After a busy Monday, who knew what Tuesday would bring? We had lots to do today, so we were up early. Jen wasn’t 100% well, and Kantolomba is no place to share germs—so many folks with compromised immune systems—so she stayed at the Lodge to rest, and Theresa and Sreedevi headed out.
Again we arrived right at the break, and the children were excited to see us! They were quick to notice Jen wasn’t with us, and asked “Where’s Jenny?”
It was then onto a very busy morning. We began with the daily ritual of greeting each class and doing a little singing and dancing—what a fabulous way to start a day!
Joy’s entire class is excited to be dancing and singing again today.
Then it was off to see how the reading program was going. Today had a fun little surprise: there were two sets of children in the library, both listening to the recorders (out loud) on two different books! We project that the children are so used to lots of talking that it doesn’t bother them at all to have two different recorders at the same time – in fact, it probably just feels normal. Each seemed completely engaged in their book—the younger students were enjoying listening to “Drop it, Rocket!” while the older children were reading “A Snowy Day.” We wonder what they must think of the book – having lived their entire lives in a climate with a “dead-of-winter” low of around 50 degrees!
Perhaps because they’ve never experienced snow, the boys are listening and reading the book so intently! It truly would be an odd concept if you had never seen it—the ground covered in a blanket of white, cold ice? Are you sure??
Joy gives extra lessons to the government school children before they head off to afternoon classes. Today, they are reviewing vocabulary of the body.
Lunch, as always, is a busy affair. Tuesday—eggs day! As we have mentioned before, the children are always quite excited to get those. For most Kantolomba families eggs are not in the budget, so the children are quite lucky to get eggs once a week—another reminder of how much many of us take for granted!
Over the lunch break, Theresa, Veronica and Ethel conduct their own reading program. One of the Bridge Walk donated books, “Owen and Mzee,” details the story of the friendship between Owen, a tortoise, and Mzee, a hippopotamus. This has quickly become a favorite—the teachers greatly enjoy reading about the special friendship these two share! As Veronica sweetly said, “This book is very nice.”
Today there was a larger buzz about the typing program, as Theresa had suspected. First, the teachers jumped on and Ethel and Veronica gave it a try. Then, it was a musical chairs of boys and girls. Some of the Grade 9 boys came in to pick up where they left off yesterday, and it never ceases to amaze us how quickly the kids pick up on technology. After some posture adjustments, they were off and running. They easily mastered basic finger tutorials, and then quickly moved on to the Lessons program.
Ethel and Veronica decided to join Joy on the typing program today.
The Grade 9 boys are quickly becoming pros!
While the boys were typing away, it was time for the teachers to meet. Today on the agenda – the weekly English quiz! Every week, there is a quiz where children in each class are chosen to practice their English for a prize (a pencil and a book). Theresa explained how the quiz works: For the younger students, the teacher picks a letter of the alphabet, and the child is be asked to say a word in English that begins with that letter. Then, they would be asked to put it in a sentence. For the older children, in Charles’ class, they are given a ten-question quiz. Can’t wait to see it!
Theresa discusses how the letter flash cards will work for the quiz.
It’s really a testament to the teachers how much work they’ve put into supporting the Living English program. It just launched a year ago, and already there are students reading daily in English and there are weekly quizzes! Our favorite part about the quizzes is that it was the students who came up with the idea. After finding the simple Jelita books (local phonics readers) and enjoying progressing through the series, they approached the teachers, “Why can’t we have a weekly quiz on Fridays?” So fun!
Once the quiz preparation was complete, we discussed how to best implement a reading and typing program. Both of the programs would require a schedule that fit within the teacher’s lesson plans, so the team agreed that this Friday they would begin drafting a new timetable.
The sky was starting to look a bit ominous, so we decided to head back to Lodge before it began to rain heavily.
A few more errands under our belt, we were back at the Lodge with ample time to rest up for tomorrow.