Aventuras TTS25 Team!  

Kris Hall, Bozeman, MT

Airport Photos

 Sarah C., Sadie, Maya, Izzy, Ash

Leila, Madeline, McKinley, Kaitlyn, Meredith

 Sarah (T), Madeleine, Sharleen, Annie, Bella

Vickie, Sarah, Katy, Ellen, Hannah, Laurel