By Sylvia
Where is Roatan? Why are we here? Have we been here before? Never fear, I am here to answer all of your questions about Roatan! Roatan is a small island off the coast of Honduras (see map) It is part of the Bay Islands, which consists of Roatan, Utilia, and Guanaja. Roatan is surrounded by the Meso-American reef, the second largest barrier reef after Australia.
My dad teaches at Luther College, and last year he created a new J-term course to Roatan. So we are here with 15 college students. It is definitely fun having the students around, but they stress my dad out! The course is called Ethical Engagement in a Changing World and a big part of what the students are doing here is internships. One draw to the course is that students with many different interests can find something to do. There are students at a clinic, a few different schools, and various other environmental nonprofits.
In 2017, we came here for the first time. My dad was scouting for this course, and our family came down 2 weeks early for vacation! Then, in January of 2019, our family came down with the Christmans! My dad was teaching with Victoria, and her kids, plus me and Lily, plus the 6 kids who live here had a lot of fun! This year, my dad is teaching with Scott Carlson, who is fun, but not nearly as fun as the Christmans!
If you have any more general questions about Roatan, please write them in the comment section below!
SylLy Acres 
January 18, 2020 at 3:44 am
Hi Sylvia and Family, Thanks for explaining all that. I hope you are having a good time and learning a lot. What languages to they speak there? Spanish? How is your Spanish? Do you go to school or homeschool? It was very cold here today. Jenny of Fryeburg, Maine
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January 19, 2020 at 4:51 pm
Hello Jenny! We are having a great time in the warm weather! The official language of Honduras is Spanish. In public schools, they are supposed to be teaching both English and Spanish. However, most of the teachers do not speak good English, so it is hard for them to teach it. There are also many private schools on the islands, most of them run by foreigners. They mainly teach English, but they are required to teach some subjects in Spanish. I am taking Spanish this year at the high school, but my Spanish is not very good. I have been trying to speak some, but it is hard when I can conjugate a few verbs, but I have nothing else to use with them. We are essentially homeschooling, but with stuff my teachers have given me to work on while we are here to keep up with what they are doing. My mom has some extra for us to do, too.