School Blog

Greetings from Isla Mujeres!

We are on Isla to welcome our 2 new teachers to the school and get them started with their new year. We are here for just a week, but it is great to also visit friends and get a mid-summer update.    The school received the semi-annual super cleaning from top to bottom last week – to welcome the new teachers.  Ray and Alison are at the school, settling in and excited about the coming year. It is HOT here at this time of year, but beautiful as always!

At the school, there is one bit of bad news – the copy machine is dying.  We were told the last time it was repaired that it is basically an antique and it will be increasingly expensive and difficult to get parts as it continues to wear.  I know there are new copiers on the market and we need to do some research on the best one for our school.  We make about 1500 copies a month, and it needs to be conservative with ink. We also have a printer-copier-scanner, so it doesn’t need any bells and whistles, just needs to copy a lot! Any ideas or leads for a good office copier are appreciated.

At the same time, our little computer printer is getting a real workout when it takes over the big copier’s duties.   Those ink cartridges are extremely expensive.  But it is essential to have the back-up when we need it. Hopefully we can find a new copy machine in the next 6 months – and afford to buy it!

Greg, my assistant on Isla, had a great story to tell me yesterday about one of our students.  Her name is Sandra, and a year ago she was working at a shop, selling to tourists in the downtown area.  She wanted to learn English and was finally able to enroll in classes at the school.  Since she was making only about 60 pesos a day (about $5.00 USD) she could not afford to pay, but received a scholarship and started classes. She was very dedicated, with great attendance.  Greg saw her again recently with her family, and asked her if she was going to continue with more English classes.  She said she couldn’t because of her new work schedule.  But then she smiled and said that her new job was head of public relations at a club resort on Isla, and that she got it because of her English speaking skills.  Later that week they met again, this time to sit and talk for a while.  As they were leaving, Natalie, Greg’s wife, pointed out to him that they had just had an hour-long conversation in English with Sandra, and both were very impressed with her command of the language.  She is now earning closer to $350 pesos a day (close to $30 USD) a good living wage.  There are more stories like hers of people who have changed their lives after learning English at our school.

Not every student is able to change their life this dramatically within a year, but they now have the opportunity.  Every other English school is for-profit and in Cancun, impossible barriers to overcome.  That is the mission of our La Gloria English School – to offer the opportunity. I am delighted to see it working!  Remember that your donations to ‘Friends of La Gloria English School’ in Wisconsin, that pay the teachers; and donations to La Gloria English School on Isla, that pay all the overhead to run the school – are what makes all of this possible. We run a very tight ship, with a constant eye on how we can do this efficiently so that each dollar and peso donated is put to good use.  We deeply appreciate your support!!  If you have interest in the financial details, please go to our website page onfinances and read more.

We will be back in Wisconsin in less than a week, to enjoy the late summer there, and to prepare for our annual fundraiser at the Mid Town Pub in Middleton.  We have sent out letters asking for personal sponsors to this event, and hope to have a great turnout for it.  Both Mid Town Pub and the auction services are donated, and the flyer design and printing was also donated, so the overhead for this event is minimal.  Sponsors of the Salsa Fiesta are directly supporting the school with their donations.  We hope to see everyone there who lives in the area.    Life is good!

Maggie Washa