Bienvenidos a Villavicencio!

First and foremost, it has to be said that Villavicencio was a dream. The week flew by so quickly. Within that week, so many memories and friendships were formed. No amount of words, photos, or videos will accurately describe the feeling of community that was ever present throughout the week, but I shall try my best!

Day 1

At 3:45 AM, Vickie, Blade, and I boarded our shuttle to the airport. We arrived at Villavicencio around 7:00 AM and were picked up by Alex, our host teacher, and his friend Luther who is also a teacher. Alex was all smiles as he welcomed us to his city! It became evident pretty quickly that he absolutely adored Villavicencio and definitely knew the ins and outs of the city and was very well-versed in the Llano tradition.

Alex, the host of all hosts and educator extraordinaire

He took us to settle in at Hotel de Llano and ran through the itinerary with us. It was going to be another day chock full of activities starting with…food! Alex took us to El Amarradero Del Mico to try Llanero food such as La Mamona de Llanero which is roasted veal. As we ate, we learned from Alex, his wife Sandra, and Luther that Villavicencio is steeped in Llanero culture, traditions, and folklore. We learned that a Llanero is a South American cowboy.

Musica Llanera at Hotel de Llano

A variety of meats (mamona) and potatoes (papas) with yucca

Alex was also really excited for us to try Papas Criollas - a type of potato. He said that this potato is a fixture in Colombian cuisine. I definitely could taste why! We continued getting to know each other over mamona, papas, and yucca. It was a team effort, but we were able to finish the entire platter! Just when I thought we couldn’t be more stuffed, Alex announced that we were going to get dessert at his friend's shop. Who can say no to dessert?

We ordered a variety of desserts. I’ve eaten a lot of desserts in my 33 years, but there were some flavors that I had not had. I ordered a potato dessert out of curiosity…it turned out to be sweet! No surprise there, I suppose! Alex shared that one of the industries in Villavicencio is dairy, and that the milk that was used to make these desserts is produced locally. Alex told us to eat up because the next day was going to be quite the adventure.

Day 2

Alex promised us adventure, and he delivered. Day 2 was spent at a Llanero-themed adventure park called Tiuma Park. We did almost every activity at the park. I truly surprised myself, especially with horseback riding and ziplining. As the saying goes: when in Colombia…! While those two activities had me very nervous at the beginning, they turned out to be worth it because I was experiencing them with Team Villavicencio!

Fun for the whole family

Exploring the plants and wildlife of the plains via safari

Me and my horse Rompe Corazon

With our new friends who also conquered their fear of heights

At around 6:00 PM, it was time to head back to the hotel to freshen up before the next activity of the day…the discoteca! Alex said that we would meet his principal and fellow faculty members at the discoteca! You would think that I would be exhausted from all the adventuring during the day, but I was hit with a second wind and was ready to DANCE! We had dinner at the hotel and got ready to meet our Colombian counterparts. We met Principal Sarah, Alex’s sister and inclusion specialist Angela, inclusion specialist Marta, 3rd grade teacher Rosalba, and English teacher Linda.

We also met Willy Wonka at the discoteca.

We tried to talk and get to know each other, but it was quite hard to hear over the salsa music, so we communicated through dance! (If you haven’t noticed…I am very fond of dancing)

Despite my love of dance, I knew that we had to call it a night because we had another busy day planned. We bid our new friends adios and headed back to the hotel.

Day 3

Alex was so gracious as to invite us to his daughter Alexa’s family day at her school. It was a STEM-themed event in which the school put together a STEM-themed musical. We played bingo, ate delicious food, explored the STEM tent which displayed the classwork of the students, and enjoyed the performances put on by each grade level. I have to say - props to the actors!

Students work

The PreK and Kindergarten classes as the aliens

The 3rd graders as the astronauts

Enjoying Sancocho de Gallina

Family day ended at around 7 PM. We were tired from the day, but our night wasn’t over yet! Team Villavicencio had to get to work to plan our joint cultural lesson because the next day was Monday!

It is work time for Team Villavicencio

Day 5

After a weekend of fun, it was time to get to work. We took a taxi to Alex’s school to begin our observations, faculty chats, and our joint lesson. We were greeted by Linda, Angela, and Marta with a beautiful sign. They gave us a brief tour of the campus, and then off we went to deliver our joint lesson.

Our lesson was pretty simple: We briefly introduced ourselves, then asked students to think of the words “United States of America.” We asked students to list down as many words as they could that they associated with the US of A can in 1 minute. After that, we had volunteers participate in chalk talk. We either validated, provided more information, or clarified what students wrote. After that, we reintroduced ourselves with more detail such as our hobbies/interests, years and experience teaching, and presented fast facts about each of our states to show the diversity of people and cultures in the United States.

Delivering my part of our introduction lesson

After delivering our lesson to about 4 classes, we were called to Principal Sara’s office to learn more about the inclusion program at the school, as they are the leaders of the inclusion movement among the schools at Villavicencio. We learned that prior to Principal Sara’s arrival at FPS, the school was struggling with meeting the needs of their inclusion students. Principal Sara created and implemented a strategic plan that included training teachers and families in inclusion strategies. I asked Principal Sara to identify the biggest hurdle they overcame, and she said it was the mindset of the school community. Before Principal Sara brought her inclusion training and expertise to FPS, some of the parents, teachers, and students had negative attitudes and low expectations of the inclusion students. According to Principal Sara, this mindset before all the work around inclusion existed because “the staff was hesitant because they were not familiar. We have to teach them so they become familiar and see the possibilities for our inclusion students.”

Team Villavicencio and Team FPS unite!

Principal Sara’s commitment to inclusive education is so strong that she and Angela created TikTok and Instagram pages to spread awareness. They work with other educators and organizations to promote inclusive education. They call their organization Diversos.

The Diversos Team comprised of Principal Sara and Angela