Beautiful Barbados

St. James Beach

Welcome Wagon

Children of Sharon Primary School

My beautiful children

The Ladies of UD Winter Study Abroad 2015

Being in Barbados has been a life-changing and eye-opening cultural experience. The moment I stepped out of the plane at BWI there has been nothing but a feeling of euphoria that filled my heart. The weeks leading up to the trip have been a nervous rush, and it didn’t really feel real until I stepped out of the aircraft to the beautiful, 80 degrees paradise. “I can’t believe I’m actually in Barbados” are the words that repeatedly ran through my mind. This is my first time truly traveling outside of the country and I was amazed by the calm, vibrant, colorful and exciting nature of this island.

As part of our course requirements for this trip, students are divided to different placements throughout the island to gain a true cultural experience. Placed amongst a psychiatric facility, an HIV facility and primary schools, we venture to our locations each morning for three days out of the week. I was assigned to the primary schools and I was so excited to work with the little children, gain the experience of working with children, but more importantly understand the cultural aspects that foster the education system on the island.

My first day at Sharon Primary School was such an overwhelming, joyous and eye-opening experience. As soon as we entered the school we were introduced to the Headmistress. She sat with us to give us a formal breakdown of the school, how it functions and their methods of discipline and teaching. I was moved by their philosophy of “every student has one talent, and it is the school’s responsibility to find that talent and master it–no child is left behind or will not make it.” My moment of culture shock came from the realization that although many schools in America, in particular American public schools, strive to foster a motto many teachers find it hard to adopt, especially in urban settings. Sharon Primary lives by the purpose of a love for God, aim high and keep pure.

As we followed the Headmistress around for a tour of the school I was in awe at seeing how every time we walked into a classroom all the children stood up and recited a greeting in unison. “Good Morning Headmistress Small-Williams, how are you today.–Thank you kindly for visiting our class today.” It was honestly the most beautiful and ideal moment of seeing such well-mannered and disciplined children. All of them would say “thank you ma’am”, “excuse me ma’am”, which was a shock to me because I have never had a young child address me in that type of way, and I’ve worked with young children before. No matter the age, they were all very cordial and extremely excited to see us working with them.

I was assigned to work with young children and was so happy to paired with reception class 1 with ages 4-6 years old. The teacher introduced me as “Aunty Ayanna”, for which all the children in unison greeted me with beautiful smiles. As we moved through the day and the children were having snack time, I had an interesting conversation with the teacher. She asked me how many students are in classrooms at this age-group in America. That particular classroom had over thirty children with one teacher and no assistance, which is not something you see in America. She was telling me how much she wished that Bajan teachers could see what it’s like to teach in American schools because schools in Barbados are under-resourced, need more supplies and more assistance for smaller class sizes.

The need for assistance was made evident when the kids were sent out to lunch and then filed out for recess. My teacher had to take on another responsibility, so I was left alone to entertain the children during their playtime–which was crazy. Playing monster and tag, I left the field with dirt all over my pants after being trampled by the children–it was so much fun. After dealing with very hyper little children through the smiles and tears, scrapes and bruises, I led them inside for story time.

I had no idea what was going on without any guidance and all the children running around the school. Once I was able to get all the kids back in the classroom they ran to the back of the room and put together a stack of kids books on my lap for me to read. They all then pulled their chairs into a circle and I went through reading three story books until the teacher came back. I felt such a culture shock by how the schools operated. From my elementary school days I’m used to having lunch in a cafeteria and recess in a playground but they make due without those amenities and the greatest thing to see is how much the older children take care and look out for the younger ones.

Overall, it has been such an amazing opportunity to work with these beautiful and bright young children and I’m so excited to see what this school has in store for me.