The last few days have been rather uneventful. Things have changed a bit with Acusi being here. Kwaku doesn't like having to share Margaret with another baby. It's odd though. Kwaku is a year older than Acusi, but because of poor nutrition Kwaku is the same size as Acusi. The electricity has been out for the past few days. We can't get fresh water from the pump, so the boys have to walk all the way into town to get water! It's quite an exhausting trek.
Teaching has been very frustrating this week. The children have caught on to the fact that I won't beat them. If the teacher is there the children are well behaved, but if not, they will not listen to reason. It's very exhausting and I end up shouting most of the class for the kids to sit down and be quiet.
The teachers here frustrate me as well. They often don't even show up and the kids just sit in the class all day doing nothing. And when they are around, they often teach from their desk and sit the whole time. They give the kids exercises but give them the answers. I don't know how that method measures whether the kids are learning the material. I'd say most of the kids are about 2 grade levels behind American students.
For instance I had each student in grade 6 read individually with me. Most of them have no idea how to read. I'd say about a fourth are illiterate. Reading and learning is so important to me and it's sad that these students are missing out.
But, I did run playing class myself this week. There were about 20 kids total which was perfect. It was really fun. We played cat and mouse, red rover, sang some songs, and did the bobo clapping game. Ebenezer took a lot of pictures and they turned out great!
The cat and mouse game
Red rover, red rover send someone right over!
Teaching has been very frustrating this week. The children have caught on to the fact that I won't beat them. If the teacher is there the children are well behaved, but if not, they will not listen to reason. It's very exhausting and I end up shouting most of the class for the kids to sit down and be quiet.
The teachers here frustrate me as well. They often don't even show up and the kids just sit in the class all day doing nothing. And when they are around, they often teach from their desk and sit the whole time. They give the kids exercises but give them the answers. I don't know how that method measures whether the kids are learning the material. I'd say most of the kids are about 2 grade levels behind American students.
For instance I had each student in grade 6 read individually with me. Most of them have no idea how to read. I'd say about a fourth are illiterate. Reading and learning is so important to me and it's sad that these students are missing out.
But, I did run playing class myself this week. There were about 20 kids total which was perfect. It was really fun. We played cat and mouse, red rover, sang some songs, and did the bobo clapping game. Ebenezer took a lot of pictures and they turned out great!
The cat and mouse game
Red rover, red rover send someone right over!
Everyone playing the clapping game
