Aankit went into Agona again to see if our letters for going into the Busua schools had been finished. They hadn't. In fact, the director of the school district, who is the one who has to write the letters, was gone today, so they couldn't even get them written while Aankit ran other errands with William. They needed to get school supplies and books for the kids for the coming year (apparently that starts in the summer sometime?). They did that, then came home. While they were gone, the people in the house were supposed to be getting ready for after school and helping around the house. I did my laundry, since it needed to be done. I'd only really brought enough clothes for a week, so I had to do laundry every week. I figured that would help the girls' room look better, at least. I enjoy doing laundry by hand.
Then, I wrote up some ideas I had for mathematics assessments for the kids in the after school program. We's been focusing solely on literacy, which they definitely needed help with, but they also needed help with math. Being a math person, I'm a little biased, and thought we should start doing some math-related activities sooner as opposed to later. It actually felt productive to get those all down on paper. I showed them to Aankit when he got back, and he liked the idea. Now, we just have to wait for the opportunity to get materials to make the assessment and projects. There's no shortage of time to wait in Ghana. It seems to be everyone's favorite pastime. :P So, before after school started, I tried to come up with a list of materials we definitely needed, would use, and could replace with something easier to find. That helped the list of 'to do' seem much more manageable.
The power had been out all day, and, come after school, it was still storming a bit. That meant we only had a few kids come, since everything in Ghana stops when heavy rain comes. But, we had a few loyal kids and I sat and read with one of them, Frank. We were reading the Frog and Toad books, and he was doing really well. There were only a few words he couldn't figure out how to sound out by himself, and some pronunciation difficulties. I tried to focus on the 'th' sound at the beginning of words, since he was pronouncing it in a way I've never heard before, and I feel like it would be difficult for a native English speaker to understand in speech. By the end of the day, he still wasn't doing it right, but he was focusing really hard each time that sound came up. He would stop, think, put his tongue between his teeth, and try to push the air out between them. It sounded a lot better than before, even though it looked more awkward as well. I was proud of him for trying so hard and wanting to learn. I'm hoping I can work with him again to keep seeing progress.
At News Hour, we still didn't have power, even though it had stopped raining. So, instead of watching the News, we went around and got to know each other a little bit more. We said: our name, where we're from (country, state, and city), who's in our family, what life was like growing up, how we came to be at TOB, and what we wanted to be when we grew up. I liked learning more about the scholars in the house, and understanding where they come from. It made it even easier to try to talk to them and make friends.
Henry and I had dinner outside, since it was gorgeous after the rain, and the mosquitoes weren't too bad yet. I even convinced him to go for a short run with me down the beach. We chatted a lot about what kinds of people there are in the world, and what our place in it is. Henry's extremely religious, so his position tended to be that he wanted to help people by helping them realize/find God. I just kept my mouth shut on that point. I like that he wants to help people, and doesn't like seeing people sad/mad, so he tries to cheer them up. I just don't agree that happiness has to come through a God. Anyway, I was a little flustered toward the end of the evening because it had felt most of the evening like he was flirting with me, but I couldn't tell for sure. One, I had no idea what friend relationships were actually like in Ghana, so for all I knew, the way Henry was acting was perfectly normal. Two, I'm really not good at picking up those signals in the US when I do know the culture. So, I didn't say anything, and I waited. I've been away from the US for a week now, and I'm not feeling any of the homesickness or peoplesickness I was expecting. I suppose that's a good thing.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Yam Chips and Dancing
Sunday, I played basketball again. The hoop they've built here takes a lot of getting used to. The hoop isn't set off from the backboard at all, so the bounce you get has to be even more accurate, and the wooden board makes the ball actually bounce more than the courts I'm used to. Plus, we're using a volleyball since we don't have a basketball. That makes it even harder to adjust to. Needless to say, I'm not terribly good. Not that I'd be great on an American court though - it's been what, four years since I've legitimately picked up a game of basketball. Yeah, but it was fun, and the boys have been working with me on my dunking. They actually think I can jump to the rim eventually. I'll keep trying, but I do not think that's going to happen. I got no hops kid. :P
I somehow got roped into drawing flashcards for the after school program, since we didn't have a full set of culturally relevant flashcards for the alphabet. (Really, I for Igloo? They don't have/have never seen an igloo). People who know me know I don't tend to draw very well or with a lot of enthusiasm. But, we got through most of them. There were a couple we didn't do very well, so we erased them and asked Henry to draw them. Henry is taking graphic design classes, and draws fairly well, so we thought it would be a good idea to ask him when he got back from wherever he was, probably church, since it's Sunday.
Anthony was playing music all day, trying to perfect a song on the guitar. He's pretty good, actually. Anyway, that meant I was swimming by myself, since he didn't want to go for our swimming lesson today. The waves were a lot calmer than yesterday, which made it less fun/exciting, but probably more beneficial to actually trying to swim. It was fun, and I've not gone out terribly far, since I want to be sure I've gotten the hang of how the ocean works first.
For lunch, we had these long, fried strips of something that looked and tasted like potato, so I thought they were fries. I hadn't actually seen a potato in Ghana, so I didn't think it was that. I've never tasted yam before, so, until Louis told me they were yam chips, I was just assuming that there were potatoes, and I just hadn't seen/recognized them yet. Yam tastes/feels like potato, in case you were wondering. We had them with this thick tomato paste sauce, so it felt like I'd just had fries for lunch. They were good, but rice is a lot more filling.
There was a new volunteer who came today also, Sierra. She's from Washington D.C., and has, like every other volunteer here, been to Africa before, just not Ghana. I am starting to feel a bit out of place and like a little kid who doesn't quite know what to do. They have all been through the travel bit before, so I feel like they're more comfortable than I am. But, Sierra seems cool, and it feels like she's here for the right reasons - to try to learn and help the kids. Unlike some of the volunteers who seem like they just want a vacation and don't care about helping in the after school or making sure they show up to News Hour. That annoys me. So does the fact that people leave lights and fans on and things plugged in when they're not there. They also are leaving the doors to the bedrooms open, which lets in mosquitoes. It's like they don't care that all this wastes electricity and makes it uncomfortable for everyone else in the room. I don't know why, but today was the first day I started to get very irked by this.
