Guatemala teacher pedals classroom to students in pandemic
Moises Castillo, Associated Press
Updated 6:50 pm CDT, Monday, July 27, 2020
Photo: Moises Castillo, AP
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Standing just inside the doorway of his home in a black button down shirt tucked into navy blue trousers, 11-year-old Oscar Rojas greets his teacher Gerardo Ixcoy, known universally as "Lalito 10", in Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. "Teacher Lalito only comes for a little while to teach me, but I learn a lot."
SANTA CRUZ DEL QUICHE, Guatemala (AP) — When the novel coronavirus closed Guatemala’s schools in mid-March, teacher Gerardo Ixcoy invested his savings in a secondhand, adult tricycle.
But this is not just transportation. It’s also a mobile classroom, with plastic sheets to protect against virus transmission, a whiteboard and a small solar panel that powers an audio player he uses for some lessons.
Each day, the 27-year-old pedals among the cornfields of Santa Cruz del Quiché to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students.
On a recent day, 12-year-old Paola Ximena Conoz wiped her glasses as she waited for Ixcoy to set up just outside the door to her home. They greeted each other warmly — though without contact. Ixcoy deployed the mop that measures the distance between him and his students.
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Photo: Moises Castillo, AP
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Gerardo Ixcoy teaches 12-year-old student Paola Ximena Conoz about fractions from his mobile classroom, parked just outside the door to her home in Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Each day the 27-year-old sets out pedaling among the cornfields of Santa Cruz del Quiche to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students.
Photo: Moises Castillo, AP
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Teacher Gerardo Ixcoy, wearing a protective face mask, found a way to give individual instruction to his sixth-grade students amid the new coronavirus pandemic, in Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Ixcoy, known universally as "Lalito 10", quickly realized there were challenges to remote learning in this farming community in Guatemala's western highlands and invested his savings in an adult tricycle and converted it into a mobile classroom.
Photo: Moises Castillo, AP
IMAGE 7 OF 20
Teacher Gerardo Ixcoy conducts a math class from a secondhand, adult tricycle that he converted into a mobile classroom, in Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 15, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The 27-year-old teacher deploys a sponge mop to serve as a safe distance reminder between him and his students.
Photo: Moises Castillo, AP
IMAGE 10 OF 20
Eleven-year-old Oscar Rojas listens to his teacher Gerardo Ixcoy, parked in a classroom-on-a-trike just outside Oscar's home in Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. The pandemic has really altered Oscar's routine, "because now I'm not receiving normal classes," he said.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Guatemala-teacher-pedals-classroom-to-students-in-15436471.php
If these photos bring tears to your eyes, you're not alone. Bless this gifted, selfless, dedicated young man and everyone he has reached. He is a real star.
Google translation:
Coronavirus: travels 160 km on a tricycle to teach kids without internet
Gerardo Ixcoy is a teacher and helps students who cannot access virtual classes during quarantine.
JUNE 26, 2020 - 1:17 PM
He feared that the coronavirus pandemic would lead to school dropouts and he started (literally): Gerardo Ixcoy travels 160 kilometers on a tricycle to teach .
Noting that many of his students did not have internet access and that half of them did not send their homework virtually, he decided to adapt his vehicle to transform it into a kind of home classroom .
“ It has a small cabin with a blackboard , where I explain the different subjects. It is designed so that children can learn and be protected, keeping healthy measures at a distance so as not to infect us ”, explains Ixcoy, known as El profe Lalito .
The initiative of the teacher has as its main objective that the boys can continue with their academic training , beyond the context and the suspension of classes.
The parents of the students were very grateful for the teacher's attitude. In Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala , they already recognize him as one of the many heroes without capes that became visible during the pandemic .
SOURCE: With information from Ruptly.
https://www.latamtimes.com/coronavirus/coronavirus-recorre-160-km-triciclo-ensenarles-los-chicos-internet-n828
More images at google image:
https://tinyurl.com/y3bk8oht
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