Bridging Culture. Working Together.

The wife of a teacher who teaches class five just had a little baby boy.  The staff at CRC school decided to put in some money towards a gift for the family.  Today after school, the staff went over to the house to give the gift to the family and to pray over the child.  When I arrived with several of the other teachers, Mohamed brought out his little baby son.  As he was standing in front of me with his child, I proceeded to ask "may I hold him?" Apparently that was quite a funny question to ask because all the other teachers laughed at my question and proceeded to explain how no one asks that question in Salon.  People will just give you their children to hold.  I love it!  There have been several instances in the U.S where I have asked to hold someone's baby and have been rejected every time.  At church here, I probably end up having a child on my lap at least half of the service. Something that I have begun to appreciate and I might soon miss from the States is th

I learned the song on the left at a teacher's workshop and I absolutely loved it so I decided to see how my students would respond.  It has been quite a hit.  I taught it to them on Monday and since then we sing it every morning and also after lunch.  On Thursday at school, my professor came to the school to visit and came into my class to hand out pencils, erasers, rulers, and notebooks that had been donated.  My students suggested that we sing the song for the headmaster, and Dr. Jo my professor.  As they were singing, my heart was filled with joy and I just could not help but smile and get a little teary eyed!  It was so beautiful to see how delighted each student was.  Then Dr. Jo wanted to take a picture of the class.  I then had them stand up by row and line up at the back of the room for the photo.  This also was quite an accomplishment!  The headmaster could not believe that I got them to stand up by row and line up.   Some of my 43 students! The way in which we see

Allah Tanto means to a certain extent "praise God."  It is the first word I learned in Kuronko.  One of the guards at the house we are staying at has insisted that I learn Kuronko.  I told him that I must learn Krio first but he doesn't seam to listen. Whenever someone asks how you are doing, how you slept, how your work is, you reply with this phrase.  No matter how hard the school day was, or how tired I was, or how frustrating the students were, you simply praise God.  What an amazing way to look at life. Tuesday was the first day of school.  A day I had anticipated for a long time but had no idea what to expect.  I am teaching class three (3rd grade), full of 39 energetic Salone students.  I think one more is coming on Monday so I should have an even number of 40.  For those teachers out there, an even number is always better. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to show yet because I do not dare take out my camera.  I will lose complete control of the class if

Small Small.  A Krio word that is used for everything.  Whether you are telling an Okada (motorcycle taxi) Driver that you are near your destination or you are talking about the portion of food you would like.  But to me it also means small steps. As I am preparing for the first day of school tomorrow, I have struggled with taking small steps.  Education is done completely different here.  The teaching pedagogy is old school.  The teacher lectures, the students copy, and a test is given.  This goes for all grade levels.  As I have my first day of teaching class 3 tomorrow, I have struggled with finding a balance of the methods used here and the way I have been taught how to teach.  I cannot simply come into the classroom and expect the students to be able to work in a group because students do not know how to work in a group in a classroom setting.  I have to remind myself to go small small. I have already uncovered many differences between the way education is done here and the wa