San Marcos RC

Part of my job entails visiting schools in the Cayo district to assess implementation of the Health and Family Life Education curriculum (a national primary school health and life skills curriculum organized around the themes of Self & Interpersonal Relationships, Sexuality & Sexual Health, Eating & Fitness, and Managing the Environment). My counterpart Joe and I try to visit schools to check on whether teachers have HFLE in their class schedules, what types of topics they're covering, the presence of health-related visual aids in the classroom, etc. We also spend a minute talking with teachers about the challenges they face in implementing the curriculum, and what sort of support they could most use from the District Education Center. Information gathered through these visits allows us to create targeted trainings in the areas of greatest need, and is helping me to collect materials for an HFLE-related teacher resource center.

Joe and I recently visited the Catholic school in San Marcos, a small village in the Spanish Lookout area. Spanish Lookout is home to a large Mennonite community, and is a hub of agriculture and dairy farming. Immigrants from around Central America have settled in the area to work on Mennonite farms, and have created a ring of small villages surrounding Spanish Lookout. San Marcos is one of these (though strictly on the grounds of bizarre naming practices, my favorites are Duck Run 1, Duck Run 2 and Duck Run 3). The school has three multi-level classrooms (Belizean primary schools cover the equivalent of kindergarten through 8th grade), one of which is taught by the principal, Mr. Cabb.


The whole Spanish Lookout area sits atop rolling green hills. The majority of the land has been cleared for crops and grazing, so the views are spectacular. This is the view looking across the road from the school.


We take a look around classrooms to see what sort of visual aids teachers are using. This varies a lot from classroom to classroom, and is one thing I've heard about from many teachers. In a resource-poor country like Belize, access to good teaching tools is limited. Many teachers know their students would benefit from good visual aids, but they don't have the resources to get them. It's one of the things I'm hoping to provide in the resource center. (If anyone knows of good sources for health-related visual aids and DVDs, let me know!)


Many schools use gardening as a way to teach about plants, water cycles, the environment and nutrition. Some just plant seedlings and send them home with kids. Others have full school gardens, and sell the produce as a fundraiser, or use it to supplement their school feeding programs. The Chief Education Officer for Cayo recently asked me to create a survey to assess interest in school gardening initiatives. She is hoping to create a district wide program if there is sufficient interest on the part of schools.


And then there's just the fun of seeing what's going on... After lunch, Mrs. Cabb's lower division students line up to sing the national anthem before returning to class. It's no joke to memorize - the thing is LONG!











'Nuff said.