Henry, Torsten, and I went for a walk that evening after dinner. We just went along the beach, chatting about our respective countries. (Torsten is from Sweden, here killing time after his internship in Kumasi, a Ghanaian city). Then, we had a singing 'contest'. We each sang our respective national anthems, and a song of our choice before we got bored. We agreed none of us won, since we were all equally not good. One of our conversations dealt with social theory, and how a society can breed a specific way of thought based on how it's organized and what those in power can/want to advance. I'm not sure Henry fully grasped what the implications of these ideas are, but Torsten and I had a wonderful time trying to explain what little we know about it.
When we got back, it was dance party time. Anthony had his speakers going from the iPod, and all the kids were dancing, and trying to teach us volunteers how to dance. I think I've got pretty good rhythm, and a good feel for what fits the music, but they insisted I had to do their dance to their songs. That makes sense, I guess, but it frustrated me when they seemed to get mad when I tried to just dance what I felt with the song. About half of them were in an Akan (Twi/Fante) language, so I didn't know what they were saying, but I still got the groove of the music, which, to me, is whole point of dancing. Anyway, I did have fun, and I did enjoy learning the dances the kids showed me. So, I guess it was a productive evening. :)
I somehow got roped into drawing flashcards for the after school program, since we didn't have a full set of culturally relevant flashcards for the alphabet. (Really, I for Igloo? They don't have/have never seen an igloo). People who know me know I don't tend to draw very well or with a lot of enthusiasm. But, we got through most of them. There were a couple we didn't do very well, so we erased them and asked Henry to draw them. Henry is taking graphic design classes, and draws fairly well, so we thought it would be a good idea to ask him when he got back from wherever he was, probably church, since it's Sunday.
Anthony was playing music all day, trying to perfect a song on the guitar. He's pretty good, actually. Anyway, that meant I was swimming by myself, since he didn't want to go for our swimming lesson today. The waves were a lot calmer than yesterday, which made it less fun/exciting, but probably more beneficial to actually trying to swim. It was fun, and I've not gone out terribly far, since I want to be sure I've gotten the hang of how the ocean works first.
For lunch, we had these long, fried strips of something that looked and tasted like potato, so I thought they were fries. I hadn't actually seen a potato in Ghana, so I didn't think it was that. I've never tasted yam before, so, until Louis told me they were yam chips, I was just assuming that there were potatoes, and I just hadn't seen/recognized them yet. Yam tastes/feels like potato, in case you were wondering. We had them with this thick tomato paste sauce, so it felt like I'd just had fries for lunch. They were good, but rice is a lot more filling.
There was a new volunteer who came today also, Sierra. She's from Washington D.C., and has, like every other volunteer here, been to Africa before, just not Ghana. I am starting to feel a bit out of place and like a little kid who doesn't quite know what to do. They have all been through the travel bit before, so I feel like they're more comfortable than I am. But, Sierra seems cool, and it feels like she's here for the right reasons - to try to learn and help the kids. Unlike some of the volunteers who seem like they just want a vacation and don't care about helping in the after school or making sure they show up to News Hour. That annoys me. So does the fact that people leave lights and fans on and things plugged in when they're not there. They also are leaving the doors to the bedrooms open, which lets in mosquitoes. It's like they don't care that all this wastes electricity and makes it uncomfortable for everyone else in the room. I don't know why, but today was the first day I started to get very irked by this.
Henry, Torsten, and I went for a walk that evening after dinner. We just went along the beach, chatting about our respective countries. (Torsten is from Sweden, here killing time after his internship in Kumasi, a Ghanaian city). Then, we had a singing 'contest'. We each sang our respective national anthems, and a song of our choice before we got bored. We agreed none of us won, since we were all equally not good. One of our conversations dealt with social theory, and how a society can breed a specific way of thought based on how it's organized and what those in power can/want to advance. I'm not sure Henry fully grasped what the implications of these ideas are, but Torsten and I had a wonderful time trying to explain what little we know about it.
When we got back, it was dance party time. Anthony had his speakers going from the iPod, and all the kids were dancing, and trying to teach us volunteers how to dance. I think I've got pretty good rhythm, and a good feel for what fits the music, but they insisted I had to do their dance to their songs. That makes sense, I guess, but it frustrated me when they seemed to get mad when I tried to just dance what I felt with the song. About half of them were in an Akan (Twi/Fante) language, so I didn't know what they were saying, but I still got the groove of the music, which, to me, is whole point of dancing. Anyway, I did have fun, and I did enjoy learning the dances the kids showed me. So, I guess it was a productive evening. :)
Friday, July 6, 2012
Rain and No Electricity - What Could Be Better?
My first Saturday, Anthony took me swimming. Of course, I'd already been in the water, but I was hot and sweaty from playing basketball with Ben and Emmanuel, so I didn't mind. Anthony can swim, but he's not very confident in himself, so we're going to work on that. My goal is to get him to come out to the island with me eventually. He doesn't know this yet. ;)
When we got back, I rinsed off with a bucket of water, then set down to read a bit more. I'd gotten hooked on the Millennium series, which starts with the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've not read many fiction books in a while, so it was kind of nice to start again. Aankit had mentioned that I'd been seeming a bit antisocial (even though he didn't come right out and say it), so I decided to read out in the main room area. It's a lot harder to concentrate there, but no one was asking me to get involved, so I was happy trying to finish my book. Gladdis, our house cook's younger daughter, came up behind me and started playing with my ponytail. She was being gentle, and it seemed like she wanted to play with all of my hair, so I took out my ponytail and let her play with my hair down. She asked me for a brush, so I got mine out and I read while she put almost my entire head into those little bitty braids about a centimeter thick. When she was done, which happened to be about the same time I was done with my book, she told me to look in the mirror and see if I liked it. I don't think I look good in braids at all, but I could tell she'd put a lot of effort into them, and they were very pretty, organized braids, so I said I liked it very much. Then, she brushed them out and put my hair back up in a ponytail.
