Yesterday and today, our planned activities for daycare were much more successful than on the first day. The key seems to be keeping it very simple. Even though we had more older kids join us, designing activities appropriate for kindergarteners seems to work best. The challenge of designing activities suitable for such a wide age range (we had kids aged 2 to 10) is similar to the challenge of designing lessons suitable for a wide range of abilities within a classroom, and I approached it in a similar way. On my practicum in Richmond I learned to gear lessons toward the mid-range of abilities, then make adaptations for students of higher and lower abilities.

Yesterday we were assigned to running the body movement portion of the program. We introduced the kids to the game “Go, go, stop!” or “Vas, vas, estop!” and they absolutely loved it (so much so that it became the game of choice during today’s recess). We also had them play “Jump the River” and “Limbo,” as well as have a series of races acting like various animals (run like a bear, a duck, a crab, etc.).

A portion of today was scheduled for mental ability activities, so we taught some English, focusing on parts of the body. We started with the song “Head and Shoulders,” which was far more successful with the slightly older crowd compared to Monday, and they then wanted to sing more songs, so we sang two more with them, first in Spanish, and then in English, at their request. Next we had them draw a self-portrait, and we discussed the parts of the body and the colours in English as we all drew and coloured. We finished off our English lesson with the game “Simon Says.” Only the eldest really understood how the game works, but the younger ones had fun simply following the leader anyways.

Later on, the lady who runs the daycare played some music videos and we danced with all the kids. This was a great way to have all of them involved, as even the younger ones could enjoy jumping around and waving their arms, even if they weren’t following the dance instructions.

Outside of daycare, Kristina and I have been planning and learning more Spanish while soaking in as much sun as possible. I am very pleased with how well my Spanish is coming along. I can now hold full conversations with the guards at our residence building and with random people in the grocery store. I can also understand more and more of what the daycare children are saying, though there are still many Marlin and Squirt moments.

This morning we walked through Puebla’s linear park (an interesting urban planning concept – a long walkway over roads and trees that meets up with narrow strips of grassy land). It was a very nice walk, and led us to a mini-golf course that we tried our hand at. Kristina and I are well-matched in mini-golfing skill, but she won the game thanks to one hole where I kept landing in the pond. Oops!

Overall, I feel well-settled here in Puebla. It will feel a bit strange returning home, but there are still a few more days to enjoy this fantastic place before going back to reality, and by then I think I will be ready to return to my beloved family and friends, even if it means leaving the sunshine behind.