John's Next Step

The form 3 students took their final exams some weeks ago. The exams are standardize and given to all students in the country to determine if they will continue on to high school. A high score leads to a placement in a better high school. High schools in Ghana are boarding schools. This past week was exam week for the form 1 and form 2 students. The district standardized the test for the form 2 students this year to determine who would advance to form 3. The students took the tests in the school but then the test were sent to other local schools to be graded. I teach ICT to the form 2 students, but ICT was not one of the subjects tested by the district. Therefore, I did not need to grade form 2. Our school has the second largest number of form 2 students and the school that we are grading has one of the smallest number of form 2 students. I teach math and ICT to form 1 students. In our school the teachers write their own test and also grade their tests. This allows us t...

This past week I took part in a media training and production week in Accra. About 30 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) attended the week long session. We had 25 from Ghana and invited PCV for countries in the region wanting to start a media group – Tanzania, Senegal, and Malawi. We also had two people from the headquarters: Meleia and Emily. I was the only 50+ volunteer and I felt like the only volunteer without recent video, audio, or editing experience. However, most volunteers did not have experience in all three areas of production so we were all there to learn. The week was divided into about a day of training and then working on multi-media projects. Most of the time was spent on filming and editing videos. I worked on three projects for the rest of the week. One of the projects was for the new Peace Corps Pledge that Meleia wrote. We produced a video that looks really nice. I think it will be posted on the offical Peace Corps channel – but I don't know when. I...

Note: I'm at an in-service training in Accra – so I don't have much time for this post. However, we did have a pretty interesting event in town this week – told mainly through pictures this time. The school districts in the Upper West Region come together for a cultural display on competition. This year it was held in Nandom. Students, young and old came to compete. It was all very interesting.  Tradition dance competitions were between older students mainly. The dances in the sun lasted about 10 minutes each - very hot - but the dancers kept going. There was also poetry recitals.  Some were in English and some in the local language (Not necessarily Dagaree) Some dances were traditional story telling dances. It did not go well for the antelope. There were also plays in English and the local language - some of the younger students participated The theme for the competition was Peace, Unity, and Hard Work leads to Development for Ghana The...

66 days from the date mailed until I got it. My daughter sent a “save the date” magnet for the wedding back on the 28 th of April. I was able to get it today, so 66 days for a letter. But it is a great magnet and I have saved the date. I've got a countdown going for my flight out. I'll have mid-service medical evaluation before my flight. I'm so looking forward to seeing my family and friends. Holding my first grandchild at the start of my vacation and attending the wedding at the end of my vacation. I'm so excited. Goats In the rainy season the grazing animals are suppose to be tied up. Almost all the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats are tied up around my place. I say almost all because there are at least two mother goats, one with two kids and another with one kid roaming free. Saturday morning the first goat came through with her two kids and grazed down most of what I had planted in the zai pits and an okra plant that I transplanted on Friday...