Winter 2015

Above, three students enjoy learning and older brother Edgar (middle) helps his little brother Ariel (left) comprehend a puzzling math problem. Although these students are all different ages and are at different stages in their math comprehension, the individualized learning allows them to work at their own unique paces and maximize their time in the classroom. The interactive, state-of-the-art technology in the Bolivia 4ward classroom is an asset to the students who love the Khan Academy software.

Left to Right: Ariel, Edgar, Jose

Here, older student Melissa (middle) helps younger students Jhojaira and Ilber (back, front) solve a challenging math problem. The students enjoy using the little white boards and markers provided in the classroom to brainstorm and work through complex and challenging problems.

Back to Front: Jhojaira, Melissa, Ilber

Pictured above is a group of students playing an educational game called “Sum Swamp” while patiently waiting to use the computers. This group of students happens to be all related, and the eldest girl just celebrated her 12th birthday on Sunday, June 5th. On Monday we had a small party for her and the rest of the students!

Left to Right: Alex, Guisela, David, Francisco, Alexandra

Engaging with English

The new students from the social wellness program Manos de Libertad are all studying English. For half the class, we have an English-only interactive round table.

Immersion is key to learning a language

Everybody is engaged

Getting outside changes the classroom and keeps students attentive

Speaking helps students' pronunciation

Duolingo

Duolingo is the new program we are using to teach English. Right now, we actually have more English students than math students, and the program has been very successful. Duolingo engaging and easy to navigate, allowing the students to work without the constant attention of the tutor. One student who has access to a computer has even continued to study at home! The program teaches English beginning with basic word-image associations and then simple translations. To augment the online learning, we also hold short conversation lessons each class. All of the English students gather around a table to speak in English about what they've learned that day and respond to the tutor's questions. This provides the students with a limited immersion in English and a chance to practice their pronunciation. Furthermore, it forces the students to actually apply the language in a spontaneous way, complimenting the more passive lessons they receive online. All in all, the English program, though new, has proved popular and successful!

     Students using Duolingo to study English

Moises is extra intent on getting this translation right                  

Update

The reinitiated Bolivia 4WARD program has been going strong for the past week. Some five students have been studying, on and off, during our open hours and are becoming familiar with their learning environment. Yesterday, the first student to study english arrived. The student, named Ignacio, used the program Duolingo, an ambitious online project to teach languages for free while translating the entire Web (links below). Ignacio got very excited about his success in the program, and made sure that he knew how to log in on his account so that he could keep his learning streak before the next class. It is good to see that the English program is as engaging as the Khan Academy math site.

Much of this past week has also been spent gearing up the program for more students, and we're happy to say that they begin in earnest next week. The orphanage Niños con Valor is participating again, as well as kids from the social wellness project Manos de Libertad. The program is looking for volunteers to assist with all the new students. The program is growing fast, the classes are going well, and Bolivia 4WARD is set to take the next steps to become an even bigger part of the Cochabamba educational landscape.



Duolingo Links

Site: https://www.duolingo.com/
TED Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration

Taking Off

Great news! Yesterday the first students of the new program arrived. Four kids between the ages of 8 and 16 came to study math. It was somewhat hectic, as always on the first day, but once the students settled in, they really enjoyed the site. The kids came to the program in response to the article published about us by Los Tiempos (link below). While we are still committed to teaching the children of AHA Bolivia artisans, it is exciting to see that the program is growing and interests different people. Official classes have not been finalized, but we have begun offering "open hours" three days a week, where students can drop in as they are available. During the school year, this seems to be the most helpful to students, as their schedule is not overburdened with regular classes, but they can reinforce and receive help for the material they are learning in school. It is great to have started with the program again and we are busy getting ready to have even more students!


Los Tiempos Article (in Spanish)

http://www.lostiempos.com/oh/actualidad/actualidad/20140830/%E2%80%9Cbolivia-4ward%E2%80%9D-un-programa-tutorial-de-matematicas-para-ninos_272062_597359.html

Thanks to our Donors!

Bolivia 4WARD is moving forward! After our Indiegogo campaign raised nearly $6,500 (net return), the program is ready to develop a more sustainable and efficient learning environment, establish a regular class schedule, and expand online learning, both within the classroom and around Bolivia. All of this is made possible by the generous sponsors of our cause, and we would like to thank some of them here:

Daniel Goldstein, an anthropology professor at Rutgers University who has extensively studied Bolivia and given voice to the marginalized members of its society. Moreover, he is a good friend to AHA Bolivia.

