Mayatan Bilingual School
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| Mayatan School | |
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Preparing Our Next Generation of Leaders
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| Location | |
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Copán Ruinas, Copán, Honduras  |
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| Information | |
| School Director | Emory Blackwell |
| Enrollment |
300 in 2007/08 |
| Faculty | 25 total 13 foreign; 12 local |
| Average class size | 16 students |
| Student:teacher ratio | 12:1 |
| Type | Bilingual Independent Co-Educational Day School |
| Color(s) | Blue, Gold & White |
| Established | 1991 |
| Homepage | Mayatan Bilingual School |
Mayatan Bilingual School is a bilingual (Spanish/English) co-educational day school located in Copán Ruinas, Copán, Honduras. In the 2007/08 school year the enrollment was approximately 300 in grades Pre-Kinder through 9.
The school uses native English speakers, primarily from North America, as the lead teachers for each class. Local teachers teach Spanish and social studies and assist the lead teachers at the younger grade levels.
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[edit] History
The school was founded in 1991 by a local Copán Ruinas woman, Nora Arita de Welchez, who wanted to give her children the opportunity to get a quality education in English without having to leave the town. She joined forces with two other local mothers, Maria Eugenia Aviles de Arias and Mayra Arias de Welchez. The first year, nine students enrolled in the first grade and teachers were mostly English-speaking backpackers. At that time, the school was located in a small schoolhouse directly across from the Maya ruins that give the town its name.
In the early days of the school, students came from the few families who could afford to pay the tuition fees for the school. When empty seats were available, children from needier families in the community were invited as well.[1]
[edit] Mayatan Foundation
In 2001, former school director Frank Hopkins helped the owners of the school to form Fundación Mayatan (Mayatan Foundation), a registered, tax exempt charity organization in Honduras. The Foundation would own and operate the school.[1]
[edit] Hope for Tomorrow
After returning to the United States, Hopkins founded Hope for Tomorrow, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that would transfer funds to Mayatan. The goal of Hope for Tomorrow was to allow U.S. taxpayers the opportunity to donate to Mayatan and receive a tax credit.[1]
[edit] New Campus
In 2003, the school built a new campus on a hillside just outside of town and that is where it currently resides. The decision to move was prompted by the discovery that the old campus lay on top of buried Maya ruins and they were restricted from building additional classrooms. With the school enrollment growing, the new campus gave the school the room to expand and in 2006 Mayatan was able to add a primary wing.[1]
[edit] Academics
The school is accredited with the Honduran Department of Education. As such, Honduran education laws dictate the number of hours each week that must be dedicated to each subject. These include Reading, Math, Science and Spelling which are conducted in English and normally taught by foreign teachers; as well as Estudios Sociales and Español which are instructed by local Honduran teachers. In addition, the school also offers curriculum in Handwriting, Oral Language Development, Art, Music, Physical Education, Computers, Values, Library and Home Economics.[2]
[edit] Students
In the 2007-08 school year, the enrollment was just under 300 students. The school draws its population from the local community at all levels of the socio-economic spectrum.
[edit] Faculty
The school employs 13 foreign teachers from English-speaking countries. They also hire 12 local teachers for subjects in Spanish as well as classroom assistants. [3]
[edit] Campus
The current school campus is located on a hillside just outside of town. There is an office building, three classroom buildings for grades 6-9, a building for grades 2-5, a building for PreK-Grade 1, and also a small cafeteria building.
[edit] Financial Support
The school is supported in part by the Mayatan Foundation.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d Mayatan School History. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
- ^ Mayatan School. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
- ^ Mayatan School Staff. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
