Sala de Tareas

Our short term Volunteers, Aina and Guro, visiting a young Sala de Tarea class.

Global Ministries directly supports a very awesome program at Caminante, the Sala de Tareas. These "homework rooms" provide many services and needs for the communities around Boca Chica. First, for some students the Sala de Tareas are their primary education. In the Dominican Republic you need lots of documentation to attend school and many people, especially very poor people and Haitian immigrants do not have the correct paper work. For some, the schools reject their paper work clamming it to be fake or not correct. Unfortunately there are many students being refused education because they are refugees or their parents could not pay for their paper work when they were born.

Working on math problems!

For most of our students in the Sala de Tareas, the class serves as additional schooling. Some of our students are behind on Spanish or other subjects and need the extra tutoring; for others it is to try and ensure that they are not working; and for some students it is to try and monitor their progression in school and make sure they are attending every day. One girl I spent a class with was really struggling with her teacher at school because does not want to speak Spanish or participate in class, the Sala de Tareas teachers are working with her to understand why going to her public school is just as important as the Sala de Tarea and while they respect her Creole culture it is necessary to participate at school in Spanish.

One of the Sala de Tarea classes welcoming our CWS guests with a song.

The Sala de Tareas use age/educational level workbooks that focus on reading, writing, and comprehension... but the topics cover many topics such as community, family, and health. But, the fun part of the Sala de Tareas are the songs and games. Like many of Caminante's programs the teachers make sure each child feels welcome and loved. Each day is started with a welcoming song sung for everyone in the class and ended with a similar "goodbye" song. 

Getting in some extra reading!