Terry Beltran, CEO of Vista Latinos and Beltran Media who is involved in the Latino community in the United States and around the world.

Cecilia Foxworthy, founder of Revision Ventures, an organization that educates and employs youth doing SEO for local businesses. She is also a longtime friend and supporter of AHA Bolivia.

Marshal Hammons, a Santa Clara University student and friend to Elahdio Aliaga.

Artisan Connect, an associate of AHA Bolivia that connects local artisans from around the world to customers online, empowering communities while sharing art.

and the many other contributors to our cause. Thank you all for investing in the kids of Bolivia!


Finally, I would like to quickly introduce myself, Ian Petty. I am currently in Cochabamba coordinating the new development of Bolivia 4WARD. I will be updating the blog with the program's progress, but I also encourage any of you readers to contact me at bolivia4ward@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and ideas. Best, Ian

Interning with AHA Bolivia: Jeffers Guthrie

When I volunteered for this program I had almost no knowledge of Spanish besides the menial skill of being able to crudely count to ten. In the months leading up to my departure I experienced constant self-doubt. And for obvious reason. I would be traveling internationally for the first time on my own, and entering a foreign country with an entirely different culture and environment. A country that has been voted one of the most unfriendly to foreigners, not to mention that the majority of its population speaks only Spanish. My only solace was that I had taken Latin for 4 years, an unspoken language that I was told would greatly improve my ability to learn this new language.

This anxiety followed me, unwavering, throughout my journey to and arrival in Bolivia. On the flight from Miami to La Paz everything around me seemed to confirm my helplessness. Even the flight crew did not speak English! The difficulty and nervousness I encountered when trying to decipher the immigration forms compounded my feelings. Everyone and everything seemed to be hostile and new. All I wanted to do was to turn around and go back to the safety and comforts of home. Going through immigration everyone seemed to look down on me for being a “gringo”. When I was met by the people escorting me to my next flight their first question was, “How is your Spanish?” Defeatedly I answered, “zero.” The answer hit me far harder than the altitude sickness I was feeling. I was supposed to be coming to this country to teach; how was I going to communicate with these children, let alone teach them math skills, knowing so little of their language?

Arriving in Cochabamba was the greatest culture shock. There was almost nothing familiar that I could hold onto to give me some hope of success, at least in the way I perceived it. I felt completely overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and, of course the language, especially knowing I would be there for a month, the longest time I had ever been away from my family. Upon my arrival we headed directly to the office from where we would be heading the Khan program. I met Elahdio and Jose, and sat idly by, watching nervously as they taught the kids effortlessly in fluent Spanish. I looked at the kids, understanding none of the sounds that flowed from their lips. Once again questions of doubt flooded my brain.  It was intimidating to say the least.

The next morning was when the ‘fun’ really began. I had my first Spanish lesson, which was both encouraging and discouraging. I realized I knew more than I had originally thought, but there was also the realization that I was learning kindergarten level Spanish. Equipped with a few simple phrases, I prepared to begin the task of tutoring fluent Spanish speakers in mathematics. With broken words and sentences I helped the kids sign up for Khan Academy and begin learning. I looked around. Everyone around me seemed to be able to approach and teach the kids with ease. I looked around for someone who was struggling. In the corner I saw a little boy who was having difficulty with fractions. Nervously and cautiously I approached him, greeted him and asked his name. “Fernando,” he replied in a quiet voice. I could easily read the nervousness and shyness in his voice and face. But there was also the keen and almost desperate desire to learn and understand. It felt familiar. I looked over the problem. It seemed to be simple enough. In single words and poor attempts at pronunciation I explained to him that a fraction was equal to part over the whole. In this case red rectangles over the total sum of all the rectangles. As I spoke he seemed to read in me what I had read in him -- a feeling of nervousness and apprehension, and it put him at ease. His expression was one of contemplation, that slowly gravitated to understanding. Quickly, as though afraid he might forget, he scribbled ⅗ down on the whiteboard.  I smiled, relieved, and said with a terrible accent “Si! Muy bien!” He entered in the answer and a smiley face appeared on the answer button, which he quickly mirrored.  I found the rest of the session, while a challenge, very enjoyable and very gratifying. Leaving the session, I allowed a smile to creep onto my face; I knew that I would be able to contribute here.

