Two Weeks Past, One To Goprint story

July 26, 2010

Hilda Rothschild Foundation El Salvador
Sofia Weir

We've been in El Salvador for two weeks, and have only one week left. The time is flying by so much faster than we both expected. We've been mainly working with children, but we've also done some presentations for the teachers. The main problems at the school stem from the teachers' lack of education. A fundamental principle in Montessori is respect for others, respect for oneself, and respect of the materials, which is very difficult for the teachers here to grasp. Nonetheless over the past couple of weeks we've seen immense amounts of improvement, from the teachers and students alike.

Upon our arrival, we were suprised to see how damaged the materials in the classrooms were- before we left Dallas we were worried some materials would be too worn, but the ones we brought seemed brand new in comparison to the materials here. The staff at the HRF school was extremely appreciative of our hefty (around $5000 worth) Montessori material donation, thanks to Harry Stone and East Dallas Community School. In El Salvador, Montessori materials are extremely hard to come by for two reasons: they're terribly expensive, and the nearest materials store is in Mexico.

Little by little we've been introducing new materials into the classrooms, and in the next few days we hope to finish installing the rest of the materials we brought.

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