Nine-thousand feet up in the Colombian Andes, in the province of Boyacá, a little orange schoolhouse sits on a hillside dotted with flowers.
Thirty-three students, ages 4 through 11, walk as much as an hour to get here from their families' farms. The students greet reporters in English — "Welcome! Welcome!" — and Spanish, with a song and a series of performances.
In one, an 8-year-old in a green school uniform and a colorful feather mask recites a folk tale about a terrible, tobacco-smoking monster called a Mohan.
It's a charming presentation, but it's also a lot more than that. As she stands there talking in a clear, self-assured voice, this girl is also building confidence, practicing performance skills and learning how to share a stage with others.
[For more of this story, written by Anya Kamenetz, Steve Drummond, and Sami Yenigun, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/ed...-model-for-the-world]
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