Over the past few weeks teaching has only gotten better. My desire to help these children who are faced with a very limited educational system and few opportunities has grown. Although I still constantly need to ask my fellow volunteers for vocabulary, somehow I have been able to teach the kids and impact them in a positive way. The students enjoy my poor attempts at the language and they are learning the material, even calling me back to explain something they don’t understand. Despite our very different backgrounds, we are connected. Because of my limited Spanish I think they see me not as a symbol of authority or intimidation but as someone who is just as hungry for knowledge as they are.

Interning with AHA Bolivia: Vicente Nagel

This being my first time volunteering with the Bolivia4ward program, I knew very little of what to expect throughout my time here. All I really knew in regards to my involvement in the program was that I would be assisting Bolivian children and teens in expanding their math knowledge using the Khan Academy website. My lack of knowledge about the project compounded with my lack of confidence in my Spanish-speaking abilities and my inexperience as a teacher instilled in me an apprehension that followed me from the time I departed from Chicago all the way to the first time I decided to sit down next to a student in need of some extra assistance with a tricky problem.

Coming out of a full week of teaching, however, I have to say that I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to participate in the program from the perspective of a nervous foreigner and a true newcomer to the field of education. What I began to realize, and what became my mantra every time I felt overwhelmed by a particularly difficult concept to explain, was that the girls and boys whom I was teaching weren’t here to judge me on my Spanish or scold me for making a simple mathematical mistake—they were here to learn about math just as I was here to learn about their culture and language. The moment I realized this simple fact was the moment that the program turned from a daunting test of mathematical skill and command of the Spanish language to a mutual journey for knowledge.

In this new reality, what I had attributed as my weaknesses turned out to be the biggest advantages that I could muster in the quest for truly understanding how best to impact the lives of these bright children that I had the joy of surrounding myself with. The feelings of unease and self-consciousness that I experienced as I tried my best to appear as someone who was fit to teach a roomful of children mathematical concepts, while stumbling through the most elementary of Spanish phrases was the same exact feeling that my students had. Just as I had felt that I wasn’t worthy to be teaching math in Spanish to a bunch of native Spanish speakers, the students felt as though they weren’t worthy of asking for math help from someone who they assumed was a master of the material. When they saw me bumble around and asking my fellow volunteers for help with vocab or with some insight as to how to explain a topic as simple as division, the intimidating nature of my presence was replaced with the notion that I, just like them, had a lot to learn.

This realization from them made learning less about saving oneself from the embarrassment of failure and more about learning alongside someone who was truly as clueless in other topics as they had convinced themselves that they were in math. Instead of looking confused at some nonsensical Spanish phrase that I had thrown together in an attempt at basic communication, they would help me work through what I was trying to say, offering encouraging words when they could tell that I was embarrassed about my butchering of their language. I would say things like “Lo siento, mi español es muy malo,” and they would instantly respond with “No! No! Es bueno!,” and offer back a smile that made it seem as if they were grateful to know that I wasn’t some perfect human being who was there to force them to learn what they assumed must be expected of people to know where I come from.

Perhaps the most important thing that I have learned from helping these kids with their math is that the best way to teach someone effectively and to open their minds to accepting failure is to connect with them on an equal playing field, making it apparent that you are learning just as much from them as they are from you. I think that, if more people realized that they can learn something from every single person out there, they would realize just how equal we all are at a basic, human level, and be more driven to ensure that every person has a chance at achieving their full potential. What the Salman Khan espouses in his Khan Academy manifesto, The One World Schoolhouse, and what I have experienced first hand with the Bolivia4ward project, is that it is for everybody’s best interest to make quality education accessible to every person out there because not doing so could be depriving the world of some of its greatest innovators and game changers whose full potential was being oppressed at the hands of societal boundaries such as class and financial status. All in all, this experience has most definitely left me with a drive to level the playing field for all who have a will to learn.

