Submitted by Michael Rimbey on the 2024 Winter HDFS program in Barbados…
This week in Barbados, we had the opportunity to have four more placements in our assigned primary schools and do other activities around the island. In the placements I got to know the kids and teachers more and learned their different teaching styles to help the kids understand the information being presented. In our PE classes, we worked on long jumps and I had the opportunity to lead multiple classes out in the sandpit while the teacher was doing something else. In this role, I taught them first how to turn away from the pit and take between nine and twelve steps to get a proper running start when they were eventually going to run towards the pit. I then instructed them to turn 90 degrees towards the fence and place their cone down with their name on it so they had a marker of where to start. When their name was called, they were to come off of the fence and take their marks to get ready to run. Finally, I had taught them how to approach the board and hit it with one foot, jump as high and as far as possible, and land with both feet in the sand. This was all to get the children to understand the basics because they have a competition against other schools towards the end of January and early February. Some other activities we got to do this past week included going to Oistens on Friday night and Harbour Lights on Wednesday night. In both of these locations they had live music, native dancing, gift shops, and places for food and drink. This has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far because it allowed me to experience their culture even more and make me feel like part of the community. I am looking forward to experiencing more things like this these next two weeks and still am incredibly grateful to be able to spend my winter break here. (Submitted on January 19, 2024)