Love of learning

Today was a good day. In class three we have been starting fractions, which is something they haven’t seen before. Yesterday we did halves and today I introduced quarters. And they were getting it! I was really happy, and the regular teacher commented as well that they were really understanding. My hopes were dashed a little when we tried to do a quarter of a group (like, what is a quarter of 8) and they were struggling a bit, but I hope if we try it again next week they will figure it out.

Then in Class 4 for science I decided rather than just taking notes and being told everything, we need to have a more experimental approach. So today I taught them about clouds and then showed them how to write up a simple lab, with an objective, procedure, observations, questions and conclusion. Until the end of the weekend they have to record the clouds every day and answer questions based on what they have observed. It was pretty obvious that they had never seen anything like it before, but I explained what each part was for and gave them a really simple table to record things in. I guess next week we will find out if it worked! If it’s a success then I will try to do a few more simple observation based activities with them in the future.

I think I mentioned before that I have found that the kids’ problem solving abilities are weak, probably due to the “copy down and repeat” method of teaching. Patrick has also mentioned to me that he wants to have the school be more of a community for the kids. So I have been thinking and talking to him about starting an afterschool activity, just once a week. Well, today was my first day and it was a success!

I decided I would do puzzles with the kids to help them develop critical thinking and problem solving while having some fun, so I invited kids from class two, three and four to stay if they wanted to. Every single kid in all three classes stayed. I was expecting 10 or 15 kids to come, but I have three entire classes worth! In the end we had to send the kids from Class 2 home because there wasn’t enough space, so class 3 and 4 stayed with me and we did a simple logic puzzle where they had to use clues to put things in the right order, and a simple crossword puzzle with a theme of school. As I expected, the kids were pretty stumped by the puzzles, so after giving them a few minutes to ponder, I went through step by step and showed them how to do it. By the end they were starting to see how it works. I asked them at the end if they liked the puzzles and if they wanted to do it again next week and they all cheered “yes”! I think for the first few weeks I will have to guide them through the puzzles, but hopefully they will start to see how they can think about things differently and gradually start doing them on their own. I just have to figure out how to manage a tiny classroom with 32 kids packed into it! I’ll talk to Patrick and the other teachers and see if they have some suggestions. If I need to, I can do two sessions a week, but it means have to hang around and stay late, which I don’t want to do all the time. But if the kids want it and they are actually learning something, then I will do it. Today I had to help a lot with the logic puzzle - showing them how to set it up and how to get more information out of the clues that first appears - but after showing them the first few words in the crossword they started figuring out the other words. Some of those kids are very bright!

One day I asked Patrick what will happen to the older kids next year, if Hopestreams is unable to offer Standard 5. He told me that many work have to work in rich people’s houses, even at only 10 or 11 years old. These kids are amazing and I don’t want to see that happen to them. There is a school close by that offers the other classes, but the tuition is double that of Hopestreams, and most of the parents already cannot pay the full amount. These kids totally deserve a chance. It would be such a shame if they didn’t finish primary school.

A few other things to note – The dog at the school had puppies!! Nine of them and they are sooo cute! They haven’t opened their eyes yet. I go and visit them everyday, even though the mom doesn’t like me spying.

Another interesting cultural thing is that when someone trips or drops something, everyone around says “sorry”. For me it’s very strange because it is like they are apologizing for me dropping the chalk, but that’s just what they say!

The other day Patrick found a Yoyo that had been donated to the school. But nobody at the school knew how to use it! So I started playing with it and some of the kids saw we. Soon I had half the school gathered around me watching the yoyo going up and down. They had never seen it before!

Another thing that had been donated is some jigsaw puzzles. Patrick pulled them when I told him my idea for the kids. I started doing them in the office while I had free time, and all the teachers were stunned at how fast I could do it. They told me it would take them hours. They had not grown up with them. It made me think of two things. One, that the toys and games we play as children and so much more than that. The simple strategy of putting a puzzle together by starting with the edges was not something they knew. Second, the gifts that people donate to schools like Hopestreams and not always culturally revevant. Both the puzzles and the yoyo were donated, but neither had been used because they didn’t know how. Another thing lying around the office is a copy of Harry Potter and while I haven’t actually asked, I secretly wonder if such a strongly Christian community would even allow their kids to read it. So think twice about what you decide to donate!

My battery is about to die, gotta go!