Second Program

Our second run on our Khan Academy Program was different in many ways
from the Pilot. To start with, we would be dealing with around 50
children, which is about half the students we had last time around.
Whoever, we would be starting with only two volunteer tutors, Eduardo
and myself. (Although we eventually did have another part-time
volunteer called Gabriela).

After having some ordeals with the children who came to us for the
very first time or the ones who were returning who had forgotten their
account names or passwords (or both!) we introduced them to some
things they had never seen: The Learning Dashboard and the Spanish
Beta Site.

I feel both of them were great tools, the Spanish Beta site, while
very far from Perfect just yet, was much better than the Google
Translate that we used before. Since there were only two tutors,
having the site in the children's native language was extremely
helpful. The Dashboard, including the Pre-Test and the Grade division
of learning modules, were also very convenient tools for us to find
and work on the holes in all of the students' knowledge. However, we
found it very interesting that most if not all of the children were
pointed towards practicing the Line Chart modules.

The program this time proceeded smoothly, not to mention we received a
donation from a local Software business for 5 new computers which make
us very excited for the future.

Activity Update

The students have already gone back to school but we have gotten interest from some of their parents and the same students to come and use the room a couple days a week. To address this we have decided to open the study room two days a week in the morning and one day in the afternoon. For sure one of the morning days will be Saturday morning. We have one of the tutors that helped us during the program who also works for the company, so he will be in charge of over site during these days and especially Saturday. We are also talking to some schools that have honors programs for those students to come and learn to be instructors for this kind of thing and get community service hours in this way.

We have also mentioned the pilot program to several different people. There are different groups which are now excited and have expressed interest in what we have done. As we have limited facilities we can not accommodate all these people and the possible students this means. So what we have decided is to set up a seminar that two of the instructors, Eduardo and Jose, can give to different schools, teachers,parent groups and people who are interested. These seminars will let interested people learn about the Khan academy and how we went about doing the pilot program, this way they can learn from our mistakes and build on what we saw as the successful parts of our program. Our first seminar will be given to a small school that has started in the city of Samaipata. Thanks to them the seminar idea was started because the schools founder were the ones to ask us about this. We have made an outline of the seminar and are preparing to go to Samaipata in the next 2-3 weeks. This will be an interesting learning experience for us and enable us to see the viability of using the Khan academy in a school setting. This school is a great place to start because it is a small school with small class sizes. Since there are no more than 100 kids,  it will be interesting to see how this works out.

EA

Saturday August 3rd

Yesterday, we held a meeting between the AHA Bolivia Staff, some of
the volunteers for the Pilot Project and the heads of the Artisan
Groups that AHA Bolivia employs. The objective of the meeting was to
ask the Group Heads for feedback about the Pilot Project which is why
it was set about a month after it was over.

After a few words from Anna thanking everyone for their time and
collaboration with the project, the floor was given to the Artisans
and students. Each of them gave us positive feedback. For most
students, particularly if they do not excel in their education, school
life can become quite a frustrating drag. Try to picture going to the
same place day, after day, after day just to see that what you are
meant to be learning hasn’t been clicking. To witness that your
classmates, some of them your friends, others your rivals,
understanding that which you can’t.

In Bolivia, there are more students below the average academic level
than at or above the actual average. Many of the kids here get
frustrated by this. But it is not necessarily their fault. The blame
goes to a system that forces teachers to advance without putting much
care in ensuring that everybody learns correctly. Its system whose
sole focus is to simply meet the schedule and deadlines of the school
year, where those lucky and skilled enough to understand concepts in
that period of time get to be praised and get more opportunities than
the others.

This is not to say that those students get everything on a silver
platter, they, of course, must make an effort. Nevertheless, more
often than not, it’s because of their innate talent that they can
understand more in less time or simply because they have the drive to
continue studying on their own, outside school time. If your teachers
praise you, that is enough of a motivator to keep up good grades, keep
studying.

That is why the Khan Academy was so alluring to all the kids that
participated in our little project. In an environment where they can
advance at their own place, practicing modules on their own, ask for
help from their fellow students or the volunteer tutors… even if they
didn’t quite get it at the start, they were motivated to keep going
forward.

