Playlee Bogotá
This is the moment to honor our volunteers Javier Alejandro Alvarez y Natalia Perez Beltran, who, with their service make PLAYLEE possible.
This space was created to appreciate and encourage our volunteer educators; here we honor those volunteers that with their dedication and sacrifice have become educational reference points. For those that perform pedagogical acts visibly embodied in the proactive formation of sensitive and critical beings, capable of engaging constructively in their fulfillment and in the creation of a better world.
Two days before we traveled to the United States as Youth Ambassadors 2014, we had a meeting with some ex YA who told us about their experiences and what we were going to do in the US. They explained something very important, what Youth Colombian Leaders is about. They informed us about many projects which are develop by YCL. They talked especially about PLAYLEE and it was interesting for us. I did not think to be a PlayLee’s volunteer because obviously I just was thinking about our trip.
When I came back to Colombia, I started thinking of project I was going to make and I got many ideas so I began to work with a partner in a project which was about Down’s syndrome but we had to stop because it did not work. Then, when I started 11° grade I nominated myself to be the Students representant of my school. Natalia Perez did the same thing and one of her design was starting an English project. So, I told her that we could make a PlayLee in the school and she agreed with me. However, either of both was chosen by the student but even so we could start the project. The main reason why we decided to start PlayLee is because we think the English language is very important nowadays and there are people who cannot pay an English course and they really want to learn, In addition, PlayLee is a different way to learn. Perhaps children do not like to sit and write down what the teacher say, that’s why we guess PlayLee is a voluntary project as well as a game to learn a new language.
We hope creating an impact not only in our school but also in our community. We want that the children who participate in PlayLee learn English but we also want they learn different aspects of the life, even though we are young people, we can teach them such as values, why volunteering is very important or how we as new generation can change the world and turn it into a better place. There is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which summarizes what we wish to do. ‘’ We must be the change we wish to see in the world’’. This is our purpose.
In order to accomplish this goal, we have made some activities such as participate in the Global Youth Service Day; we made our first class and we met with the children’s parents to tell them what PlayLee is. We think is very important because they were so happy and excited, it means that we have support in the school and in their homes too. It is a process which needs help of many people and, luckily, we have it.
We are really proud to be part of the PlayLee staff.