It has turned so warm! Sarah (fellow mentor) and I drove a couple of hours on Saturday to a warm springs swimming hole for the afternoon. We have also been to a hotel pool a couple of times, and I've used the little plunge pool here on base several times. During the day at Karanse, our classroom gets very warm in the afternoons, as we only have the metal roof between us and the sun! Several times we've taken our student teachers out to sit under a tree for the afternoon's lesson as it's cooler there than in the building. It is time for the "short rains" which should help cool things off, at least during the days. One night last week we even had a thunderstorm and about 20 minutes of hard rain. The power stayed on, though, which was a good thing for hot water for showers.
Such a good mentoring week last week, despite the sad news that one of our student teachers was leaving. Edward, one of our Maasai young men who is doing the course with his brother, got accepted to the University of Arusha for a degree in education, and he has decided to go there. The course starts next Monday, so Friday was his last day with us. He went with our blessings, as his heart is still to help his people, and he can still do that with this degree, so we wish him well. But, it wa still sad to say good-bye to one of our own. we have been praying for his brother, Steven, as he adjusts to life without his big brother around.
However, the good things about last week were the hands-on things that we had our students doing. One afternoon they all practiced writing on the blackboard, and we took pictures! They laughed because we were pretty strict on them: they had to correct handwriting, spelling, capitalization, everything! We'll do more of that, but it was a great first look at such a teacher skill!
We also divided them into groups and they had to do a poster or diagram on the material they had learned in their Learning unit. Very teacher-y: learning styles, motivating children to learn, what to do with children who have learning difficulties, how memory works, etc. We also took pictures of them with their finished posters, which were so much better than we'd hoped. Joelle did a seminar on quality presentations, and they really took it to heart.
Then we shared several food items with them, too! On Monday I took in a cake to celebrate Godfrey's birthday the week before (the headmaster at Karanse). After we sang to him and he blew out his candle, he said, "My first birthday cake." I was so touched. Later in the week we took our students bananas, as we don't think they spend their food money on fruit! One day we also brought bread, peanut butter, and "real" jelly - Welch's Grape Jelly from a stash SBC left me earlier! That was a big treat to hungry growing "boys!" My favorite was the day we gave them lollipops with a verse attached. Psalm 34:1, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." One of the students, Elijah, proving he really did learn some things about learning, asked, "So is this extrinsic or intrinsic motivation?!" We all laughed at that!
The nat'l election was yesterday, so all month there have been campaign trucks with huge loudspeakers canvassing the country (or at least the parts of it where I am!). One day Daniel, another student, said, "External distraction!" from our chapter on getting and keeping students' attention!
We won't actually find out who won the election till tomorrow, but it was the first time the opposition party had such a presence in the campaign. The same party has been in power since TZ's independence, so it has been thrilling to see the momentum for the other party gaining on the CCM.
As always, when we get back from a week out, there are many things to do: I did my second load of laundry today, we had to do some grocery shopping, catch up on emails, find out the USC football score (!), check in with family (though I haven't gotten to do that, yet), and get ready for the week here. Running errands and eating lunch out today, so have to run now!
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