Apparently, Gladdis got bored after that, and she left. Since I was done with the book, and didn't feel like starting the next one, I got out my bracelet making thread and found a scissors. Those who know me know that making bracelets is calming for me, and helps me relax and focus. It's a repetitive action that requires some concentration to keep the thread going straight instead of curling in on itself. My goal was to make a bracelet the colors of Ghana: red, yellow, green, and black. I started making it, and Tina comes to sit by me to help. We're alternating rows (she does one, then holds it for me to do one) when it starts to storm quite loudly and violently. The rain is coming through the gaps in the window panes where the glass folds over on itself, and we had to move the sewing table into a protected corner. Of course, the power also went out, like it usually does when it rains or gets cloudy. Since it was starting to get late, it was darker. Tina and I kept going on the bracelet, and there were two rows she flipped the string, making the wrong color show up. At first, this irked me a lot. I didn't say anything, but I'd figured on taking the rows out in the morning when I could see so I could fix them. But, come morning, I saw the rows, and thought immediately of how much Tina had smiled when we were working together and how, at first, she didn't understand that I wind one string all the way across a row before doing the next one. And how she looked so intent when she was winding the knot on a string, looking up at me to make sure she was doing it right. It was not only a bracelet to remind me of Ghana, but one to remind me of Tina as well.
We did stop when it got too dark to see, though. It was still bright enough outside to see what was going on next door, so, when I went out to the balcony to watch the storm, I saw a bunch of the locals outside as well. The odd thing for me was to see them in the ocean. They weren't far into it, but those waves were strong, as I had felt earlier that day swimming with Anthony. I looked closer and realized they were laughing, singing, and dancing. Some appeared to be praying/thanking some higher power (most Ghanaians are Christian, to a certain extent). This was the first real rain of the rainy season, which starts mid-May and usually goes until the end of June/beginning of July. And rain is certainly something to celebrate. How else does everything stay green and yummy? After seeing this, I just wanted to sort of bask in the simple joy that I felt watching the celebration of our neighbors. Luckily, since the electricity was off (light off), we didn't have News Hour, so I was able to. (Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy News Hour, I just wanted to be able to let the happiness around me seep in). It was a very happy night for me.
When we got back, I rinsed off with a bucket of water, then set down to read a bit more. I'd gotten hooked on the Millennium series, which starts with the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've not read many fiction books in a while, so it was kind of nice to start again. Aankit had mentioned that I'd been seeming a bit antisocial (even though he didn't come right out and say it), so I decided to read out in the main room area. It's a lot harder to concentrate there, but no one was asking me to get involved, so I was happy trying to finish my book. Gladdis, our house cook's younger daughter, came up behind me and started playing with my ponytail. She was being gentle, and it seemed like she wanted to play with all of my hair, so I took out my ponytail and let her play with my hair down. She asked me for a brush, so I got mine out and I read while she put almost my entire head into those little bitty braids about a centimeter thick. When she was done, which happened to be about the same time I was done with my book, she told me to look in the mirror and see if I liked it. I don't think I look good in braids at all, but I could tell she'd put a lot of effort into them, and they were very pretty, organized braids, so I said I liked it very much. Then, she brushed them out and put my hair back up in a ponytail.
Apparently, Gladdis got bored after that, and she left. Since I was done with the book, and didn't feel like starting the next one, I got out my bracelet making thread and found a scissors. Those who know me know that making bracelets is calming for me, and helps me relax and focus. It's a repetitive action that requires some concentration to keep the thread going straight instead of curling in on itself. My goal was to make a bracelet the colors of Ghana: red, yellow, green, and black. I started making it, and Tina comes to sit by me to help. We're alternating rows (she does one, then holds it for me to do one) when it starts to storm quite loudly and violently. The rain is coming through the gaps in the window panes where the glass folds over on itself, and we had to move the sewing table into a protected corner. Of course, the power also went out, like it usually does when it rains or gets cloudy. Since it was starting to get late, it was darker. Tina and I kept going on the bracelet, and there were two rows she flipped the string, making the wrong color show up. At first, this irked me a lot. I didn't say anything, but I'd figured on taking the rows out in the morning when I could see so I could fix them. But, come morning, I saw the rows, and thought immediately of how much Tina had smiled when we were working together and how, at first, she didn't understand that I wind one string all the way across a row before doing the next one. And how she looked so intent when she was winding the knot on a string, looking up at me to make sure she was doing it right. It was not only a bracelet to remind me of Ghana, but one to remind me of Tina as well.
We did stop when it got too dark to see, though. It was still bright enough outside to see what was going on next door, so, when I went out to the balcony to watch the storm, I saw a bunch of the locals outside as well. The odd thing for me was to see them in the ocean. They weren't far into it, but those waves were strong, as I had felt earlier that day swimming with Anthony. I looked closer and realized they were laughing, singing, and dancing. Some appeared to be praying/thanking some higher power (most Ghanaians are Christian, to a certain extent). This was the first real rain of the rainy season, which starts mid-May and usually goes until the end of June/beginning of July. And rain is certainly something to celebrate. How else does everything stay green and yummy? After seeing this, I just wanted to sort of bask in the simple joy that I felt watching the celebration of our neighbors. Luckily, since the electricity was off (light off), we didn't have News Hour, so I was able to. (Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy News Hour, I just wanted to be able to let the happiness around me seep in). It was a very happy night for me.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Reflections
People are different. People are the same. Groups of people are the same way - different from and the same as other groups of people. This was what was running through my head as I sat in the bedroom and thought about what I had seen, heard, talked about, and felt since being here in Ghana.
