It’s very difficult to try to summarize a whole week in one post but I will try my best. Last Sunday I attended Emmanuel Presbyterian Church with my brother after hand washing all my clothes with my sister. There was definitely dancing in the aisles and dancing as you went to the front to give your offering but other than that was pretty normal to me except everything was in Twi of course. My brother translated a lot for me which was really helpful. In the afternoon I helped pound and 'drive' (move around while the other person pounds) the boiled plantains and cassava we made fufu with. I will try to post photos of it soon because I don't really know how to describe it- google it if you're super curious! Then we ate the fufu (you don't chew it just swallow!) with a stew before going to meet the chief of Kukurantumi. He welcomed us, blessed us, introduced himself, and met us all. It was an interesting experience...
This week was the first week of practicum at Opasse JHS for me. I taught form 2 (equivalent to 7th grade in America I suppose) math and science this week. My class had 60 students but they were amazingly well behaved and respectful. In math I covered probability so really enjoyed teaching the topic and it was easy to make fun and interactive. In science the topic was simple machines including levers, work, power & efficiency. Current Peace Corps Volunteer teachers and our trainers observed and gave us feedback after each lesson for us to improve upon. My lessons went very well this week and I had fun teaching. One funny story from teaching this week: I used a coke bottle to demonstrate how a simple machines make work easier and started the class by having students first try to open it without a bottle opener. The first girl I handed it to proceeded to move it toward her mouth to use her teeth- so I had to add the caveat that they could only use their hands! Another student then tried to use the desk-one thing that’s really important in teaching here is remembering the cultural context so I am working at incorporating meaningful Ghanian examples in my lessons. Next week I will trade classes with another trainee who taught form 1 this week so on Friday I asked students to give me feedback. One girl told me they liked me because I smiled a lot while teaching :) Then another student said that when I teach she understands math- score! I told her that is what every teacher wants to hear. It was a great confidence booster!
Site announcement was on Thursday. A map of Ghana was drawn in chalk on the concrete at the Peace Corps training site so when they called our names we’d go stand in our region. They did Natural Resource Management first and then Math- I was hoping to be in the southern part of the country so when they started south and moved up the country I kept hoping to hear my name. Alas it didn’t happen until we reached the northern part- my site is Gbedema in the Upper East up toward Burkina Faso and Togo. I didn’t want to be quite so far away- it is at least a 2 day journey from Accra (thus making it more difficult for people to come visit me)- but I am still excited about my site. I will be the very first Peace Corps Volunteer ever in this community so that’s pretty cool. It is the home stay coordinator Agatha’s hometown so her excitement for me to go there has helped a lot. I am sure you're wondering what my accommodations there will be like there....well the teacher’s quarters does not have electricity though the community has electricity. My water will be retrieved from a borehole. I am in for the ‘real’ Peace Corps experience! Another trainee Alex will be teaching science in a community 10km away- I am glad to have another Volunteer so close to me. We are the only 2 trainees learning Buli this year so will have lots of individual attention during lessons with our trainer PP. I am ready for site visit next month so can actually see my site instead of just read about it!
Yesterday I was out of commission (aka sick) so felt very homesick but was also overwhelmed and blessed by the concern shown to me by my home stay family, my fellow trainees, and the trainers. I slept the whole night and am feeling much better today thankfully but have just been taking it easy today so I feel 100% for my students this week. If you've made it to the end of this post thanks for reading and please leave a comment. Hope all is well with everyone back home!
Hmm, fufu looks interesting. Glad to hear that your teaching is starting out well. I am really looking forward to following your updates! Once you get up to your site what sort of transportation will you have available to you? Will it just be buses and such? Or will you have a bike or anything? Distance is a relative thing, I was just wondering how long it would take to go the 10k.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie! Good to hear that all is going well. You sound like you have learned a lot in the few weeks you've been there. You had me laughing how you casually slipped in that the chickens wake you up at the ungodly hour of 4 am! Keep good and looking forward to your next post :).
ReplyDelete