Election Day at GLM

On Wednesday we didn't have classes at the school because it was the students' election day.  Instead it was a day of discussions around tolerance and democracy, a very formal presentation by the school band and the candidates that are running, an AMAZING lunch with more Colombian food than I could possibly eat, and bizarre performances by acrobats and a theater group (that put on a 45 minute production of the earthquake in Armenia without words....unfortunately I didn't know there had been an earthquake in Armenia and I couldn't understand the introduction to the presentation, so I had NO IDEA what was going on....turns out the folks who were supposed to know what was going one were also very confused). :)

Anyhow, the day was very interesting the director of the school presented a lecture on tolerance to the middle school.  To my surprise I was able to understand the entire presentation and it was very interesting.  She began my talking with students about what they thought intolerance meant.  The students talked about mistreating people because of their race and their religion.  Maria Mercedes then pointed out that at our school students don't really differ a whole lot in terms of race and religion but that she sees a lot of intolerance among the middle schoolers.  They begin to share examples of intolerance that exist in our environment - "she's fat", "he's ugly", "he only wears x brand so he must be poor", etc.  It was very interesting.

With the sixth graders, following this presentation, we watched some clips of Latin American soap operas with examples of people making fun of people because they are poor.  The kids laughed a lot.  They were then asked to share all the jokes they knew about poor people.  More laughing.   Then the director of the sixth grade started showing pictures of real poverty - starving children, people sleeping in the streets, and the children got very quiet.  "Not so funny, is it?" she asked.   The students then made a pact to be tolerant of each other and of others.  The last activity was to blow-up balloons and tie them around our ankles.  They represented the weights that were used to make sure slaves and other indentured servants couldn't escape.  We then got to pop the balloons.  The kids walked around all day with strings holding popped balloons around their ankles.


Overall, the election day was successful.  The students - at least the fifth and sixth graders - seem to be happy with the results and they were very mature about who they voted for.  One fifth grader "I'm voting for Torrijos because he is serious.  The other candidates are making jokes and are too confident that they will win.  Torrijos cares."  Wow.  Not once did I hear "because he's cute", "because she's my friend", etc.  I LOVE these kids! :)

Furthermore, the rest of the week has been amazing.  I don't know how long it will last but I really feel like the discussion about tolerance stuck with the students.  Thursday and Friday were incredible - the students worked together and were supportive of each other.  Again, I LOVE these kids!  Also, after every class, every activity, every paper I give them the students say, "Thank you Kate".  Ahhh, it's love.  :)