The Artisans expressed that most, if not all, of the kids asked
whether or not we would be repeating this program again, they asked
when that was going to happen. They’ve also told us about how, even in
such a short time, most of them actually look forward to going to
school now (At least to their Math classes). Some of the mothers of
the youngest kids we had, ages 8-10 also thanked the program as their
children used to be socially awkward and shy and by the end of it,
they could speak to other kids and the tutors and also ask for help.

Both children, and adults, are inherently ashamed and afraid of asking
for help when they don’t understand something. And how could they
not, considering that the persons who ask such questions are labeled
“slow” or “dumb”.

I have been through a lot of different schools and school systems and
I believe that to get rid of this so called fear of asking is primordial in
education. It was great seeing how this curriculum has helped the
children to not have the need of asking for help in their current Math
classes’ subject. It was great to hear how the students have started
to find the joy in learning and how their parents can perceive this. It
 was great to hear that we can provide them with the chance to show
them that they can be above average, if they have the dedication and
the right tools for the job.

To finish the meeting, we announced we will start an effort to have
the room open during the weekends, for all kids that would be willing
and able to come. This will be an arduous effort, but seeing how the
kids and the artisans are doing their best to comply and help, we can
do no less.

Background 2

After reading Salman Khan's book and meeting with James and Bilal at the Khan Academy headquarters, we left feeling inspired and determined.  My sons Eduardo and Elahdio returned to both of their universities close by and I returned to Bolivia.  Upon arriving in Bolivia, Jose and I met about this project.  Jose had been working his way through the Khan math curriculum and was now a master in most things Khan.  We decided that one of the first things that we needed to do was meet with our artisans and see if they were interested in the project.   

Our meeting was a resounding success.  Many of the women were very excited about the idea that we could help their children in math, a subject that tortured both children and parent's alike.  Bolivia's public school system is largely based on rote memory.  Many teachers in this system feel overwhelmed by large classes, few resources and a student population that oftentimes has no parental help at home.  The students,especially in the rural areas, often have little to no, one on one interaction with a teacher.  Math is especially difficult since success is based on the fact that each new concept is based on the mastery of the previous concepts.  Many students feel both frustrated and embarassed by their continued failure in math.  After discussing the project with the artisans, we decided that the best way to go about getting information and signing up the kids was by doing a survey.  

As we are members of the World Fair Trade Organization, we often need to find out basic information about our artisans.  AHA Bolivia works with 200-300 artisans all over the Cochabamba valley, where our offices are located.  The artisans generally work from home or in the case of crochet and handknits, they work from whereever they are.  It is not uncommon to find dried grass in some of our pieces, as a knitter herds her sheep or llamas in the mountainous countryside surrounding the Cochabamba valley.  We have done surveys with our artisans sporadically.  We usually ask demographic questions as well as questions about health and well-being.  In this new survey, we decided to add a section about all the artisans' children and their level in school.  Also we wanted to know if the students were interested in participating in a Khan Academy project during their June/July vacation (winter here in the Southern Hemisphere).  

We hired the daughter of one of our knitters Juseth, to carry out this very difficult task of trying to meet with the artisans and fill out the surveys.  Many of the artisans are semi-literate with some artisans not being able to read at all.  Juseth has a degree in Sociology and she has helped us in the past gather information about the artisans.  She also has some knowledge of Quechua, the language spoken in the countryside in this part of Bolivia.  Although some of the women can only speak Quechua, most of their children will be able to speak Spanish.  We set aside the months of March and April to carry out this task.  By the end of the allotted time, Juseth had done a fantastic job of collecting information and we found ourselves with over 100 students wishing to participate in the project.

Meanwhile, Jose and I were trying to figure out the logistics.  Where would we set up this program?  How would we get the necessary computers?   Was our internet capable of running all the computers at once?  How would the kids from the countryside get to our offices?  Who would supervise the kids?  Etc. etc.  We had a million details to figure out but we were so excited about the enthusiasm that our project had generated that we just figured that everything would work out somehow.

