Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Painterific
Today was a major day at tackling our mural. There is basically two projects happening at once. We’re putting hand prints and writing words around the flag of last years mural and then painting our own net full of balls and sporting equipment. Above it is the phrase: Learning Together Through Sport and Play.
I really think it is important to have every child be a part of the mural, even if its just a little bit. The older students had the option of doing a hand print or painting a bit of the mural. It was really neat to see them come back and show their peers what they had created. They were so proud of what they’d made. We were able to get all the grade 6’s, grade 5’s and one grade 1 class to participate. Wednesday will hopefully prove to be more successful.
The day was really a lax day because they were having a huge celebration for the retirement of Mr. Harris, the school janitor. Many of the classes performed skits or songs to tribute the man who’d served the school for more than 14 years. He was actually the one who planted all the trees and greenery around the school too. This was also the time for us to join in the staff choir. We actually sounded okay in the end and the students LOVED hearing all of us sing. They cheered and cheered. All I could do was laugh.
In the evening, most of the group went out for dinner, but Leticia and I stayed back because we didn’t feel like going out. We ended up having a lovely dinner together and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was a nice time to talk about our days and reflect. I cannot believe how fast our time is coming to an end. It feels as if we just landed on the island and now we’re at only 2 more teaching days. That brings me to my new frustration.
Completely unplanned, but we’ve had way too many days off. When we first arrived, Monday was a state holiday. We didn’t end up teaching till Wednesday because of needing to meet the schools and principals first. The second week there was two pro-d-days (one Tuesday and one Thursday). This week, we are losing Wednesday afternoon to go to a cricket game and all day Friday for a PE specialist’s workshop. Next week we loose Monday due to another holiday and then Tuesday-Friday is Unity Games so we’re not even at our own schools. I am grateful for the time to rejuvenate, however, I really want to teach and I feel like I haven’t done anything, that I am not even making a difference some times. Not to mention, that there is a PE specialist that comes every Wednesday and Friday, so we don’t get to teach to our full capacity because we don’t want to step on her toes and take over. Needless to say, I’d much rather be teaching more than I am. I only have a week and a half left and I need to make the best of it!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Cricket Anyone?
Today we left school early to head to a cricket game of the West Indies against South Africa. But before that we had school…
I’m almost finished Three Cups of Tea and it is getting really good right about now. By some miracle I was actually able to read in the car (why that is so amazing is that at home I’d instantly be car sick and here the roads are in FAR WORSE conditions than home). Anyways, with a line guide, I was doing fine. It is a fantastic book and I feel like I keep being transported from Pakistan to Antigua. Both similar missions, to bring education to the world’s poorest. Here, we’re just more focused on the PE end of it. I am loving my experience here, it is reinforcing my desire to teach.
Anyways, school started a little off because the grade 6’s were writing a mock exam in the gym. Wouldn’t be such a big deal because we play PE outside anyways, but the grade 2’s have a classroom in the loaf area of the gym and thus were kicked out because of the noise factor for the grade 6’s. Again, wouldn’t be that big of a deal however the grade 2 teacher didn’t show up either. So we had a class without a teacher and without a classroom. I ended up taking them in the ‘literacy room’ which is an ajoined room next to the staff room separated by a few sheets of lattice work. There is a shelf with a few dozen books and that’s it (breaks my heart). The kids were awful! They wouldn’t listen, they hit each other, complained about each other, whined, etc. I was trying to teach them about the heart and what makes it healthy or unhealthy. I was beyond frustrated. I wanted so badly just to give them something to do and teach them at the same time, but they have no concept of respect. You try to talk to them about it and they don’t know because no one is a proper role model for them. Their parents hit them or each other and the same is with their teachers. They get smacked for not doing what their told. One child even told me that the kids wouldn’t listen to me because I wont hit them. It’s so backwards!
While I was attempting to teach the class, Pam was working on the mural with other classes. She was able to get the other grade 1 and my grade 2 class finished. After recess she took the class and I went out with Ms Douglas and helped teach the grade 1 class. I was able to teach them two new games: London Bridge is falling down and Statue tag. Again, Ms Douglas loses her temper so fast because the kids aren’t listening. I know they aren’t, but just go with the flow, don’t stop and start smacking them because they didn’t do exactly what you want. I am also noticing that the teachers don’t give very clear instructions. Some of it is the dialect, but most of is that they just don’t give clear instructions and when the kids don’t act how they want the yell and smack them.
We chowed down lunch (which was delicious! Rice with spinach, cold slaw, and bbq’d chicken). We came home to change and then head off to the cricket game. It was originally 10 EC but ended up being 20 EC. Never been to a cricket game before and can’t say that I would ever go again. It was hot, sweaty and frankly, quiet boring. I got up to walk around a few times, tried a very tasty hot dog from the venders on the lawn. The game started at 2pm and ended around 5:30pm. The West Indies lost, which was a bit of a bummer, but it was cool to say that I’ve actually been at a cricket game.
Tomorrow is my last day at the school teaching. I can’t believe that day has already come, it makes me sad to think about it too. There is still so much I wanted to teach them. Hopefully it is an impactful day…we do have the grades 5 and 6 so there will be some ‘talk time’ because we discovered today that after the older kids had made a hand print they had slapped their hands on other walls along the way to the bathroom. It was terribly disappointing. It’s hard being so hard on these kids, but they don’t respond to you as the nice lady either. Teaching here is much harder than I thought, more mental strain than I ever thought possible. Off to eat dinner now. Microwaved minute rice with chicken strips and steamed veggies. Yum yum.
