Sunday, March 14, 2010

Week 9

So I can't believe it but I have only this week and next week left at the school. I have not even told the kids yet that I will be leaving very soon. It is going to make me really sad to say goodbye. I know the kids have enjoyed me in their classroom. They are always crowding around my desk and hanging on me during their break times. They always have something to say about me being white. Like one little girl said she saw my mother in church and I said to her that it could not have been my mother since she is in America. So I explained to the little girl that just because the lady was white does not mean that she is my mother. I have heard several stories like this during my time with the students.

As for teaching this week it was only a three day week so we did not teach any new material. We did all review since the kids need a good solid foundation of the concepts they are currently learning. They reviewed subtraction and the creating of rhyming words. I specifically taught the children the song "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and then I asked the students if they could recognize any rhyming words. I also took the students through their morning assembly where they pray, say the pledge, sing the national anthem, and then do a proper greeting. What I mean by a proper greeting is the teacher says good morning to the class and the students curtsey or bow while saying "good morning teachers, good morning friends." Then the teachers says "how are you?" and the students curtsey or bow while saying "we are fine and you?" When it was my chance to say back that I was also fine I also curtsied to the class which made them laugh since the teachers do not do that.

Since the school is a catholic school they teach religious education. It is usually the telling of a bible story and then the students draw a picture of the story. The teachers usually draw a picture or have a poster of the particular story. Somehow I am now the designated drawer of religious pictures. My first question was what color do I make Jesus? Whites have made Jesus white, while here in Ghana (as with Santa Claus) Jesus is black. So I took the middle road, making him look like how people of the middle east look today. I have a schedule of the stories they will tell in the next couple of weeks.

This weekend I went to cape coast where I walked across the canopy of the rainforest at Kakum National Park. All I could wonder was how on earth did they build the bridge since it was so high. I guess one man used a bow and arrow to shoot a rope to each tree and they built platforms around each tree this way. Then I also went to Elmina Castle which is an old slave port. It was really sad. The conditions of how these people were treated was really terrible. They would bring us to one small dark room and tell you that it was a dungeon where slaves that misbehaved would be locked up until they starved to death. We had even planned to go to Cape Coast Castle another slave port where Barack Obama went this past summer, but one place like this was enough for one day.

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