I will get some photos here soon enough (Guyanese say "just now"), but for the moment I will tell more of my story.
I took my first visit to school today as an observer only. The building was established for civil aviation and has two floors that are completely open. For you history buffs, you can read up at http://landofsixpeoples.com/news402/ns406242.htm. The lower level is set up for grades 1,2 and 3. Upper level is 4,5 and 6 along with Head Mistress Office, Reading Room and SMALL library. The open class area has temporary walls standing about 5 feet tall to make classrooms. There are some student desks, but for the most part I saw benches and narrow tables for uniformed students to sit 3 across. The teacher works with a freestanding blackboard and teaches the Choral Oral (I just learned this term) approach mainly. When two of my trainee friends and I arrived at the start of the day we visited with the Head Mistress. She took us to our classes ....mine was a 5th grade class. Miss Melecia was working with a list of vocabulary words. Evidently, the pupils had homework to get definitions and yet many did not have the assignment complete. I imagine homes do not have a dictionary. Miss had them get a dictionary out of the cabinet in the back and complete the work. Well, the condition of these soft back books was sad. They might be complete, but unlikely. And, there were just 3 or 4 books. All the while, chatter and noise carried from the other classrooms. I cannot imagine learning in these conditions! There was a break and some students were curious about me...asked about my trip to their country and if I would be teaching later. The students are curious, but respectful. After break, we resumed with math for a while then anagrams. My trainee friends and I walked from the school to our training at the school lunch break and ate our packed lunches. We had a debriefing and then got into lesson plans that took us up to 5PM. Again, I was wiped out at the end of the day.
I am looking forward to a trip to Georgetown on Saturday. We are going as a group and Simeon, our Security Director will give a tour. I understand there is a scavenger hunt to look forward to as well.
More to follow!
I took my first visit to school today as an observer only. The building was established for civil aviation and has two floors that are completely open. For you history buffs, you can read up at http://landofsixpeoples.com/news402/ns406242.htm. The lower level is set up for grades 1,2 and 3. Upper level is 4,5 and 6 along with Head Mistress Office, Reading Room and SMALL library. The open class area has temporary walls standing about 5 feet tall to make classrooms. There are some student desks, but for the most part I saw benches and narrow tables for uniformed students to sit 3 across. The teacher works with a freestanding blackboard and teaches the Choral Oral (I just learned this term) approach mainly. When two of my trainee friends and I arrived at the start of the day we visited with the Head Mistress. She took us to our classes ....mine was a 5th grade class. Miss Melecia was working with a list of vocabulary words. Evidently, the pupils had homework to get definitions and yet many did not have the assignment complete. I imagine homes do not have a dictionary. Miss had them get a dictionary out of the cabinet in the back and complete the work. Well, the condition of these soft back books was sad. They might be complete, but unlikely. And, there were just 3 or 4 books. All the while, chatter and noise carried from the other classrooms. I cannot imagine learning in these conditions! There was a break and some students were curious about me...asked about my trip to their country and if I would be teaching later. The students are curious, but respectful. After break, we resumed with math for a while then anagrams. My trainee friends and I walked from the school to our training at the school lunch break and ate our packed lunches. We had a debriefing and then got into lesson plans that took us up to 5PM. Again, I was wiped out at the end of the day.
I am looking forward to a trip to Georgetown on Saturday. We are going as a group and Simeon, our Security Director will give a tour. I understand there is a scavenger hunt to look forward to as well.
More to follow!
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