Heather's Class Updates

Precalculus
On our first day of Precalculus this semester, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and near-perfect temperature up at Earth Lodge outside of Antigua, Guatemala, we jump-started our mathematical thinking by deriving the formula used to convert between temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit. Then Ruth and Emelia began individualized work to address their needs based on what was covered at their home high schools during first semester. Ruth is working with matrices. She has learned to solve systems of equations using algebraic and graphing techniques and is doing a good job connecting her previous knowledge with the new methods of solving systems of equations using matrices. Emelia is working with equations and graphs of polynomials. She has investigated the relationship between solutions to quadratic equations and the graphs of the graphs of parabolas, and has explored graphs of polynomials of higher degrees. Later in the semester, Ruth and Emelia's studies will come back together when they both work with solving trigonometric equations.

Beginning Conversational Spanish
The beginning Spanish class is filled with the energy of seven girls eager to learn as much as possible in order to interact with people on a daily basis here in Guatemala. Speaking a new language can be intimidating for beginners, but these girls are to be commended for their willingness to jump in and try out their Spanish in order to connect with people. Through these interactions, they are learning new expressions and vocabulary constantly. In class, we are focusing on basic conversation skills including topics such as greetings and introductions, pronunciation, numbers, and subject pronouns, but we also spend some of each class to address the many questions the girls naturally have as a result of being immersed in the language. We learned some clothing vocabulary when a local woman gave a demonstration of washing clothes by hand. Today, the girls teamed up with members of the advanced class to complete a scavenger hunt of Antigua. They used their Spanish to ask directions and find famous landmarks. Each team of girls also interviewed a tourist police officer and asked about the craziest story he had about a tourist in Antigua. Great stories!