Week Two at Hope

Kindness working diligently on her writing her letter. (This girl has the cutest little ducky voice in the world. She smiles constantly and lost her two front teeth on top....she's adorable)

Yesterday I had a full day of teaching. I began with Grades 1 and 2 for an hour and twenty minutes each teaching Internet communications in the morning. The lessons were astronomically better than the week before. There are two main factors that contributed to this. One is that we are getting to know one another better. I have learned that saying a phrase in English and then repeating it and leaving out a word for the students to say (“After we finish writing the letter we put it in an envelope. A finished letter goes in an _______” “ENVELOPE!”) I also have learned that they love to show off the work they have done, so a good way to keep them focused is by walking around to check that they’re taking notes. The second contributor to Wednesday’s success was I brought a bag of candy and gave them each a piece for good behavior. Works every time…

Teaching these classes was far more satisfying today than it was the first week. I think I will stay with these kids until they finish the school year in December and then I will switch to take two days with Joy. This way I am not hopping in and out of primary school in a matter of weeks.

The afternoon lesson went well. Princely and I taught types of communication to Form 2. These communication lessons have reminded me of a lesson I learned in high school theater: you must keep your energy up.  It was the fourth time I taught this Types of Communication lesson to a different audience. It was their first time receiving/participating in the lesson, so it was crucial that I maintained high energy to motivate them to communicate confidently. The lesson felt successful – they enjoyed it and were far more comfortable with us and confident in general by the end of it.

Tonight I am planning the next communication lesson that I will be teaching. It is about communicating assertively (I need to think up a snazzy name for it still) and it will premiere at Msufini secondary school tomorrow.

I’ll take some pictures to let you know how it goes!