A short and sweet and picture-less blog entry, picture-less because I feel awkward asking a student or teacher to take a picture of me during a meeting or class...
English club - We had our last meeting a few weeks ago, since it was a "vacation" thing - we ended with a big Jeopardy game reviewing all of the topics that we did over break. Some of the students really nailed everything, and most of them seemed to have learned at least a little bit...
Harry Potter reading groups - Still going strong, all three groups said they wanted to continue even though classes started this week, and two groups are about to start the second book (after we watch the first movie!) The students don't really mind the vocab tests as much as I thought they would - I think the point chart keeps them motivated, maybe partially because I accidentally made the prizes way to easy to get...
Working with teachers - This year, I won't be doing any teaching. Three teachers from each of my three schools (the social studies, science, and language teachers) will be in charge of implementing the Peace Corps "curriculum", aka the book of all of the lessons that I and the previous volunteer were using to teach. The topics in this book are: leadership & teamwork, self-esteem & identity, making decisions, goals, careers, communication, sexuality, alcohol & drugs, and violence (which encompasses both domestic violence and human rights). I'll be spending three days a week, starting mid-February, observing a teacher give lessons from this book during his or her normally scheduled classes. Teachers will earn a diploma, which somehow benefits their salary (or so I've been told, not sure exactly how that works) for each six lesson evaluations that they turn in to me.
I also did a teacher workshop yesterday on the importance of basing academic planning on learning objectives - aka, don't waste time having the kids do a project where they make a Guatemalan flag out of paper-mache, because they aren't actually learning anything by doing that except for how to use paper and glue. I got some dirty looks for that one! But I placated the teachers with free sweet bread and coffee, so it all worked out.
I have lots of other project ideas, some of which I'm trying to get underway already, but I don't want to write about them until they are actually being carried out because I don't want to jinx myself!
English club - We had our last meeting a few weeks ago, since it was a "vacation" thing - we ended with a big Jeopardy game reviewing all of the topics that we did over break. Some of the students really nailed everything, and most of them seemed to have learned at least a little bit...
Harry Potter reading groups - Still going strong, all three groups said they wanted to continue even though classes started this week, and two groups are about to start the second book (after we watch the first movie!) The students don't really mind the vocab tests as much as I thought they would - I think the point chart keeps them motivated, maybe partially because I accidentally made the prizes way to easy to get...
Working with teachers - This year, I won't be doing any teaching. Three teachers from each of my three schools (the social studies, science, and language teachers) will be in charge of implementing the Peace Corps "curriculum", aka the book of all of the lessons that I and the previous volunteer were using to teach. The topics in this book are: leadership & teamwork, self-esteem & identity, making decisions, goals, careers, communication, sexuality, alcohol & drugs, and violence (which encompasses both domestic violence and human rights). I'll be spending three days a week, starting mid-February, observing a teacher give lessons from this book during his or her normally scheduled classes. Teachers will earn a diploma, which somehow benefits their salary (or so I've been told, not sure exactly how that works) for each six lesson evaluations that they turn in to me.
I also did a teacher workshop yesterday on the importance of basing academic planning on learning objectives - aka, don't waste time having the kids do a project where they make a Guatemalan flag out of paper-mache, because they aren't actually learning anything by doing that except for how to use paper and glue. I got some dirty looks for that one! But I placated the teachers with free sweet bread and coffee, so it all worked out.
I have lots of other project ideas, some of which I'm trying to get underway already, but I don't want to write about them until they are actually being carried out because I don't want to jinx myself!
The Jeopardy game sounds like a great idea. Enjoyed reading about all of your ideas (even those that you aren't divulging yet).
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