Two days of proper teaching!

So yesterday and today have been absolutely wonderful teaching Class 2 Maths and Class 3 English. Yesterday, myself and the founder of TANF organised a HIV/AIDS awareness talk for the primary school children in which we spoke about how HIV is spread, the symptoms and prevention of the disease.

Yesterday, I had a maths lesson with Class 2 first and I decided it would be good to work on their times-tables. So i'd write the sums on the board while they would call out the answer in unison. We would go through this saying 'one times two is two, two times two is four' etc outloud altogether. Then I rubbed out the answers and got them to call out the answer this way...including jumping around and not going in order to distract them. I would say 'four times two is' and they would shout out the answer. Instead of just saying it, I made sure I made it a bit more interesting and shouted in different voices - high and low, loud and quiet, fast and slow etc, which they found hilarious. This was the same for the 3x and 5x. I then wrote out all of the sums and they had to copy them down in their books with the answers (neatly ofc). Time flew and I had run over into breaktime. I asked if they wanted to carry on tomorrow, but they said no they wanted to finish it then. I must have done something right. Gradually the class started to leave as they finished, but \I noticed one girl taking a very long time and looked very lost, so I went over to help her one to one. She seemed to find it very difficult: this would have been the perfect opportunity to wack out the plastic coloured counters, but of course, there is a huge limit on materials. So i ran around each desk stealing pencils to start making piles of 3 to explain the sums better. This seemed to work! 

Next, I had English with Class 3 and I decided to practise verbs and adjectives and pronouns and nouns. Learning verbs was brilliant because I made sure they understood the definition while then asking for examples of different verbs which we would then all act out (i.e. running on the spot etc). We then played charades of different verbs which they found hilarious. After this I wrote 5 different words on the board and told the class to make sentences using the different words. I chose 'flying, silver, Ghana, quietly and they'. Lots wrote about the pots were silver and the bird was flying, but some clearly had a vivid imagination and wrote some lovely things. (will write down exact examples next lesson). I marked their work and I have never seen such excitement at seeing the words 'brilliant' and 'fantastic' with a smilie face. Some were dancing around, some were beaming, some came to show me as if I didn't know when I had wrote it hahaa. 

Today, I was teaching English first thing with Class 3. When I walked into the class I was handed a letter by the students, which was from them saying that I am nice to them, I am very kind and beautiful and thanking me. It was absolutely lovely! I recapped the verbs, which involved a lot more running on the spot, jumping on the spot, singing and dancing as well as recapping adjectives and nouns and pronouns. I then thought it would be a bit different to focus on punctuation; today we did the full stop and question mark. I drew each on the board and asked what they were, which everyone could answer, but noone was comfortable enough to answer what is fullstop is/what a question mark is. I taught them the definition and when its used etc, which they all eagerly wanted to write in to their notebooks. We then did some examples of each. As an exercise I wrote a short paragraph on the board with no full stops or question marks: My name is Angela what is your name I am 10 years old how old are you I live in Ghana where do you live my favourite subject is maths what is your favourite subject. They then had to fill in the correct punctuation mark in the correct place. I then marked this and wonderfully everyone scored at least 6/8 or more! I felt very proud of them and of myself. And of course I wrote some nice feedback in their work, which they were all ecstatic about...again! Wonderful! 

Busy, busy, busy!

So I said in my previous post that it had been 'go, go, go' since I got here and nothing's changed. I really have done so much and I haven't even been here a week yet! So get ready for PLENTY of 'gap yaaah' stories when I get back everyone :D

Leading off from my last post, I've been doing a whole range of things. On Sunday, I designed and made the library opening poster for Wisdom Academy. A previous volunteer had fundraised money to be able to buy a fair few books for the school and I was asked to assist in this occasion by making a poster that will go on the library (cupboard) door. So it was all very well, but then of course I forgot that on my laptop I don't have Microsoft Office, I only have Open Office and it would not open on another computer, so we would not be able to print it. I then had to hurriedly make a new one on Rev. Laud's computer...so much for patience and taking your time during creativity. I also have made more changes to the blog (adding a new 'page' which would consist only of each child's 'story'). The logic behind this was firstly that noone wants to keep scrolling down and I still have more children to add. Secondly, I felt there was not enough information behind the monthly sponsorship fund. I suggested that we break down the sum so people can see how much individual things cost, such as school books. That way, if someone cannot commit to making a monthly sponsorship, they can still make a one-off donation by providing the correct fee for a certain item.

As it has been sooo hot here, I do not have the same apetite as I do back home - I have some bread for breakfast and I eat a substantial lunch of rice and chicken, then in the evenings for the past couple of days we have been having some freshly grown fruit which is the nicest fruit I have ever eaten. We had pineapple one evening and another evening we had oranges and papaya. YUM.

