It's Christmas Time in the City...of Guayaquil!

The holiday season is in full swing here in Ecuador.  The city center is decorated and Christmas music is playing at all of the malls.  Concerts, parades and other presentations to celebrate the holidays take place on a daily basis.



At Starfish, our celebrations have started as well.  Our classrooms are decorated and Christmas traditions have commenced.  Last Sunday in Guasmo and this coming Saturday in Flor mark the dates for our now annual Christmas party for the younger siblings of Starfish.  Christmas is a season of giving, and as part of our Scholars' commitment to their scholarship, they plan and host a party each year for their younger siblings as a community service project.  There is music, dancing, presentations, snacks, face painting and more.  This year the Guasmo crew even chipped in to buy a piñata!  The Scholars' siblings all leave with a special toy and gift bag of candy as a treat to celebrate Christmas!

Starfish Scholars and tutoring students will also celebrate Christmas this coming week with music, dancing, Secret Santa, and a raffle for some donated clothes.  Follow us on facebook & twitter for more Christmas updates from our students during the 12 days of Christmas!

More Tutoring = Better Grades and More Fun!

For the month of December we decided to experiment with adding an extra day of "Refuerzo" or Tutoring in each neighborhood in response to parent suggestions during our latest round of evaluations.  So far, it's been a huge success!!

Karolayn

An extra day of tutoring means more time to dedicate the school subjects that our Scholars find difficult.  Our "Ayudantes" or employees have been busy helping students review some tough material so that the next time they have exams they're all set to get even better grades!

Employee Tyrone presenting to the morning group in Flor

This has also allowed us more time for the group presentations on topics important to teens that we told you about in last week's blog.

Lili & Milena

Dayanna presenting on Effects of Drug Use

Since it's December we've also used the time to bring some Christmas joy to our classroom space too - everything pictured below is hand-made by our Starfish Scholars!!

Happy Holidays a little early from all of us at Starfish!