Like, when my kids I was evaluating for their knowledge of the English alphabet not saying all the letters 'correctly'. They'd say "Gee" (like the first part of geek) for our letter "E", "jayn" for "G", and "vayn" for "V", as well as "zed" for "Z". These don't sound like English letters, but neither does "elemenope" for "L, M, N, O, P" when average American kids sing the alphabet without an adult directing them, or when a child with a speech impediment tries to say a word that uses sounds they have difficulty with. Yet, they know when they're right. And they don't like it when you think they're wrong. The kids I marked wrong on letters they weren't sure on, didn't question it. They tried again, but didn't try to convince me they were right. The kids who had just pronounced the letters differently than I was expecting were very adamant that they were right. They would draw the letter in the air and try to tell me again and again, very clearly, what letter they meant. They thought I was just hearing them wrong, not that they were wrong. And, when I've worked with kids in the US, they're very vocal about being right, especially when they know they're right. They'll stomp around and try to write it, say it, draw it, and bring a friend over to tell you they're right. Even though the language is different, and the modes available to express their frustration are different, the idea behind their expressions is similar.
Kids explore things with their hands, mouths, and any other part of their body that they can, usually. My kids in the US stick marbles, food, even dog poop if I'm not watching in their mouths and nose, sometimes ears. My Ghanaian kids do the same thing. One of the major differences I saw was that, in Ghana, the kids aren't generally reminded not to stick things in their mouths like kids in the US are. They might take my hand and, wanting to meet me and understand what they're holding, they'll put my hand in their mouth or lick me. In the US, most people would scold the child, saying something like, "You're not supposed to lick/bite other people. That's rude."
The other way I found the explorations different was in the force of their physical movements. Kids in the US will touch everything, maybe push on it, kick it, drop it, or slap it. But, generally, they don't do any of this in the repetitive, forceful way I saw kids in Ghana doing it. For example, when I've taken care of a group of American kids who don't necessarily know each other all the way, they'll reach out and maybe touch each other's faces or hang onto their hands. Ghanaian kids will reach out and punch someone. They're still learning about their environment and others by touch - it's just a different kind of touch. It surprised me at first, how violent these kids seem. They actually do hurt each other quite often. They also learn to deal with it though. When they get hurt because of someone else hitting them, they cry, sit down, look around, notice that no one is going to help them, and stop. Soon, they're right back into the game or fight.
As time goes on, I'll notice a lot more of the differences and similarities in a way I can write down so they make sense. I'll wait until the time in my trip when I noticed them so you can follow my experience as much as possible. Keep in mind, please, people are more the same than they are different.
Like, when my kids I was evaluating for their knowledge of the English alphabet not saying all the letters 'correctly'. They'd say "Gee" (like the first part of geek) for our letter "E", "jayn" for "G", and "vayn" for "V", as well as "zed" for "Z". These don't sound like English letters, but neither does "elemenope" for "L, M, N, O, P" when average American kids sing the alphabet without an adult directing them, or when a child with a speech impediment tries to say a word that uses sounds they have difficulty with. Yet, they know when they're right. And they don't like it when you think they're wrong. The kids I marked wrong on letters they weren't sure on, didn't question it. They tried again, but didn't try to convince me they were right. The kids who had just pronounced the letters differently than I was expecting were very adamant that they were right. They would draw the letter in the air and try to tell me again and again, very clearly, what letter they meant. They thought I was just hearing them wrong, not that they were wrong. And, when I've worked with kids in the US, they're very vocal about being right, especially when they know they're right. They'll stomp around and try to write it, say it, draw it, and bring a friend over to tell you they're right. Even though the language is different, and the modes available to express their frustration are different, the idea behind their expressions is similar.
Kids explore things with their hands, mouths, and any other part of their body that they can, usually. My kids in the US stick marbles, food, even dog poop if I'm not watching in their mouths and nose, sometimes ears. My Ghanaian kids do the same thing. One of the major differences I saw was that, in Ghana, the kids aren't generally reminded not to stick things in their mouths like kids in the US are. They might take my hand and, wanting to meet me and understand what they're holding, they'll put my hand in their mouth or lick me. In the US, most people would scold the child, saying something like, "You're not supposed to lick/bite other people. That's rude."
The other way I found the explorations different was in the force of their physical movements. Kids in the US will touch everything, maybe push on it, kick it, drop it, or slap it. But, generally, they don't do any of this in the repetitive, forceful way I saw kids in Ghana doing it. For example, when I've taken care of a group of American kids who don't necessarily know each other all the way, they'll reach out and maybe touch each other's faces or hang onto their hands. Ghanaian kids will reach out and punch someone. They're still learning about their environment and others by touch - it's just a different kind of touch. It surprised me at first, how violent these kids seem. They actually do hurt each other quite often. They also learn to deal with it though. When they get hurt because of someone else hitting them, they cry, sit down, look around, notice that no one is going to help them, and stop. Soon, they're right back into the game or fight.
As time goes on, I'll notice a lot more of the differences and similarities in a way I can write down so they make sense. I'll wait until the time in my trip when I noticed them so you can follow my experience as much as possible. Keep in mind, please, people are more the same than they are different.
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Weekends...Friday, Saturday, Sunday
That music I thought was just a party going on next door actually goes on every night. At least it's fairly good music. Not my choice for bedtime music, but not bad. Stuff like the Beetles or Kelly Clarkson usually. Not much heavier than that. I'm used to listening to music as I try to fall asleep, so that's actually helpful since it's not bad music. (My definition of bad music is music in which the lyrics consist of mostly swear words or derogatory terms/ideas). Unfortunately, the volunteers usually stay out later, so I hear them come in at all hours, meaning I don't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. Then, I'm up at 05:30-06:00 because the sun wakes up then, and I wake up with the sun. I'm a little tired of being tired.