Yesterday was my first proper day at school! I was due to be observing that day so I could get a feel for how they do things and the structure of the lesson. First I was in class 2 which is aged between 6-9 and was watching their maths lesson. They were practising counting from 0-100 and then had to write these numbers in their books (neatly of course!). The teacher asked me to mark their work, and only a couple of children had forgotten some numbers, i.e. missing out the 70s or 80s. At first I thought this was a starter activity...but it seemed to go on for the whole lesson (which was about 1 hr 15 mins)...The children were very sweet though and already I could see which ones were the cheeky ones who might try and give me a bit of trouble! I then went into class 3 which is aged between 8-11 to watch their English lesson. The teacher had written a passage on the blackboard about festivals in Ghana and the children copied it into their books (again, neatly!). The teacher found a stick and then did a 'call and response' where they read out sentences of the passage at a a time. This also went on for a very long time. They had a quick discussion about Easter and it was then requested that I read out the passage for them to copy. Awww! 

I think today had been the most successful day so far. TANF has been meaning to start collaborating with the health sector of the community, promoting free healthcare for all. So, as I volunteered to help out with Gloria and Matilda, the two health workers, this was the perfect opportunity for TANF to get more involved. So today was the first step! Today I weighed over 55 babies at a mother and baby clinic where babies and young children also come to receive their immunizations. I had to log it in the child's record book and plot it on a graph. I then had to fill in a sheet which records the data of everyone - so attendance of each child and their age, whether they had a vit. A droplet and whether there was any male attendance (of which there was only 1!!!). I imagined it to be like the scales we see in hospitals - sized to fit the baby and digital, but no, we hung a piece of rope over a beam with one of those scales that you use when you hang your suitcase on to check if you're within the baggage allowance. But instead of hanging a rucksack, I was hanging babies from as young as 2 weeks to 3 years old. It was so rewarding, but yet also exhausting. The women I was working with do this regularly along with everything else and I absolutely repsect them 100%. They really do deserve a gold medal! (read the blog for full story!)

And finally, after a busy morning at the clinic and some lovely chicken and rice with an amazing sauce, it was over to Wisdom Academy for the grand opening of the school library (cupboard). A previous volunteer had done some fundraising and was able to provide sponsors for 4 children and also bought lots of new books for every child in the school to use and borrow to practise their reading. This was where my poster came in! I was happy to participate as the children were so excited and I just hoped my rushed Microsoft Publisher poster would meet expectations! 

With his new Uniform! 

THE poster...

Hello Ghana!

Hello everyone!

It looks like it's time for another post seeing as I have started my next trip! I will be staying in Ghana for 5 weeks working as a volunteer for The Anidaso Nsae Foundation (TANF). I will be teaching English and Maths each day as well as running sports on Fridays. In addition I will be helping the founder of the project try to expand the foundation, bring new ideas, update the Facebook/website/blog and raise awareness of TANF. An additional activity which myself and Rev. Laud the founder came by will be to help assist local health workers in the community. TANF is looking to support people in the community in as many ways as possible, so integrating with this will be another step...i'll sort of be the guinea pig for TANF to see if working in the health sector will be advantageous.

TANF is a project based just outside of Accra, the capital of Ghana and aims to free children from child labour and putting them into a stable, free, education. (http://www.tanfghana.org/) Check out the website to find out more.



So...ever since I have arrived it has been go, go, go! The day after I arrived, I went to visit the school where I will be teaching and was introduced to some of the teachers and each of the classrooms. Of course, it was nothing like a British school and four different classes were all squashed into one classroom!

I was then taken by Laud into the center of Accra...which is HUGEEE! We went to the National Theatre, which holds 1500 seats and were given a backstage tour! We then went to the Independence Square which is used for parades on special holidays. From there we went to the beach! I have never been to a beach in another continent before and it was gorgeous! I had to wear my shoes on the sand because it was so hot (forgot to say its about 32 degrees here) and the sea was lovely...warm but still refreshing. I then decided to have a horse ride along the beach, however as soon as I hoiked my leg over I heard a dreaded rip....MASSIVE hole in crotch...not good. I continued on my horse ride because it was lovely but then quickly got off and had to buy some men's trunks and pretend they were fashionable shorts.

Yesterday was also really busy...I had been looking at the TANF's blog and we were brainstorming ideas to make it better. So I decided that on the link where people can sponsor a child, I thought it would be good to write a 'story' about the child and why they need sponsorship. We then went to Wisdom Academy (where I will be teaching and were TANF children are studying) to take photos of the children and to find out their background. Check out the blog to see my work and click on 'sponsor a child'! All children greatly need all the help they can...so please...if you can, donate or sponsor TANF.

We also had a meeting at the school with all teachers to introduce ourselves properly and talk about what I would be doing...I received my timetable and we also starting planning the Easter party - where I hope to do an egg hunt and also egg rolling!




