Shannon's Corner

I have just finished two weeks of helping out with our teachers training with three amazing ladies from Canada.  I served as their translator, chofer and liaison person at the four different schools where we held the trainings. Margaret and Sue have been coming for eight years in doing trainings for our teachers here in the Dominican Republic.  They had a new member to their team this year, Mary who was such a delight to get to know as well as her talents in music.  This year the theme for the two day training---the brain's favorite way to learn is through play. We started our two weeks in Constanza who hosted both Constanza and Palo Blanco Schools for training.  Our next stop was in Caraballo for our school there.  Then off to Santo Domingo who hosted both schools in Santo Domingo, our Monte Plata school and invited a few teachers from a public school in Santo Domingo as well.  We finished our time then in Jarabacoa at our ANIJA school. Even though I...

SHANNON’S CORNER January 2018 Happy New Year!  The month of January in the Dominican Republic has three main holidays.  New Years Day on January 1 st , Three Kings Day on January 6 th and Juan Pablo Duarte Day on January 26 th .  In understanding the Dominican culture it is important to understand the reasons why they celebrate various holidays.  Some holidays are very similar to ours and others are specific to those nations who were conquered by the Spaniards and still others are specific to their own country.  I want to share with you about these holidays. Three Magi Three Kings Day or “D í a de Los Reyes,” is a holiday that was brought to the Dominican Republic when it was a Spanish colony.  This day represents when the Wise men came to celebrate the birth of Jesus in Matthew 2:1-11.  The traditional way this holiday was celebrated had been the children would write a letter to the wise men and leave it ...