St.+Lucia

**K. Carson 2015- [|Alberta Teachers' Association]**

 * L. Freedman 2015- [|Video about 2015 PO]**

**R. Mittica 2016- [[file:Rosalie Mittica.pdf|Rosalie Mittica]]**

 * L. Freedman 2016- [|Canadian Teachers Magazine]**

__**Tips from Team 2013 and updates from L. Freedman (2015 and 2016):**__

 * ==== **Temperature -** July is the rainy season in the Caribbean. The rain often comes quickly and hard but usually it doesn’t last very long during the day. With the temperature around 28-30°C and humid, the rain can be a cool and welcoming break from the sun. At night, rainstorms can bring howling winds and the rain can last for several hours. Cotton or linen, loose teaching attire is the most comfortable. Packing an umbrella is a good idea as wearing a rain jacket is hot and sticky!====
 * ====**Money**- The currency in St. Lucia is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, which is approximately XXXX per 1 Canadian dollar. You can also use USD for a number of items so it's a good idea to have both XCD and USD with you. Credit cards are used at most stores however it's important that you also have money cash on you.====
 * ====**Accommodations**– Project Overseas 2013 resided at Coco Palm in Rodney Bay. Project Overseas 2015 stayed at Bay Gardens Hotel in Rodney Bay. Project Overseas 2016 stayed at Palm Haven Hotel in Rodney Bay.====
 * ====**Electricity**- Electrical outlets in St. Lucia could be 110 volts or 220 volts AC (50 Cycle), depending on your location. It's a good idea to be prepared for the chance that you'll need adapters and transformers in order to convert the electricity for your own devices. Call ahead to your hotel to find what, if anything, is needed. At St. Joseph's Convent (where the workshops were held) most of the rooms had a North American outlet and the SLTU also had many adaptors that you could use. With that being said, you would still want to bring a converter with you just in case.====
 * ====**Standard of living**– Housing prices are dependant on location and the property. There are vast differences in housing, from large estates and resorts to low income housing. Besides locally grown fruits and vegetables, food and other goods are mostly imported, which means the cost of groceries, clothing, electronics and vehicles are comparable to and in some cases more expensive than Canada. Most salaries in St. Lucia make it difficult for individuals to purchase high end real estate and expensive imported goods. ====
 * ====**Taxis**– Local buses are mini-vans with a pre-set fare. This is the main transportation for locals to get around as very few own cars. The prices are affordable and thus the public transportation can be extremely crowded. ====
 * ====**Entertainment**– Friday nights in Gros Islet is a hot spot for the locals. There is a fish fry and street party that has a good mix of locals and tourists. If you travel to Soufriere you will find the sulphur springs and mud bath. During July (usually the 3rd week on the Monday and Tuesday) is Carnival on the island. There are many Calypso and Soca concerts, steel pan competitions held for most of July. There is something always going on every night regardless if it's a week day or week night.====
 * ====**Food**- At school, lunches include salad, beans, rice, lentils, macaroni pie, bread fruit, plantain, salt fish and chicken legs. Summer is bread fruit season on the island so you can expect to have bread fruit daily but it's always cooked differently. They serve juice at school which was mixed with local water so we did not drink it. Be sure to always have a some bottled water with you. Bottled water was also provided for us at school. Fruits and vegetables are plentiful- we ate mangos, pineapple, watermelon, breadfruit, cassava, bananas, starfruit and wax apple. There are a number of close by restaurants in Rodney Bay close to where the team was staying. Many North American restaurants such as: Dominoes, KFC, Chinese, Italian and Indian can be found.====
 * ====**Etiquette**– There is a more formal etiquette at meetings and school then there is here. Although it's hot and humid, professional dress is fairly formal. Tank tops and shorts are not considered professional attire. Men often wear dress pants, dress shorts and a button up short or long sleeve shirt with a tie. Women often wear dresses covering their shoulders and knees or dress shirts with a long skirt. Like in Canada, teachers are referred to formally by Mr, Mrs, Miss and the surname (Miss Freedman). Union and school events are form in attire and protocol.====
 * ====**Teaching** - Workshops were held at St. Joseph's Convent (which is the highest ranked girls university on the island). In 2015, there was wifi and it worked very well. We were able to stream You Tube videos to show participants. In 2016, the wifi was not working therefore you couldn't rely on using the internet as part of your lessons. We had 4 classrooms where each Canadian teacher and co-tutor ran their workshops for the time we were in country. The classrooms are located on the second floor of the school. Each classroom was given chart paper and a computer projector. Make sure you bring your own connector cord so you can connect your device to the projector. Participants preferred and were used to Power Point presentations. Large group presentations and lunch was held in the main hall of the school on the bottom floor.====
 * ====**Syllabus -** Participants would rotate between workshops every 40min-1 hr. Typically they would attend all 4 workshops in a day (somedays they would have 6 workshops- attending the same topic twice) and 1 group sessions with a special presenter (1-1 1/2 hours).====
 * ====**Other -**====
 * 1) St. Lucia Teachers' Union (SLTU) [|SLTU]

__**July 2015**__
====The focus of our project was on Special Education. We were also asked to do a special presentation on Supporting Blind and Low Vision Students (done by L. Freedman who has her Blind Specialist qualifications).====

__**July 2016**__
====The focus of our project was originally suppose to be on Special Education but was shifted to heavily focus on Mathematics. We were once again asked to do a special presentation on Supporting Blind and Low Vision Students (done by L. Freedman who has her Blind Specialist qualifications).====