Literacy+Alive!+Part+2

=**Greetings from Cheryl and Terry**=

==We have spent a very busy and productive week in the Cayo District. We flew into Belize City on Saturday afternoon and travelled immediately to the Aguada hotel to drop off our luggage. It felt like coming back to our second home to see the Butcher family, and the friendly staff as we checked into the same room that we had during our August visit. After a brief freshening up we went on to Hodie's Place (a local family restaurant) for a Rotarian gathering where we saw many familiar and welcoming faces. Lynne gave a brief overview of the Literacy Alive Project and we met some of the our Rotary Supporters.==

==The next day we met and planned with our community and teaching team members to map out our week. We got the latest updates from our team leader Lynne Paradis who arrived a day ahead to meet with ministry members. That evening we went to Hodie's place again to meet with Peace Corps volunteers, principals and local librarian in order to reestablish ties, receive updates since our last visit, and to brief on our plans for the week.==

==Monday we travelled to St. Hilda's Anglican School in Georgeville where we greeted the teachers from our summer week long P.D. program. All 7 of the teachers from St. Hilda's attended the professional development week that occured in August. We began the morning in the chapel with devotion led by Father Juan. We then had the opportunity to visit each of the classes from Infant I to Standard 5. We were pleased to see many of the topics covered during our summer P.D. displayed in the classroom. We ate a lunch of traditional Belize fare, chicken with rice and beans, with our teachers at St. Hilda's. Our community team was able to join us for lunch as well as Lynne, Sherri, and Aki. Terry and I both agree that the highlight of our day was to join in with the children duing recess time playing traditional singing and clapping games, including "Cinderella" which can be heard on playgrounds in Canada.==

==On Tuesday, Lynne and Cheryl went to Los Tambos and were warmly greeted by school principal Miss Demetria. Los Tambos is a small, rural school populated mainly by Spanish speaking students. We had the opportunity to meet with Demetria to discuss the school, it's needs, and the community involvement. Before leaving they gave us warm banana cake and a traditional hot drink. The children played with playdough on the outdoor picnic table while homemade soup simmered in the cooking area to be served to the children at lunchtime.==

==In the meantime Terry spent the morning at Sacred Heart Primary. This is a larger school with over 800 students. This was followed by a tour through all of the Infant 1 to Standard 3 classrooms and conversations with the teachers. The principal, Miss Laverne and the vice principals were very forthcoming on strengths and weaknesses in their school and what changes were made as a result of the Literacy Alive project. At lunch Terry visited the town square and market and was then picked up by Lynne and Cheryl to return to the Aguada to prepare for the evening event and the PD on the following day.==

==Tuesday evening we helped to organize a Community Literacy Night at St. Martins School in Belmopan. There were 14 centres in classrooms featuring literacy activities and delicious papusas, empanadas and cupcakes prepared by some dedicated parents. Teachers came from all six pilot schools and some even ran a centre using their own teaching materials. It was a huge success with 500 students and parents in attendance.==