At least I was productive, though. Since we're still waiting on the letters for us to go into Busua schools and teach, I read a book or two, and started on that series, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. I've never read it before, but someone had donated all three of them to TOB, so I started reading them. I found them when I decided to organize the bookshelf upstairs. (There's a bookshelf upstairs for the people in the house and one downstairs for the after school program). The one upstairs was in disarray - books laying sideways, no real order to the piles, different sizes all mixed up together, and it was nearly impossible to tell what books they had or didn't have. It bothered me, so I fixed it.
Apparently, organizing the shelf was Anthony's job. All the kids in the house have their own project to work on, and Anthony's was the bookshelves upstairs and downstairs. Anyway, I had the books organized by genre, then alphabetical by two different sizes, due to the shelves being only tall enough on one shelf for the smaller books. It looked pretty by the time I was done, I thought. That was how I found the trilogy to read, since I hadn't noticed it before. Anthony didn't mind I organized the shelf, but Aankit told me to make sure if I did anything else around the house to be sure to do it with one of the sponsored kids. Volunteers are there for the kids, so we should try to include them in as much as possible. Makes sense, and I tried to do that the rest of the time I was there.
Getting ready for after school, I started to get scared about teaching Monday. I didn't really have much experience teaching young kids, and I'd figured out by now that English was not a strong language for most of the people in the town. I didn't know how I was supposed to approach the class, what I was supposed to say, or anything about what to do. Kathryn and I started chatting, and she's scared too. We sort of decided we'd try to write songs on the board and teach the kids them, starting with the alphabet, since Aankit told us to focus on letters and their sounds for the KG classrooms. I think we both felt better knowing that not even Aankit knew exactly what to do.
After school on Fridays is a big game for everyone. The Busua schools don't do much on Fridays. It's generally physical education, music, and games all day, so the kids are used to Fridays not being academic. Apparently, TOB hasn't challenged that in the after school program, so we had out coloring books, board games, building blocks, and puzzles for the kids to play with in the afternoon. I tried to make the group I was playing with play something that would be educational, and I succeeded for about 10 minutes, but then they went off. At first, they had this bag of 18 dice, 9 colors, 2 of each color. There were 6 of them at my table, so I had them all count the dice, and the people, then split up the dice so each had the same number of dice. (Division, sort of). After that, I asked them to add the numbers on the faces that showed when they rolled them. Some of the kids seemed to like this game, but most of them walked away as soon as I asked them to do math. It was disappointing, but I recognized that they're not used to Friday being a learning day. Eventually, I lost all my kids to football games or drawing. So, I started building with Legos with a couple of boys who came over with a bag of them. It was fun, and I think they're learning balance/center of gravity for building a tall tower, so I felt it was successful. It's draining though. I felt like I could sleep forever when we were done.
I went for a legitimate swim afterward, and that was my first time swimming in the ocean that I remember. I'd gone in it yesterday, but didn't swim. The water is nice, not too cold, but definitely refreshing. It's strong though. Like really strong. The waves are, on average, about 6 feet tall, and the undertow is almost as strong as the waves themselves are. You don't realize how big the waves are really until you actually get into the water and try to stand in them as they're coming at you. There's a little rocky island about a mile away from the beach, and I want to swim to it. After the waves, about an eighth of the way to the island, the water looks calm and manageable. I'm not guessing there are sharks or completely dangerous animals, since people kayak out to the island quite a bit, apparently. After I got back, I asked Aankit if he knew whether it was safe to swim out to the island or not. He told me I should take someone with me, just in case, but it should be safe.
I showered, which is a light trickle of water coming down from the pipe sticking out of the wall, and got cleaned up. Kathryn and Emmanuel were heading out into Busua for something, so I went with them. I saw this cool little kiosk that was selling bags and hand purses. I hadn't brought a purse, and I was figuring out that if I wanted to carry anything, I would need a small bag. So, I found a purse and got it. My first experience haggling by myself in Ghana. It was actually kind of fun. :) Then, it was time to head back for News Hour. On the way back, Kathryn saw a kid catch a chicken for dinner and walk back toward his house with it. She started whining and making little squealing noises and feeling sorry for the chicken. I told her if she had a problem with it, she should just not eat the meat. She can see all the animals before they die around in the streets. She said no, she just didn't want to see it get killed.
I still can't understand much during News Hour because of the British accent, but the discussion centered around various economies around the world, so I'm guessing that was a focus of the news tonight. Then, Anthony and I worked on catologuing the bookshelf I'd organized. We needed to write down all the titles and authors for the house records. We got through the non-fiction, short stories, and poetry books, which consists of the first shelf. Then, we were both tired. I went in to the bedroom to relax and chill before bed. I ended up thinking about how the children here are different from the kids back in the US. Like in what ways they're different. And, noticing that they're more similar than different. Cool how that works, isn't it?
At least I was productive, though. Since we're still waiting on the letters for us to go into Busua schools and teach, I read a book or two, and started on that series, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. I've never read it before, but someone had donated all three of them to TOB, so I started reading them. I found them when I decided to organize the bookshelf upstairs. (There's a bookshelf upstairs for the people in the house and one downstairs for the after school program). The one upstairs was in disarray - books laying sideways, no real order to the piles, different sizes all mixed up together, and it was nearly impossible to tell what books they had or didn't have. It bothered me, so I fixed it.
Apparently, organizing the shelf was Anthony's job. All the kids in the house have their own project to work on, and Anthony's was the bookshelves upstairs and downstairs. Anyway, I had the books organized by genre, then alphabetical by two different sizes, due to the shelves being only tall enough on one shelf for the smaller books. It looked pretty by the time I was done, I thought. That was how I found the trilogy to read, since I hadn't noticed it before. Anthony didn't mind I organized the shelf, but Aankit told me to make sure if I did anything else around the house to be sure to do it with one of the sponsored kids. Volunteers are there for the kids, so we should try to include them in as much as possible. Makes sense, and I tried to do that the rest of the time I was there.