Finally, today was also very productive. I was talking to Laud about what else I could do during my free time to help TANF along with teaching - most days I finish at 12:30pm. One of the ideas was to work alongside the health workers in the community. We met up with Gloria and Matilda today who were very keen for me to be involved in one of their monthly weigh-ins of newborns, as well as attending home visits and recording data for them. I will also be able to go to school visits which speak about variety of health issues. We stumbled on the right day as Gloria and Matilda had just received a building from the community to be used as a health center. However, it was a tip! It had to be cleared out of furniture and completely scrubbed down from all of the African red dust. Soon it will be painted and fingers crossed it will be up and running soon! Also read the blog to see the news post I wrote about today's work.





















Overall, so much as happened within a such a short space of time! But that's what I like...I would rather be too busy than hang around doing nothing. Rev. Laud really seems to understand this and has been keen to contact different people with regard to work. Ghana is going well!

A Few of my Favourites!

I am now back home in England after an absolutely amazing trip to Italy. I loved working in the hostel with new and different people coming through the door. So I thought I would write one last post to just share a few of my favourite guests.

1) The Dutch Hitch-hiking Couple

A young male and female who have currently been travelling for 4 months...all hitch-hiking! They plan on continuing this method of travel throughout Europe for a whole year! Their budget skills were enough to rival my mother, I must say - aiming to spend no more than 4 euro a day. This was done by not paying for any public transport, only eating very basic meals and camping wherever they could fit their tent, i.e. not a proper campsite, but orchards and fields (...). On the other hand, they did admit they'd spent nearly 4,000 euro on 'gear' for their trip..including the bags, clothes, tent etc. However, it is all very well living on a budget, but when it affects your personal hygiene, you know you have to reconsider. I don't think these two did. They left a very unpleasant odour even when they had left the room. I could tell showering wasn't top of their list when they were describing some of the people they had received lifts from who had then offered them a place to say 'and a shower!!' (said with extreme excitement). By my calculations I estimated they probably had had around 4/5 showers in the whole four months...as for washing their clothes...i'd rather not think about that!


2) The Chinese Couple..making the most of everything that was free

Two males checked in who had come from China with HUGEE rucksacks (on their back and front) and two great sticks as if they were trekking Mount Snowdonia but were actually just walking through the cobbled streets of Italy. They were very lovely but were obviously also working on a budget. Everything that was free, they had. At 8 o'clock in the morning they both ran downstairs to sit down and connect to the free wifi, plus plugging in every single electrical device they owned to charge. They were so absorbed in the task of finding everything that was free that I had to shout three times if they wanted any breakfast...and when they found out this was included in the 17 euro price for the night, it was like Christmas.

3) The Italian 'Lads on Tour'

When a group of seven 18-19 Italian boys check in, you know its going to be an interesting night. On their way to Amsterdam, the boys were staying the night to catch their plane from Brindisi the next morning. All very cheerful and very excited they were singing and dancing and talking to everyone in their broken English. I guessed it was their first trip away together without parents because they completely wiped out the beer fridge. They were charming boys though and we all sat down and played poker until 2 in the morning.

4) The Crazy Old Woman Staying in Brindisi for Dental Treatment

This lady was absolutely lovely. Unfortunately my first meeting with her arose in the morning when I woke up to go and have a shower and she was stood just in her very large knickers trying to turn the shower on. Unfortunately this was the day when we had some serious water issues. She spoke no English so trying to explain that there was no water and she couldn't shower yet, as well as trying to divert my eyes to anything but her, was very difficult. I found out later she was a regular guest and came to Brindisi to have work done on her teeth...which would have been fine if she actually had any teeth to do anything with.

5) The EXTREMELY Tall Dutch Woman

The hostel offers free pick up from the train station to those who have booked to stay. We got a phone call from a young Dutch woman saying she'd arrived. We went to pick her up and spotted her straight away. She was so incredibly tall she made me feel VERY short, and at 5"10, that takes some doing.


So I just thought I would share with you some of the guests that have stayed in my mind (not forgetting the puking lady and also the Korean ladies with the electric cooker and the saucepan - see earlier posts if you've missed this) and that will most definitely stay with me for a long time.

'Otello' (Othello)...on a budget

So last night I was very excited to have a nice cultured evening going to the theatre to watch 'Othello'..in Italian of course. But Teatro Verdi (the theatre in Brindisi) is very special because, in the process of building it, they uncovered some stunning Roman ruins. Instead of taking a few pictures and building on top of it, the builders preserved the structures and ensured the foundations of the theatre did not coincide with this amazing discovery. So it is built sort of on and around, so you can go underneath and see the Roman roads etc and when you enter the theatre they have used a glass floor so you can also look down into it while in the theatre itself. Stunning!

