Aporo town: Learning goes beyond our classrooms!

THE VISIT

Now, dear friends, a very special series of 6 (six) visits shall be posted to you at the special request of one extraordinary, enthusiastic teacher addressing a large population of children living and attending different school levels in Aporo town. The school population around this town is only reached every other year by the Symbolic Migration, due to the limited number of Ambassador Monarchs and the l a r g e population of elementary school children in our whole region. Living at the valley areas bordering the south-north mountain sides along the “Sierra Chincua” Sanctuary mountains, arrival and departure corridor to Monarchs every single season, many of the families from this “county” to whom these children belong to and attending our lesson this year, own ejidatario titles on forests areas at the buffer land at the Monarchs’ natural reserves. Teacher Juanita Orta, a genuine leader to her own school, other classroom teachers and families, was really standing in line for weeks now, so that several groups organized by her and several young and experienced teachers in the area would receive their Symbolic Monarchs and receive this season’s lesson on “The Benefits of Trees” this year: “I have told parents and teachers there is more beyond school and classroom life for our little ones; we have forgotten to teach lessons of everyday life and local outdoor facts to our children; teaching them about their own locations could bring, to many of them, over time, the certainty that they want their future life here where their grandparents built a living; they is why I like the Symbolic Migration visits; many of us want to travel to get to know of other places, before knowing ours by heart; we have so much to learn and to help with locally… we so much miss being together and this is the chance to make them feel that our school life shall come back soon to us…! I just thought that their Ambassador Monarchs and our time all together now could be a nice Christmas surprise!”. She paused and shortly continued describing: “Working on our school lessons has been so challenging… you know, very few children have a computer at home but not all families are willing to afford internet connection, so it has been difficult to coordinate our lessons through what’s app messages since it has been the best way to coordinate our classes with town students altogether with farm-areas students around the Monarch Sanctuaries... paying what’s app connection for one, two or three smart phones, depending on the number of children at home attending lessons simultaneously has not been easy for parents to afford such expenses on the other side… our children are not familiar with technologies but only really basic functions at a smart phone or computer… Welcome be the Symbolic Migration and thank you for bringing a live experience to our children sharing this year’s lesson on the importance of our forests!”, --teacher Juanita concluded--. The lesson’s dynamics touched every point that has been approached in former visits already posted in the blog for all of you; children were actively participating and realizing how fascinating our own ecosystem is inter-related, since many of these children attended, two years ago, at their schools, our lesson on Pollinators, so the two topics, “Trees” and “Pollinators” matched perfectly for the whole audience!. With this fantastic welcoming we would meet the coming days with every group at the town Church theater room to share this year’s visit!