Getting ready for after school, I started to get scared about teaching Monday. I didn't really have much experience teaching young kids, and I'd figured out by now that English was not a strong language for most of the people in the town. I didn't know how I was supposed to approach the class, what I was supposed to say, or anything about what to do. Kathryn and I started chatting, and she's scared too. We sort of decided we'd try to write songs on the board and teach the kids them, starting with the alphabet, since Aankit told us to focus on letters and their sounds for the KG classrooms. I think we both felt better knowing that not even Aankit knew exactly what to do.
After school on Fridays is a big game for everyone. The Busua schools don't do much on Fridays. It's generally physical education, music, and games all day, so the kids are used to Fridays not being academic. Apparently, TOB hasn't challenged that in the after school program, so we had out coloring books, board games, building blocks, and puzzles for the kids to play with in the afternoon. I tried to make the group I was playing with play something that would be educational, and I succeeded for about 10 minutes, but then they went off. At first, they had this bag of 18 dice, 9 colors, 2 of each color. There were 6 of them at my table, so I had them all count the dice, and the people, then split up the dice so each had the same number of dice. (Division, sort of). After that, I asked them to add the numbers on the faces that showed when they rolled them. Some of the kids seemed to like this game, but most of them walked away as soon as I asked them to do math. It was disappointing, but I recognized that they're not used to Friday being a learning day. Eventually, I lost all my kids to football games or drawing. So, I started building with Legos with a couple of boys who came over with a bag of them. It was fun, and I think they're learning balance/center of gravity for building a tall tower, so I felt it was successful. It's draining though. I felt like I could sleep forever when we were done.
I went for a legitimate swim afterward, and that was my first time swimming in the ocean that I remember. I'd gone in it yesterday, but didn't swim. The water is nice, not too cold, but definitely refreshing. It's strong though. Like really strong. The waves are, on average, about 6 feet tall, and the undertow is almost as strong as the waves themselves are. You don't realize how big the waves are really until you actually get into the water and try to stand in them as they're coming at you. There's a little rocky island about a mile away from the beach, and I want to swim to it. After the waves, about an eighth of the way to the island, the water looks calm and manageable. I'm not guessing there are sharks or completely dangerous animals, since people kayak out to the island quite a bit, apparently. After I got back, I asked Aankit if he knew whether it was safe to swim out to the island or not. He told me I should take someone with me, just in case, but it should be safe.
I showered, which is a light trickle of water coming down from the pipe sticking out of the wall, and got cleaned up. Kathryn and Emmanuel were heading out into Busua for something, so I went with them. I saw this cool little kiosk that was selling bags and hand purses. I hadn't brought a purse, and I was figuring out that if I wanted to carry anything, I would need a small bag. So, I found a purse and got it. My first experience haggling by myself in Ghana. It was actually kind of fun. :) Then, it was time to head back for News Hour. On the way back, Kathryn saw a kid catch a chicken for dinner and walk back toward his house with it. She started whining and making little squealing noises and feeling sorry for the chicken. I told her if she had a problem with it, she should just not eat the meat. She can see all the animals before they die around in the streets. She said no, she just didn't want to see it get killed.
I still can't understand much during News Hour because of the British accent, but the discussion centered around various economies around the world, so I'm guessing that was a focus of the news tonight. Then, Anthony and I worked on catologuing the bookshelf I'd organized. We needed to write down all the titles and authors for the house records. We got through the non-fiction, short stories, and poetry books, which consists of the first shelf. Then, we were both tired. I went in to the bedroom to relax and chill before bed. I ended up thinking about how the children here are different from the kids back in the US. Like in what ways they're different. And, noticing that they're more similar than different. Cool how that works, isn't it?
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
First Full Day...Part 2
After school is the main reason for TOB's existence. It's how the whole thing started. The sponsored kids in the house are there because the coordinators originally saw they could and wanted to do well in school. They took it upon themselves to make sure they could continue their education. Now these young adults help with the after school program for kids like they once were. Mainly, after school focuses on remedial reading and math skills many of these kids in primary school are lacking.
My first day of after school, we were trying to get the kids organized into groups so we could teach to their level and not either bore them or challenge them to the point they get too frustrated to learn anything. We had them watch Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob, I believe, while we took the kids one at a time to test their knowledge of letter names and sounds. We just had a sheet of capital (big) letters out of order, and a sheet of lowercase (small) letters out of order they were supposed to identify. Then, we were supposed to have them tell us the sounds of the letters. During all of this we're supposed to note the mistakes they made and what they were. (i.e. if the letter is "h" and they say "k", we write "k" in the box marked "mistakes/substitutions"). I say supposed to because it didn't always work out the way we thought it should.
First off, all the kids are used to doing everything in groups, or at least partners. If one person knows the answer, they just tell everyone else what it is. So, whenever I asked one kid to come over, a few more would follow along. Then, if the child I was testing didn't know the answer, others around the table would answer for them, they'd repeat the letter, and I'd have to mark down what they said. Asking the tag-a-longs to go back didn't work, since other kids just came over. So, I started telling them they could stay, if they could be quiet. That worked for the most part, and I was able to get a fairly accurate reading of whether the child I was testing knew their letters or not.
Secondly, the children would watch me mark down on my paper whether they were right or not. Most of them couldn't read the column labels, but they knew when I switched columns, and would stop and start explaining to me that they didn't really mean what they said. They'd stumble over letters until they hit the right one (the other kids would nod when they got there). Then, they'd sit and refuse to go on until I marked the other column. So, I started just writing the letter they said, whether right or wrong, in the mistakes column, then going back over it at the end and making a check next to the letters that were correct. That didn't attract as much attention, and it seemed to help with not giving indicators of right/wrong answers, since we're not supposed to do that when we first test them.