Well we found our seats and got settled, in the gallery of course because we weren't going to pay 35 euro, and realised that the theatre is HUGEE and could have done with some binoculars. When I looked at the stage I thought it looked a bit bare, but got over this because I thought as the play progressed they would bring out more of a set. But to describe how empty the stage was, there was a huge sheet covering the floor with a few mounds. At first I thought these mounds were people and Othello himself would rise up out of the floor in some sort of magical, suprising way. Wrong. These were purely bits of foam to cushion the landing when Emilia fell to the ground and Iago started awkwardly dry humping her. Hmmm. To add to the unimaginative stage, the back screen was purely blue...sort of like the default screen of the projectors in school before its connected to the computer. In addition, the music and background noises also left much to be desired, consisting of the occasional skwawking seagull and gushing waves. I guess they were going for the 'minimalistic' idea, but then again, there's a difference between minimalistic and purely empty.

Another reason to add to my opinion that this production probably had a 100 euro budget is the complete lack of props. I think I counted a grand total of 5; two swords, one helmet, a roll out map and of course THE handkerchief. Talk about having to use your imagination!

The actors seemed confident, a bit bland, but delivered the lines well enough. However, they were lacking in characters; the play lasted just under 2 hrs, VERY short for old Bill. This must have been because complete scenes were cut out due to only having roughly the main 8 characters. Othello was old, very old. He had greying hair and wrinkles and looked old enough to be some of the actors' grandfather.

Even still, despite the few flaws, it was an incredible experience and hearing Shakespeare in Italian was very different! The theatre was stunning but I can't say the Italian audience are all that encapsulated by Shakespeare, as I spotted multiple people playing games on their phones, lots of talking, two people sleeping and many toilet breaks. I laughed to myself thinking of the English audience and how many tuts and tellings off these people would have got. Overall, I am very glad I went, but if I had paid to see this in the UK, I think I would have left at the interval. 

Sightseeing

 'Tempio San Giovanni' ... a Church built in the Norman Age with a circle plan and 8 columns. On the wall are some incredible paintings...some very faded because of being painted at the end of the 13th Century, but you can make out scenes of the Crucifixion, St Nicholas and groups of Saints.

 One of the scenes depicted on the wall

 Brindisi port and monument at sunset

 'Grotte di Castellana' - at the entrance to hell. 60m deep 120-160 million years old with huge stalactites and stalagmites. Viewed as some of the most beautiful caves in the world because some of the stalactites and stalagmites are pure calcium carbonate causing a crystal-like effect. I went with an American tourist who came to stay at the hostel who was studying Geology, so while the Italian tour guide was ranting on, I got my own private tour from Pete.

 Posing by the fountain in the middle of Brindisi

 Birthday pizza at one of regular pubs 'John Martin's'. (Wearing my new dress mum!)

A 3 day event...Artichoke fair, which involved loads of little stalls with tasters and treats to buy. Artichoke pizza, pickled artichoke, artichoke pate, artichoke flowers, artichoke icecream...artichokes to your heart's content. This lovely little meal consisting of a slice of artichoke pizza, a scone shaped olive bread, some salted biscuits, a pickled artichoke and a glass of wine only cost 50cents! 

A concert in the evening of the Artichoke fair - a band with a lot of members; keyboard players, 2 guitarists, bassist, saxophonist, 4 backing singers, drums and the lead singer. They did a very good cover of 'Knocking on Heaven's Door', which sounded very sweet with their Italian accents.

 A day trip to Ostuni, 'The White City'

All we've had is sunshine! It was so warm we sat outside at 11am till 2pm sunbathing! Before this picture was taken we had our trousers rolled up, I had a vest top on and we were sweating. Hard to believe in January!

Brindisi

 A short distance from the hostel...some completely deserted beaches with the clearest water. The rocks are also very fun to climb on!

 New Years Celebrations - Maurizio's (the 'boss') daughter kindly invited us out with her friends, so we were treated to some Italian wine and music next to the port over looking the water and the City. Everyone was very friendly and greatly enjoyed me trying to speak Italian!

 Climbed a monument in the City Centre and this is the view...overlooking the entrance to the port.

 A Christmas paddle in the water!...and a beer!

 A cocktail night out in Lecce, a 20 minute drive from Brindisi. This is an old Roman Amphitheatre in the middle of the City which was staging a nativity scene and all lit up with Christmas lights.

Exploring some old ruins near to the hostel right next to the sea and a popular place for people collecting some sorts of shellfish. 

 A pastry filled with nutella from a bakery that opens at 2am! It starts baking at 1am, then sells these freshly baked goodies at around 1euro! Absolutely incredible and lovely after a cocktail night

 The bar in the hostel, with the coffee machine...and I STILL haven't mastered how to make a cappuccino

Pizza from another incredible bakery that opens from 11-1 then 6-8. All freshly baked and yummy!