Monday, May 17, 2010
In BC I normally tolerate the rain. I have never been a big fan, other than for the fact it makes our beautiful province so beautiful. The rain in BC is predictable however, you know it is going to rain by looking up at the clouds and you know it will rain for a few days then clear up and go away. This is not the case in Antigua. Here it may look as if it will rain, but does not. However, when you think the coast is clear and you begin a lesson on the only patch of dry field (which happens to be at the exact OPPOSITE side of the field from the school) the buckets begin to pour. Now I know what you’re thinking, yeah I’ve seen it pour before, but you haven’t till you’ve seen the rain here. It is INSANE! Head to toe drenched! The basically sums up our first class this morning – fine at first and then BOOM the heavens opened and the rains poured down.
Our grade fours are difficult, for a few reasons. First off, they are grade four and at this age know everything there is to know in the world (yeah right eh!?) Secondly, there are two classes that are combined because there is not a second spare classroom to be had. There are a total of 37 students – daunting! And thirdly, they like to talk and talk and talk and talk and…well you get the picture. We were successful at teaching them the underhand pass, however we were not successful at teaching them the new game because of the combination of the above three reasons and the rain. Bummer.
The rain is making everyone’s lives difficult. The kids are wiry because they’ve been cooped up all day, but we can’t let them play in the field because if they did, they’d be all muddied and soaked. It is a loose loose situation.
Kindergarten was a disaster again. Those children do not know what it means to be quiet. I was reading them a story and they talked through it, even though Pam was going around the room being the “Silent Police”. I’ve tried a new method for asking questions (Silent hands). No such luck. It’s frustrating because I don’t understand why they are not listening or understand how to obey.
Break was interesting because somehow we were recruited to sing in the staff choir for the next day’s retirement celebration. LOL thankful for my choir background, however reading words without and sheet music is not an easy task. Luckily we were given Ms Bachlors approval for our voices, they met the standard to join (I say that in just because she always gives the staff a hard time for their subpar singing abilities).
BEST part of the day, was consuming not one but TWO coconut icepops. Delicious!!
Other highlights: taught 2 grade 1 health class on self-esteem and compliments. Went much better than the K’s. Not sure how they can improve so much in a single year. Scrambled for a health lesson for the 3’s because the field was too wet. Note to self, children LOVE to role play.
Dinner was uninteresting – noodles with egg and salad. Looking forward to cooking with a stove again!
In BC I normally tolerate the rain. I have never been a big fan, other than for the fact it makes our beautiful province so beautiful. The rain in BC is predictable however, you know it is going to rain by looking up at the clouds and you know it will rain for a few days then clear up and go away. This is not the case in Antigua. Here it may look as if it will rain, but does not. However, when you think the coast is clear and you begin a lesson on the only patch of dry field (which happens to be at the exact OPPOSITE side of the field from the school) the buckets begin to pour. Now I know what you’re thinking, yeah I’ve seen it pour before, but you haven’t till you’ve seen the rain here. It is INSANE! Head to toe drenched! The basically sums up our first class this morning – fine at first and then BOOM the heavens opened and the rains poured down.
Our grade fours are difficult, for a few reasons. First off, they are grade four and at this age know everything there is to know in the world (yeah right eh!?) Secondly, there are two classes that are combined because there is not a second spare classroom to be had. There are a total of 37 students – daunting! And thirdly, they like to talk and talk and talk and talk and…well you get the picture. We were successful at teaching them the underhand pass, however we were not successful at teaching them the new game because of the combination of the above three reasons and the rain. Bummer.
The rain is making everyone’s lives difficult. The kids are wiry because they’ve been cooped up all day, but we can’t let them play in the field because if they did, they’d be all muddied and soaked. It is a loose loose situation.
Kindergarten was a disaster again. Those children do not know what it means to be quiet. I was reading them a story and they talked through it, even though Pam was going around the room being the “Silent Police”. I’ve tried a new method for asking questions (Silent hands). No such luck. It’s frustrating because I don’t understand why they are not listening or understand how to obey.
Break was interesting because somehow we were recruited to sing in the staff choir for the next day’s retirement celebration. LOL thankful for my choir background, however reading words without and sheet music is not an easy task. Luckily we were given Ms Bachlors approval for our voices, they met the standard to join (I say that in just because she always gives the staff a hard time for their subpar singing abilities).
BEST part of the day, was consuming not one but TWO coconut icepops. Delicious!!
Other highlights: taught 2 grade 1 health class on self-esteem and compliments. Went much better than the K’s. Not sure how they can improve so much in a single year. Scrambled for a health lesson for the 3’s because the field was too wet. Note to self, children LOVE to role play.
Dinner was uninteresting – noodles with egg and salad. Looking forward to cooking with a stove again!
