Sorry for the lack of posting. The Internet here seems to work pretty well with some sites, and not so well with others. Blogger just happens to be one that doesn't seem to want to work very often. The last month or so has been a settling down period for me. We had a great trip to Mbamba bay, as you can probably see from the pictures, and now I have about 2 months of just teaching until the end of the school year here.
I have started to make communication with Cornelia Elementary School in Edina and have begun to update a blog for the students at the school there. The information that I will include on that blog will be different from here and provide more information about the differences between what school is like here and for students in the United States. I will add a link on this page to check out if you would like.
I have begun to settle into my role as teaching and am begining to get used to trying to teach with little resources. Math isn't as difficult because so many exercises can be done on the board and figured out by the students, but English has been a bit more difficult. Many students here focus their education strictly on copying notes from the bored and memorizing what they have written. There are some students that can graduate Form 4 and not even be able to speak English, but know all the grammer rules. Coming from America this makes teaching so different from what we are used to. I often find myself getting frustrated that the students aren't able to use any sort of comprehensive thinking to solve problems that I ask that they haven't copied directly off the bored. The lack of enough books for students also hinders their ability to practice reading and speaking.
Many students have commented on how much they have enjoyed having me as a teacher and they are more interested in the subject than they were before. That has had a nice rekindling of my devotion to trying to motivate and find activities that will benefit the students and make learning fun.
The students begin to take final exams towards the end of Nov. and the year ends in Dec. At that time Lew and I hope to travel a bit, but our plans are not yet finalized.
We are very close to finishing the website for the Monastery and the schools here and I am very excited to have that online so people will be able to see and read more about the services that are provided here. As soon as that is done I will add the link as well.
Hope everything is well with everyone!
Derek
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