Help them learn!

Hello,

**short edit: Thanks so much for everyone who has donated and supported this project so far. Im flashed how much money we have raised in such a short time. Therefore, I set the goal even higher to afford even more books for more kids. I met the head master of the school yesterday and we are now looking for good books and deals in Cusco and online. So the project is on the way to be realized :)*

I'm Sophie and I'm currently working as a volunteer at an elementary school named "Francisco Sivirichi" in Cusco, Peru for two months. My job is to assist the English teacher in class.

While having done so the last four weeks, I noticed quite some things that would need improvement. The classes in Sivirichi are quite big, normally 35 to 40 kids per class and the teacher can't take care of all the kids. Besides, the kids don't have English books as the school can't afford to buy them. Furthermore, Sivirichi is the only elementary school in Cusco that offers English classes. Normally, the children in Peru start learning English once they start secondary. The parents of the kids who go to Sivirichi pay a lot of money so that their kids can start learning English earlier. But I have wondered many times already what the parents pay extra for. The problem is that the school can only afford to hire one English teacher that furthermore is really bad, especially at pronunciation. That means that there is only one teacher for all classes at the school so that each class only has one hour of English lesson per week. That is by far not sufficient, especially taking into consideration the sizes of the classes. Over the week, the kids forget what they've learnt so that it's hard to ever move forward. Besides, while some kids still copy what's on the board, the teacher already starts explaining the new topic on which they then miss out so that there is a huge gap between the knowledge of the kids (more than I've ever experienced in classes in Germany)

At the moment, I try to improve the way the language is taught as it needs to be way less copying and more interacting.

I also take care of kids that aren't as quick picking up what's taught or kids the teacher doesn't have time for.

But what would need to be improved for a long-lasting change is the level of English the teacher speaks, the number of hours the kids have English class per week and the learning material the children receive (e.g. books).

That is my main goal: I want each child to have their own English book and I want the school to hire a second teacher without the parents having to pay more (maybe even one whose mother tongue is English). My current goal of 1.500 USD (~1.400€) would afford the salary of an English teacher for at least a quarter and books for two classes, so approximately 70 children.

This would ensure a better learning process for every single one of the children due to more classes per week and/or two teachers per class, the possibility of revision at home with their parents by using their books and a higher level of English that is taught. It might even enable poorer kids to visit Sivirichi and attend English classes as their parents wouldn't have to pay extra for it.

It's very important for the children here to learn English as it gives them better future chances. Generally speaking though, most people around here barely speak English, they start too late and once they do, they aren't taught good English.

That's why I want to ask each and every one of you to donate whatever you want to or can. Even a dollar/euro is better than nothing as it might allow one child more to have their own book. So please help those kids I work with to speak good English one day which might really change their future.

I, the school and the kids would be more than grateful if you supported us/them with a donation. Thanks a lot! :)