Anna

Comments

After the last classes, we asked our students to write a few comments about what they thought of the program. Here is what some of them wrote:

"Me gusto mucho por que me fue muy bien, tambien por que los profesores fueron muy buenos y geniales con todos. (I liked it a lot because it went well for me, also because the teachers were very good and nice with everybody.)" - Heidy

"Yo creo que estas clases fueron una gran ayuda y a que me aclareco muchas dudas que tenia con respecto a la matematica, lo recomendaria a los que necesitan ayuda en la matematica fue una experiencia muy grata (I think that these classes were a great help and they alleviated many doubts that I had regarding math, I would recommend it to anybody who needs help in math, it was a great experience.) - Adhemar

"Yo digo que que me gustaron mucho y los profesores son muy buenos las clases me ayudaron mucho y me hicieron entender muchas cosas que no entendia muchas gracias. (I really liked the classes and the teachers were really good. The classes helped me a lot and made me understand many things that I hadn't. Thank you very much.)" - Gabriel

"Me gusto mucho porque es una forma devertida de aprender matematicas y otras cosas y lo aprendes bien y ademas los guias son divertidos y te ayudan bien (I really liked it because it is a fun way to learn math and other things and you learn well and moroever the teachers were fun and helped you well.)" - Vicente

"Me gusto mucho y son las mejores clases de matematicas que he tenido (I liked it a lot and they were the best math classes that I have ever had.)" - Kosuke

These are only a few of many grateful comments, which we will continue to post. Sounds like the kids really enjoyed the course, and many of them are excited to return on Saturdays, when we will have the computers open to use the Khan Academy.

Graduation

AHA Bolivia's Khan Academy Pilot Program ended on Saturday. Beginning on Thursday, each class had a short graduation and celebration. Anna Hosbein recognized the all of the participants, and each student recieved a certificate of completion of the program. The students were overjoyed to recieve recognition for the program, although many were sad that it was over. Almost all of the students demonstrated a great interest in the Khan Academy and are eager for any opportunity to log on. The comprehensiveness, independence, and funness of learning with the Khan Academy is an experience new to most of the kids. For many of the students, this program was the first time that they had enjoyed learning math and felt empowered to take learning into their own hands. It was amazing to see intelligent kids who had previously struggled with simple mathematics excel when they had the opportunity to learn in a new way. One student, Adhemar, said that the program helped him master some difficulties he had in arithmetic and then quickly advance onto geometry. The overwhelming success of this program is even more exciting when put into the context of the logistical and linguistic limitations the pilot faced. It is our hope that this pilot is only the first step free math education in Bolivia, and that it can be used to build resources and improve the Spanish version of Khan Academy. As we continue to improve the breadth and depth of the program, the educational impact of the pilot can only be extended.

IP

July 11

Today was the last day of the project for 2 of the classes. We ended the classes 30 min early today to have a small closing ceremony. We gave the students a certificate for participating and we had a small meal to celebrate the successful end to the program.

The Tues, Thurs morning class

The Tues, Thurs afternoon class

 We have 3 more classes to wrap up and each gets their own little closing ceremony 2 tomorrow and 1 on Saturday. The students seem to have learned much from the program and can use the website by themselves pretty much. We the tutors fell into more of an aid role by these last days of the program. The students have also started asking each other for help and figuring hard concepts out in groups.

We also passed around some books for the students to put their comments in. Most of the students were happy with the program. The favorite teacher by default for the morning classes was Ariel. Many of the students have said that this program helped them. We have also talked to some of the parents one of the mothers was present for the closing and said, "My son is talking he is usually so shy." She also asked us for all the login information so that they could carry on using the program at home.

EWA

July 10

July 10

Despite what we had been hoping for, it appears that we won’t get an extra week and so classes will resume on Monday.  It has been great to get to know these kids and see them grow and improve over the last couple of weeks.  If such a change was visible over this short period of time, I can only imagine how much more they could accomplish if given more time with the program.

Today I was able to see an enormous improvement in two siblings, Cristina and Jhonny. Coming from a numerous family, (eight siblings in total, though only five of them were part of our program) and a modest lifestyle, eight-year old Jhonny not yet had the chance to go school.  When I first opened an account for him on the website and found out his math knowledge consisted on all the number from one to two hundred, Eduardo and I tried to teach addition to him. He picked it up surprisingly well and by the end of his first day he had already moved to two-digit additions and subtractions. Now Jhonny can solve multi-digit additions and subtractions that involve carrying. Cristina too has seen a major improvement. Struggling with systems of equations, she went back and reviewed her times tables as well as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of negative numbers. We then went back and tried the basic system of equations exercises; however there was still something that pulled her back-lineal equations. Today Cristina had a great breakthrough and got every single question right. She could not believe she had found these equations hard at one point. I reassured her that this has happened to all of us and is more frequent than one would think. Everything builds up, and if you do not have the right foundations then sooner or later things crumble.