Then, when we went to sounds for the kids, I'd try asking, "What sound?" and point to my mouth/throat area. Usually, I got a response of a word that starts with the letter, or just the letter itself again. I tried having one of the kids who understood English translate, but that didn't seem to help. So, I gave an example. The first letter was "H", so I'd say, "What sound? B sounds 'buh'. What 'H' sound?" That actually seemed to work for some kids, so I kept at it. If the child didn't know most of their letters, I didn't ask them about sounds, since we figured they have to know what the letters are before they can learn what sounds they make properly.
The part that makes it quite difficult for these kids is that their alphabet is phonetic. So, there aren't names and sounds, there are just sounds. That makes it hard to explain that the English alphabet they need to learn what they think of as two different names for the same symbol. Anyway, that testing took the entire hour and a half of after school, and then we had to split them up into groups based on the results. We created four groups, which would later become five. Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green. We thought we could just add colors of the rainbow as the students became more advanced, and that way, we could remember which group was the lowest in terms of reading skill without making the kids feel bad about being in the "slow" group.
Red group kids didn't know their letters. That was the majority of kids, age ranging from 6-13. Orange group kids know their letters, but don't know the sounds they make. This was the next largest group, same sort of range. Then, Yellow group knew letters and sounds, so they started working on combinations of sounds and how that looks in letter form. Once the children started in Yellow group, we thought we'd take the kids who appeared to have at least an intermediate grasp of sound combinations and move them to Green group. These kids, generally, could read on what we'd consider in the US a Kindergarten-2nd grade level.
After the after school program, there was really just enough time to relax and feel calmed down enough before News Hours started. (about 2 hours between the two). I just walked on the beach for a bit and wrote my impressions of the after school program. Then, I tried to understand the news as we watched it. I was still having difficulty with the British accent of the newscasters, and the fact that I'm not terribly globally aware in the first place. But I tried, and I understood some parts. Again, the discussion afterward was mostly the Ghanaian students talking about the news stories, with a few of the volunteers throwing their opinion in. There weren't any comments that struck me as much as last night, but the overall conversation definitely feels different than if we were to have a discussion about the same news in the US. I can't pinpoint exactly how it feels different yet, but it does.
My first day of after school, we were trying to get the kids organized into groups so we could teach to their level and not either bore them or challenge them to the point they get too frustrated to learn anything. We had them watch Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob, I believe, while we took the kids one at a time to test their knowledge of letter names and sounds. We just had a sheet of capital (big) letters out of order, and a sheet of lowercase (small) letters out of order they were supposed to identify. Then, we were supposed to have them tell us the sounds of the letters. During all of this we're supposed to note the mistakes they made and what they were. (i.e. if the letter is "h" and they say "k", we write "k" in the box marked "mistakes/substitutions"). I say supposed to because it didn't always work out the way we thought it should.
First off, all the kids are used to doing everything in groups, or at least partners. If one person knows the answer, they just tell everyone else what it is. So, whenever I asked one kid to come over, a few more would follow along. Then, if the child I was testing didn't know the answer, others around the table would answer for them, they'd repeat the letter, and I'd have to mark down what they said. Asking the tag-a-longs to go back didn't work, since other kids just came over. So, I started telling them they could stay, if they could be quiet. That worked for the most part, and I was able to get a fairly accurate reading of whether the child I was testing knew their letters or not.
Secondly, the children would watch me mark down on my paper whether they were right or not. Most of them couldn't read the column labels, but they knew when I switched columns, and would stop and start explaining to me that they didn't really mean what they said. They'd stumble over letters until they hit the right one (the other kids would nod when they got there). Then, they'd sit and refuse to go on until I marked the other column. So, I started just writing the letter they said, whether right or wrong, in the mistakes column, then going back over it at the end and making a check next to the letters that were correct. That didn't attract as much attention, and it seemed to help with not giving indicators of right/wrong answers, since we're not supposed to do that when we first test them.
Then, when we went to sounds for the kids, I'd try asking, "What sound?" and point to my mouth/throat area. Usually, I got a response of a word that starts with the letter, or just the letter itself again. I tried having one of the kids who understood English translate, but that didn't seem to help. So, I gave an example. The first letter was "H", so I'd say, "What sound? B sounds 'buh'. What 'H' sound?" That actually seemed to work for some kids, so I kept at it. If the child didn't know most of their letters, I didn't ask them about sounds, since we figured they have to know what the letters are before they can learn what sounds they make properly.
The part that makes it quite difficult for these kids is that their alphabet is phonetic. So, there aren't names and sounds, there are just sounds. That makes it hard to explain that the English alphabet they need to learn what they think of as two different names for the same symbol. Anyway, that testing took the entire hour and a half of after school, and then we had to split them up into groups based on the results. We created four groups, which would later become five. Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green. We thought we could just add colors of the rainbow as the students became more advanced, and that way, we could remember which group was the lowest in terms of reading skill without making the kids feel bad about being in the "slow" group.
Red group kids didn't know their letters. That was the majority of kids, age ranging from 6-13. Orange group kids know their letters, but don't know the sounds they make. This was the next largest group, same sort of range. Then, Yellow group knew letters and sounds, so they started working on combinations of sounds and how that looks in letter form. Once the children started in Yellow group, we thought we'd take the kids who appeared to have at least an intermediate grasp of sound combinations and move them to Green group. These kids, generally, could read on what we'd consider in the US a Kindergarten-2nd grade level.
After the after school program, there was really just enough time to relax and feel calmed down enough before News Hours started. (about 2 hours between the two). I just walked on the beach for a bit and wrote my impressions of the after school program. Then, I tried to understand the news as we watched it. I was still having difficulty with the British accent of the newscasters, and the fact that I'm not terribly globally aware in the first place. But I tried, and I understood some parts. Again, the discussion afterward was mostly the Ghanaian students talking about the news stories, with a few of the volunteers throwing their opinion in. There weren't any comments that struck me as much as last night, but the overall conversation definitely feels different than if we were to have a discussion about the same news in the US. I can't pinpoint exactly how it feels different yet, but it does.
