This afternoon I went with Meghan (girl on the team who teaches
3rd grade in Virginia) to the Ministry of Education (yes, I always almost say
Ministry of Magic, and whenever they just say Ministry or the Ministry I wonder
why we would ever go there and want to work with them! Dumbledore's man through
and through!). Anywho, they were not evil in the slightest. They were actually
quite pleasant. We met with a man named Vili (pronounced Billy- he used the
example of Bill Clinton and made sure we knew that Bill Clinton was named after
him- he was super funny and kept saying things like that so we weren't sure if
he was joking at first or not, but then he'd just start cracking up.... It was
super funny/slightly awkward). Meghan has been here since June (I believe) and
has been working with the schools in the area and doing teacher workshops on
better teaching skills/strategies. She's put in a lot of work and a lot of
heart to this project and is nice enough to let me tag along. We were hoping
that we could work a PE related thing in there (it's a high-need area along
with music, arts and crafts, and reading). Meghan had talked with him for
awhile about meeting with some teachers on a more individual basis and wants to
visit as many schools as she can within the next week (she goes home next
Thursday :( not ok). So we asked if I could go along and see what kind/if they
did PE. We found out that in the grammar schools, the individual teachers are
in-charge of doing PE, but they find all kinds of excuses not to (too much
paperwork/planning, don't know how/what to do, too lazy, etc.). So Vili and I
talked about me going with Meghan to the schools and observing/asking questions
to the teachers about their PE, and then putting together a teacher workshop
focused on PE. Vili thought it was an awesome idea! So looks like I get to do
my own project after all! When Meghan did her workshops, she had 10-15 teachers
show up, so it's not like it's this huge presentation to hundreds of eager
Fijian teachers, but if it helps even one teacher improve their methods, then
it's a success. I'm really excited/kinda nervous to be heading this up, but
it's so needed and it's a way I can help.
Meghan, Lucy, Brittany and I went to a
tutoring center later this afternoon. It's a really great program that is
basically a homework center where kids can get help. A lot of them struggle
with basic things like reading, but most of them need help with math homework.
I had a hard time with some of the secondary school math (it's been like 8
years since I've taken a math class besides stats) so I helped a girl named
Louisa with her time related word problems. Then I switched with Lucy to help a
boy named Kin (sounds like King). Kin is a very VERY shy teenage boy who has
an incredibly low reading level (I learned this later tonight). He was studying
for a test in Life Sciences. I wasn't sure what that entailed, so I just sat
down and had him start reading aloud to study. Can ya guess what he was
studying? Try the most awkward topic known to mankind for a teenage boy.
PUBERTY. I was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh kay. So he read the first paragraph
of his notes (stopping occasionally to ask me what a word was, but it was words like 'positively' and 'capable') and in a very
monotone way. It was very obvious that he was just reading and not
understanding/comprehending any of it. So I asked him to try to explain what he
had just read. Nothin. So then I tried to tell him things that help me to study
(like rewriting things, quizzing myself, etc.) but none of it was making very
much sense to him. So then I said Ok how about I ask you questions about what
we just read? He said ok and we tried that, and it worked ok, but not great
(mind you, the questions were about puberty). So we went through that and I asked if he had
any questions, and he, of course, said no, so we moved onto the next topic.
MENSTRUATION. In my head I said ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!’ But he kept right on
reading aloud to me (which leads me to believe that he was not comprehending or
understanding any of this because he was not at all embarrassed, or showing any
emotion of any kind for that matter). After he finished that section, I tried
quizzing him again and asked things like ‘what is the egg called? What holds the eggs? How often
does a girl menstruate? What’s another name for menstruation?’ As basic of
questions as I could get. His answer to every single question…. vagina. Oy. So
we reread the paragraph together (he
rewrote some of the info to help him remember- so at least he was trying some
study methods) and then we moved on. Then we took a quick break to talk about rugby, and boy did his eyes light up and a huge smile came across his face! Just after that it was time for us to go.
Kin asked if I was coming back on Thursday, which made me feel good because I thought
the session went horrible and that I hadn't really helped him at all. Well maybe he just wants to talk about rugby, but oh well.
We then headed to the movie theater (yes they have one and it’s
great! So cheap!) and we saw Despicable Me 2. Not as good as the first one, but
still cute with funny parts. Then we headed home (hearing many ‘BULA LADIES!’
on our way back from slightly sketchy fellas) and had dinner (some kind of stir-fry,
which was quite good). Looking forward to a good sleep tonight, but not quite
as long as yesterday! Oh, and my feet are killing me. I did not bring good
enough walking shoes. We walk everywhere, which is fine, but oh my poor feet.
Here’s hopin I get over that quickly!
Moce! Much love,
Sarah
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