These kinds have surprised me in a way I had never thought would be possible. I know they are capable of this and so much more. I hope they too are aware of it too.

AP

July 8

July 8

We are now within the third week of classes, and wish we could have more time to engage in the project. I am amazed by how quickly the kids of all ages have learned to use the Khan Academy website. I have yet to find a student who has not in some way or another benefited from using the website.  Some of our students are now looking at more advanced problems or math subjects than their fellow schoolmates.  Others have perfected previous math concepts and skills, and so their weaknesses have become their strengths.  When I first started working with some of the older kids I noticed most of them wanted to skip basic math concepts such as multiplication and division and pick up from where they left off in their respective grade levels. A great number of them would get stuck and ask for help, and it was while I explained the exercise step by step that I could figure out where the real problem was. I got varied results, some needed to go back and review concepts such as multiplication and division, and others got confused when adding and subtracting or multiply and dividing negative numbers and almost all of them had forgotten how to solve lineal equations.

After explaining the exercise I would come up with a couple of multiplication problems or simple equations, wherever I thought they needed more practice to see if that was the area that troubled them. I noticed that when they were told they had to go back and review some previous material they would do so reluctantly, but as I explained my reasoning, backing it up with the knowledge map they seemed to be more accepting.  As of this week the majority of these older kids have moved on to more challenging concepts or at least worked up their weak areas. I am really proud of their progress. They have come a long way in short amount to time.

Saul, who is more or less ten years old and rather shy was mind blown when I explained he find the answer to the 9’s time table using his hands. We had been trying to figure out the 9’s time table for a while and had tried several approaches, (drawings, adding 9 to the product, writing the table down) but none seemed to work.  When I first explained the finger folding technique he seemed skeptical. After showing him it worked with any number up to 10 he just couldn’t believe it.

Luis Daniel and Ariel, two eleven year old boys who have been sitting next to each other for the past few classes have always been very competitive when it comes to getting the right answer and accumulating as many points as possible. They could often use their ‘‘chanchullas’’ (cheat sheets) or the multiplication and division tables found in back of the notebooks we gave them. When they got caught using them we would laugh about it. I would tell them they could use them if they deemed it necessary, but reminded them they would have to learn them eventually for school. Today I saw a change in them, even though they continue to indulge in a competition, Ariel helped Luis if he got stuck somewhere and Luis did the same.

AP

Day 9 July 4th

Day 9 July 4th

As we begin to wrap up our first week of full classes, the program is running smoothly. Both the students and teachers have begun to find a rhythm of learning and teaching, and the general mood of the classroom is one of excitement. Most of the kids are now comfortable with the Khan website, and their learning is progressing faster and faster. As a teacher, I am finding that I am helping less with technology issues and more with actual mathematics. I am beginning to get to know students personally and understand their individual strengths and weaknesses. Just today I had the opportunity to work individually with two students outside of the classroom. I gave Jose practice problems on systems of equations and Erick problems on square roots. Jose continued to practice systems of equations the whole time, but after a few problems it was clear that Erick could move beyond square roots. His peers usually continued on to simplifying radicals, the next topic on Khan Academy. I had seen, however, that many of them struggled with this concept because the Bolivian schools teach square and cube roots before exponents, which made simplifying radicals difficult. Because I had the opportunity to pay more attention to Erick, I decided to go back and teach him exponents. I was excited to teach one on one, and avoid the regular laughter that accompanies my bad Spanish when I try to explain something to a group. Erick was much more polite, and what´s more, he was excited to learn and engaged the math I was teaching. We went through an explanation of exponents and a few practice problems, and Erick picked it up incredibly quickly. After recess, Jose and Erick switched to the computers, and as I´m writing this, Erick is speeding away with exponents. He´s a smart kid and I´m glad that I had the opportunity to pay attention to him and help him with certain concepts that are difficult for his peers who have only been taught in schools with large classes and little personal attention.

