So a few blogs ago I mentioned that it was near the end of the rainy season and that it was starting to get drier and therefore hotter and hotter…well apparently that was a small joke on my part! It has been anything but the end of the rainy season, I am afraid we are smack dab in the middle of it! A day that it doesn’t rain is a beautiful hot day! Now rain doesn’t really bother me too much while at the homebase, we will once in a while play volleyball in the rain or when I awake to the rain pounding on the roof it is actually quite calming and peaceful! It’s a little annoying when I have to keep my clothes on the line for days because the rain keeps getting them wet and they never seem to dry, but other than that it’s not horrible.
However, when it rains at school, it is a completely different story. If you have seen the picture of my classroom, you will notice that it has a straw roof. Here’s a small hint – the straw does not keep the rain out! There is one classroom that has a canopy but has a tin roof and one actually building where the nursery class is. For the past two days, right after break (halfway through the morning) it has started to torrential down pour. Let me paint you a picture. The kids are out running around, one of the babies, usually Joshua is fast asleep in my arms, and it starts raining. I hurry over (with the child still asleep in my arms) and gather all of their notebooks and papers from the chair, since I don’t have any other place to put things besides the floor and the kids all drag their desks over to the small “porch” of the one solid four wall classroom. The porch is just wide enough for two desks to fit right next to each other. However, there is a slight overhang and the person sitting on the far left gets completely soaked as well as the second desk because the water drips off the roof. On my left side is the K and P1 class attempting to learn and in the classroom where the windows are opened are the nursery kids usually screaming or singing. With the rain pounding down, all of my kids completely soaked, it is nearly impossible to teach. Lately I have been allowing them to start illustrating the book we are writing together, but some of their papers get wet and they are devastated. So, as the other teachers just allow their kids to sit there, I have started story time. I try to be as productive as possible and they love just sitting there and listening to the stories. Although I would love to continue with my lessons, I just remind myself that this is Africa and even just reading a story to the children is better than nothing!
Yesterday I attempted centers again and it worked very well until the rain hit. I have a notebook for each child in my class and I write out their worksheets in the notebooks. I spend my entire evenings creating centers and writing out everything in their notebooks. My favorite moment of the week was when I handed them each their own notebook with their name on it and just saw their faces light up! The notebooks are wonderful and the kids are really starting to like my style of teaching. It takes less time to explain things and they are enjoying the hands on activities that I am presenting them with. I think they may even be learning a few things here or there! I adore them and enjoy my time at school immensely!
I hope all is well at home and you are enjoying some fall weather!
Lots of love from Africa!
Steph
Oh Steph...you are making such a huge impact on the lives of those little children. They are so very very lucky to have you over there and teaching them...even in the short time, they are going to learn so much. Keep enjoying your time with them...even the small moments, like just reading stories with them...and go dance in the rain with them one of these days :-)
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Your last few entries have been wild with animals! How cool! We have been watching a new season of the Amazing Race and guess where they traveled to? You got it ..Ghana...Accra was the pitstop of the last leg, and this week another village where the contestants had to use a symbolic alphabet to decipher a code...only one team could do it! And you thought it was difficult teaching African children english. We Americans are harder to teach! They also showed children in a schoolyard playing games in the dirt, dancing and singing, and playing a game where they spin a bicycle rim with a stick. What fun for us to watch a schoolyard and classroom similar to your own with the exact same desks. How sad on the other hand to see the filth in the town of Accra. And to think the Amazing Race filmed it without a thought. The nice part of today's show was that at the pitstop of this school yard, they will spend the night and then help build and repair parts of the school before moving on to their next destination. certainly did make us think of you!
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