Yesterday at El Kinder, it was the Dia Del Logro 2014 where after the mornings lessons, the parents of the children come into the kindergarten and watch a show of the children presenting their work, singing and showing what they’ve learnt.

It’s quite bizarre as only some of the children from each class are chosen to talk about work and read through things that they have learnt, however all the children sing together. After the mornings lessons, which were filled with busily deciding who was saying what and practising before 11am, the parents showed up and all of the children, Juliet and I brought the chairs out onto the grass in the middle for the parents, while the teachers and then Juliet and I as well quickly stuck lots of newly perfected work and drawings all over the outside of the building. The day started with all of the parents and children singing the national anthem and then the anthem of cusco along to a stereo player, while the head teacher, Maria del Carmen, sang into the crackling, awful microphone. Then she did a speech about what was to come and passed the microphone over to the first teacher who introduced the youngest class. They all came up and sang a song about the different regions of Peru and then a few of them stayed to show what they’ve learnt. Juliet and I found it all a bit weird, they were a little bit like performing monkeys as the teacher would say, “we are now going to demonstrate awareness of size” then would ask the child to point at the biggest then the smallest then the middle on whatever drawing was stuck up. The child then got a round of applause and it was the next ones turn.

Then it was the second class, Juliet’s class, who all sang a song in Quetua, the language of the village, which all the parents were laughing at so apparently it was a comical song! And then once again a few children were chosen to talk through what they’d learnt. By the third child of this group, a lot of the children, and even parents, had got very bored and lots of the children had gone off to the playground to play and some of the parents we’re even chatting away! Juliet and I were literally sitting with our hands in our heads!

Then it was my class, I was actually very impressed by them because although they are the oldest and going to school next year, they hadn’t had any practise for what they were going to stand up and do. Maria del Carmen, the teacher, had been away the day before and so in the hour before the parents all arrived, some of them were just told what they were going to talk about. Ayde, a very sweet little girl had to stand up and talk all about the different regions of Peru, what animals live there, what food and what clothes people wear in each region! She obviously has listened a lot in class when Maria talks about it because she knew a lot! Then Renzo stood up, dressed in traditional independence army clothes (so sweet) and talked about the history of Peru (how he knew it all I have no idea!). Then Carmen Rosa sang a song about ducklings who drowned when they went swimming so the moral of the story is only ducks can swim not ducklings (don’t ask, they have some very weird learning techniques) and then finally, Favio stood up and talked about the solar system, he talked for ages and while I’ve been volunteering the solar system has not been brought up once, so he clearly knows about this all by himself!!

Then my class sang their two songs before all the children were given flags (well those children whose parents hadn’t already left and taken them with them) and they sang their favourite song “mi bandera es Bonita” (my flag is pretty) a patriotic song about the Peruvian flag, while waving them madly.