Students in Guatemala are returning to classes this week! But just because the children will be hitting the books for the next 10 months doesn´t mean our mission at El Nahual is any less important. During summer vacation, our Manos de Colores volunteers worked tirelessly to provide safe, positive environments where students could continue building critical skills and have opportunities to work creatively. As Manos de Colores transforms now into a strictly after-school program, our volunteers will be looking to reinforce and build upon content and skills our students study in the classroom. They will also be continuing to assist our students in their educational development in a variety of ways by providing English lessons, asking students to think critically and creatively, and helping students with homework. We will also work closely with four public schools in underserved areas of Quetzaltenango. Although Guatemalan students are expected to have a command of English by the time of graduation, many schools do not offer quality, or in some cases any, English instruction. Our longer-term volunteers will have opportunities to give English classes in our external schools, thereby addressing this shortcoming in the Guatemalan education system. We at El Nahual are looking forward to the challenges that await us this new school year, and invite passionate people with creative minds who wish to collaborate with us in our mission to join us!
