Volunteer Trip Highlights

2018 has seen two volunteer trips to El Salvador. In March Betty Ann, CanTeach Connections' president, spent one week at the two schools that we support. She visited classrooms, had coffee with our three scholarship students and gave two half-day workshops for teachers of English. We continue to be impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment of both teachers and students. In May, Betty Ann again travelled to El Salvador, this time with volunteers Janice Reinhart and Lynn Howard. This allowed for a greater presence in both schools and allowed some enrichment work with some small groups at INSAB, the school that we have the longest association with. Volunteers were greeted with a student-run bilingual welcome assembly where students were proud to demonstrate their command of English through drama, song and words of thanks. Volunteers spent time in classes as well as with small groups. A highlight of the second week was a book fair where students worked in groups to present orally and visually the content of English books they had read, many of which had been donated by CanTeach. As the Salvadoran academic year ends in October, there will be no further trips this year. However we hope that Skype conversations with interested students and Canadian volunteers will continue. The selection process for our 2019 scholarship recipient(s) will take place at the end of the academic year.