IP

Background- part 1- How we made some stuffed animals and met Salman Khan

Background- part 1- How we made some stuffed animals and met Salman Khan

Last year I read Salman Khan's book, The One World Schoolhouse.  It inspired me so much  that I wanted to see if we could use his curriculum to help tutor the children of the artisans that work for our company, AHA Bolivia.  I started to use some of the videos myself and then introduced them to Jose, one of my assistants.  I had him read the book and asked if he would help me with this project.  I think he got excited about it as he started a manic accumulation of points and developed an in depth knowledge of all things Khan.  

I was going to travel to the Palo Alto area in the US in February of 2013 and decided that we should try to figure out how to talk to Salman Khan or the people in his organization in person.  They did not want to be found.  We tried a million different ways to get the Khan Academy people to respond to us.  Nothing.  Then Jose came up with a brilliant plan- since our company made crochet and knit stuffed animals, why not make little stuffed animals of the avatars on the Khan website.  We made these wonderfully quirky creatures that embodied the Khan avatars, took photos of them and then added the photos to our various and sundry e-mails going off into cyber space directed at the Khan people.  They responded.

When I travelled to the US, I corralled my two sons and we all went to a meeting with two of the Khan team- James and Bilal.  During the meeting, Bilal took photos of the dolls while we talked about our project.  What James and Bilal kept asking us was- but what do you want from us?  Frankly, all we wanted was to let them know what we were doing and open a dialogue with them.  We asked if they had knowledge of someone using the Khan Academy curriculum in a developing country in another language.  They said that so far they had heard only rumours about some projects but did not have extensive knowledge of any of them.  We asked if they would be interested in what happened with our project.  They said- absolutely and please make a blog.  After 5-6 months and massive amounts of preparation- our project has started and we have finally made a blog.  

To finish up our US experience with the Khan academy, we can't forget the meeting with Salman Khan himself.  After our meeting with James and Bilal was over, we walked into the common area where the exuberent Khan staff got very excited about the stuffed avatars.  As the avatars were being thrown around the room from person to person, Salman Khan came out and in that wonderfully familiar voice and laugh said ¨"(chuckle, chuckle) not very professional."  It struck me then, that more than Salman Khan's face, his voice will be an iconic voice for many American children.  We all exchanged pleasantries and left with the idea that we would put together a mini Khan experience for some kids in Cochabamba Bolivia.

Anna Hosbein de Aliaga

Day 8 July 2nd

July 2

Today we used a different modality than yesterday. Yesterday we tried making all the students accounts first and then having them use the page. What we’re doing now is separating the class into two equal halves. For the first half of the time one of the groups uses the computers and the other is outside playing math games. What we do is make the first group their logins and then they stay the first half of the class. After the snack break we brought in the second group and made them logins and they used the computers until the end of the session. We did this with both the morning and afternoon groups. This is the best solution we could find so far with the quantity of kids we have and our limited number of computers. We have also found that as the students get more familiar with the site they are faster in picking it up and need less help as they go along. Students at similar levels have started engaging in competition to see who can advance the farthest. We look at this as a good sign because it means that the kids are getting comfortable with the program and finding it interesting. Students have also started helping each other solve problems or/and explain concepts that they get to each other. They have also started helping each other navigate the website for when they get stuck. We have also been using the practice exercises mostly but some students have used the videos with the Spanish subtitles and say they help a bit. The only problem with that is that the student cannot fully concentrate on the content in the video because they have to be also attentive to the subtitles. A large part of the students don’t want to leave when their allotted time is up. But in the interest of fairness we have to change the groups so that everyone has a chance of using the computers. It would be ideal if we had more computers and unlimited time so that the students can explore and learn at their own pace. But alas that is not the situation we are in and we are doing the best we can with what we have.

We have also had to teach some of the students how to use a computer. Some of the students have not really had the chance to use a computer. So we teach them the basics of navigating the site and the basics of using a computer. We hope that they are learning math and at the same time learning how to use a computer and the internet. We cannot allow free navigation of the internet by the students because this would put too much of a strain on our internet connection. We have figured out that our connection can be used for about up to 9-10 computer/laptops and we can usually get one tablet to also work. But the internet is rather temperamental and we sometimes have the web pages crashing because the internet connection gets overloaded.

We are taking the program one day at a time. Today was a new approach that seems to be working. But we will keep tweaking and being flexible with the program as we see fit or as situations arise.  

EWA