Child month

This month is child month in Grenada – focused on keeping children safe. On Fridays the students can wear t-shirts to school with the child safety theme, rather than the normal uniform. So in some pictures you will see orange t-shirts.

I’m been mainly focused on teaching math at school. I am responsible for math and I help out with the other classes. Math is going well enough.  No student is consistently picking up every topic easily, but all are learning at their own rate.  I have more faith in their ability to learn than they have in themselves sometimes.

I routinely co-teach, if not teach, language arts. (The principal is the primary literacy teacher and she is sometimes unexpectedly tied up.) On breaks and other times I can get in some one-on-one help for those kids needing to catch up or to strengthen a topic. School is busy and then of course school prep in the evening as every teacher knows.

One of the students doing extra work

Sitting on my lap doing some phonics work

I’ve been wanting to get some pictures of teaching, but as commonly happens I get caught up in the classes and don’t want to bring out the camera as a distraction.

There were a couple of opportunities to snap a few this week. On Wednesday we tried to pick up trash by a local river (a stream if you’re from Arkansas). We got to the path leading down to the river before the rain started. People here don’t like being in the rain at all. So even in a light drizzle we need to get cover. We ending up cleaning under the school a little.  I got one picture before the sprinkles started. While organizing and watching the kids I did not get any more.

Happy faces with one absence before going off to pick up trash

However, on Friday I told the students that I will be out next week for a Peace Corps meeting. Fridays afternoons are typically low key with journal writing and art. They insisted that I take a picture of us together so I would not forget them even after I promised that I would be back in a week.

The previous Peace Corps volunteer left after just a short time, so I guess they might be thinking that I will not be returning as well. Anyway, I obviously hate posing for pictures and I’m not good at it.

break time during lunch to play with blocks

The shortest student cleaning off the board

Not likely to forget these munchkins in a week 

We are now to the part of the "turn around" in the "Father Abraham" song

Peace Corps meeting


I will be going to St. Lucia for mid-service training (MST). This is the training that generally happens half way through the two year service. It will be a time for some medical exams, to review administrative rules and procedures, to get some refresher on teaching techniques and such.

Early in the second year is a period of time when many volunteers look back over their first year and onto the rest of their service. Some become disenchanted and it is common think about quitting (ET – early termination). Therefore, MST is also a time to encourage the volunteers to stick it out for the second year.

Love always,
John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is
Read more

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crops are in other fields.   Row of ya
Read more

Mid-service Training

Image
This past week was mid-service training (MST). The conference was held on St. Lucia at the Mount of Prayer Coubaril run by the Benedictine Nuns. It was a lovely place with hospitable people as you would expect from Benedictines. A couple of years ago in Ghana I was able to spend a little time at a Benedictine Abby (popular with volunteers) – so it was a nice connection with the two Peace Corps services. I got a little spoiled with the great meals and the WiFi. I intentionally don’t have WiFi at my house so I’m less tempted to stay inside. I do have better data service than Dondometeng in the Upper West - no complaints there and so none here. Their Church Their view Their conference room Getting ready for a meal My room was the only one with a television.  It did work, but I didn't watch anything. My guess is the picture was a little fuzzy because of all the estrogen, but that's just a guy theory with a dirty phone This was actually my firs
Read more