Thankfully, everyone is well and blisters are still the biggest injury I've heard of. Keith is doing a great job taking care of doctoring them up as best as possible.
Back at the school, we continue to evaluate our programs and we teachers have met, shared and tried to help each other out...it's a great team!
Jack and Russ who teach Primary 1 in a seperate building from the rest of us are champs! Tag teaming their lessons in class and to cover moments when the neighbouring kindergarten class doesn't have a teacher (or she is taking time to check them out in their class), being seen leading the kids from the classroom marching and chanting 'Ghana loves football, Canada loves hockey' and having the kids so fired up that we had to struggle to get to the truck for our lunch time pick up! (Today as Bev and I slid into the back seat and quickly shut our doors, we took a deep breath, and as we looked at each other we commented that we were getting a taste of what it must be like to be a rock-star, and why they need body guards! It was crazy!!!), Jack and Russ have also been able to get order in their class of over 50 kids the instant they put up their 'trunks' to sing 'Skinner-marinky-dinky-dink'! They are a lot of fun and they are doing some great teaching! They are diligent at preparing their lessons...even when it means spending their evening drawing 50+ elephants on paper for the students to colour the next day. In the afternoon they tackle the opposite spectrum by teaching Junior High 3 (Grade 9)!
Glenn and Donnie are in Primary 2 and are a dynamic duo. Donnie admits having a challenge understanding the kids sometimes, but they watch his every move and even though they hardly know Glenn's name, they know Donnie's...sometimes calling him Johnny. Their humour and fun loving attitude attracts even the teacher to class. The teacher is taking notes, wants to know all the songs and even colours his own coloring sheet along with the kids!
Brenda has Primary 3 all on her own. She is the most experienced and it shows...her class seems to always be attentive and her black board is neatly organized with all kinds of great lessons. Another advantage she has is that she can recognize 2 of the 3 dialects spoken in the class and can ask them to 'sit down' and say other commands in their native language. She has been such a great help to us with her advice, organization and by supplying so many additional school supplies from precious teams over the years.
Pat is alone in Primary 4. She has a smaller class of 22 in a tiny classroom that was most likely designed as a storage room or office. Her blackboard is 1/2 the size of ours and the room is very narrow...fortunately there are windows and a door for light and circulation. Pat's creative and practical ideas balanced with a whole lot of singing, praise and love is fabulous! She beams when she shares stories from her class and inspires us all!
Bev and Ryan are in Primary 5, and have monitoring systems in place to keep their class in order...advice on how to walk between the aisles to see the work bring done and how to hand out stickers without creating a mob are great! In the afternoon they cover Junior High 2 (Grade 8)...these students speak english well and are learning how to compose compound sentences, but when it comes to writing, many are lost. Try doing dictation of basic words that they can read and put into sentences, but they can't understand what you are saying because of your accent! The blank look on their faces is really surprising and it's hard to figure out how to handle it.
Shawn and I are in Primary 6 and my challenge is coming up with enough teaching material, songs and activities to cover 4 hours of teaching time in English alone, and how to make it understandable to all 35. I have a young man, Kussain who really is brilliant...he understands our accent and repeats what we say so the rest can understand, shows us where and how to find or do things, and takes charge in the class when he feels we are not. Honestly he is a great help, but it's hard to set up lessons when you have a couple that are advanced, many others who are far behind and the rest somewhere in the middle. (I hope he continues to help me now that just today I denied his request to buy him a bicycle!). I'm excited about tomorrow when we try changing it up a by teaching the class the first 2 hours, have them take their 1/2 hour brunch break and then take 5 at a time in a small group outside to really be able to get to know them individually, and be able to meet their needs in an almost one on one situation. I am still wondering about how to go to work with my Junior high 1 (Grade 7) class tomorrow...although some in the class look to be 16 at least, when Ryan came in to help me pass the last 15 minutes of class by helping me teach them how to make a simple paper airplane, we found they couldn't even follow simple instructions to fold up the paper. Communication and lack of creativity seem to our biggest challenges...our accents and them not ever having been offered the opportunity to think creatively in a classroom (everything is learned by repetition) is really a challenge to overcome.
Ryan and Shawn are going to attempt to help with the kindergarten for the first time time tomorrow as Bev and I try to do our small groups teaching...I pray that it goes really well for them!
Thank you for your continued prayers! We are enjoying good health, the weather is fabulous, the bugs are few and far between, and Abraham is doing a fantastic job creating great meals for us!!!
Kim
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