Monday, June 25, 2012
First Full Day...part 1
My first full day in the TOB house was a Thursday. I didn't sleep very well, but, for those who know me, that's not much new. The ocean was quite loud, and the music next door didn't turn off until about 03:00. I could hear the house kids getting up and ready for school about 05:30, and decided I should get ready for the day as well, even though I wasn't sure what the day had in store. I decided to skip the shower since I no longer felt sandy and I hadn't been sweating that much. Brushed my teeth using the rest of the water left in my sachet of pure water, and put my hair up in the ponytail I can finally say holds most of my hair. :) After putting on my skirt and t-shirt, I was ready to go.
Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing at 06:30. So, I went to the bookshelf in the main room of the house and picked a book to read. Yes, I'm a dork like that. Once Aankit got up, he asked me to wake up the other girls. Kathryn was still asleep, but the professors were up and getting ready already. I'm glad for that, since I really hate waking people up and they were willing to wake Kathryn up. We all trooped out and Aankit said we were going to the school to meet the headmistress, Madame Nelson, and see how we could be of help.
The school is about a two minute walk down the road. Yes, there's really only one road. We went into the headmistress's office and she talked about what the school needed, as well as how things run there. She emphasized the lack of proper resources, and that things are done a certain way so we need to respect that. I volunteered to teach, since they hadn't had a teacher all year for KG1 or KG2 (Kindergarten 1 and 2). Kathryn also volunteered, but the professors were leaving in a couple days, so they couldn't really. Jeff was with us and wanted to know if he could observe and do some research for his project. They apparently don't like that, so he said he'd teach, thinking that he could at least get data from one class then. Aankit told us afterward to be careful with the headmistress, since Ghana is very bureaucratic and chains of power are important. That's why we had to go to district office in Agona - because we needed their approval to teach in Busua.
So, after meeting Madame Nelson, we took the share taxi to Agona. (Share taxis are normal taxis that just go back and forth between places for a set price, once they're full). Agona is where district office is, as well as social welfare. Aankit, Yahya, Jeff, the professors, Kathryn, and I all went to the district office and waited to see the president or manager or whatever he's called. Waiting happens a lot in Ghana, by the way. I learned a lot of patience there. Some of it actually stuck with me even.
The district person we were waiting for came out and introduced himself, Samuel, and he brought another man from Accra. Michael was apparently visiting from the Ghanaian equivalent of the state department of education, whereas district office presides over what we might call a county or parish. So, we met with both of them, where they said they needed a letter from each of us explaining how long we'd be there able to teach, what subjects we were able to teach, and where we were going to be. Then, we would get letters from them saying where we'd be teaching and what level, as well as the rules for what we can and can't do. We were told we weren't allowed in the schools until we got those letters.
After that, we walked over to the social welfare office. Aankit's been trying to get TOB registered in Busua as a legitimate organization. Right now, we just have village permission to help teach their kids, but not governmental permission. TOB is registered in America, and either Kumasi or Medina (both places TOB has worked before). So, we went to go check on that. Yahya apparently applied about a year ago is what it sounded like, but they haven't gotten to the application yet. The man we spoke with said a couple days, that's all. As far as I know, by the time Aankit left, they still hadn't gotten to it.
Then, we headed back to Busua and the house to get ready for after school...my first!
Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing at 06:30. So, I went to the bookshelf in the main room of the house and picked a book to read. Yes, I'm a dork like that. Once Aankit got up, he asked me to wake up the other girls. Kathryn was still asleep, but the professors were up and getting ready already. I'm glad for that, since I really hate waking people up and they were willing to wake Kathryn up. We all trooped out and Aankit said we were going to the school to meet the headmistress, Madame Nelson, and see how we could be of help.
The school is about a two minute walk down the road. Yes, there's really only one road. We went into the headmistress's office and she talked about what the school needed, as well as how things run there. She emphasized the lack of proper resources, and that things are done a certain way so we need to respect that. I volunteered to teach, since they hadn't had a teacher all year for KG1 or KG2 (Kindergarten 1 and 2). Kathryn also volunteered, but the professors were leaving in a couple days, so they couldn't really. Jeff was with us and wanted to know if he could observe and do some research for his project. They apparently don't like that, so he said he'd teach, thinking that he could at least get data from one class then. Aankit told us afterward to be careful with the headmistress, since Ghana is very bureaucratic and chains of power are important. That's why we had to go to district office in Agona - because we needed their approval to teach in Busua.
So, after meeting Madame Nelson, we took the share taxi to Agona. (Share taxis are normal taxis that just go back and forth between places for a set price, once they're full). Agona is where district office is, as well as social welfare. Aankit, Yahya, Jeff, the professors, Kathryn, and I all went to the district office and waited to see the president or manager or whatever he's called. Waiting happens a lot in Ghana, by the way. I learned a lot of patience there. Some of it actually stuck with me even.
The district person we were waiting for came out and introduced himself, Samuel, and he brought another man from Accra. Michael was apparently visiting from the Ghanaian equivalent of the state department of education, whereas district office presides over what we might call a county or parish. So, we met with both of them, where they said they needed a letter from each of us explaining how long we'd be there able to teach, what subjects we were able to teach, and where we were going to be. Then, we would get letters from them saying where we'd be teaching and what level, as well as the rules for what we can and can't do. We were told we weren't allowed in the schools until we got those letters.
After that, we walked over to the social welfare office. Aankit's been trying to get TOB registered in Busua as a legitimate organization. Right now, we just have village permission to help teach their kids, but not governmental permission. TOB is registered in America, and either Kumasi or Medina (both places TOB has worked before). So, we went to go check on that. Yahya apparently applied about a year ago is what it sounded like, but they haven't gotten to the application yet. The man we spoke with said a couple days, that's all. As far as I know, by the time Aankit left, they still hadn't gotten to it.
Then, we headed back to Busua and the house to get ready for after school...my first!
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