Preparations:
*I bought my ticket!! I leave on December 26th and arrive on the 28th in Lilongwe, Malawi with an overnight layover in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is really happening!! And much faster than I had thought. Originally, school started in mid January. It has been changed to more closely correspond with the European school year and the next session begins Dec 7. Obviously, I'll be late but not too bad...
*I have spent two mornings with the 4 & 5 year olds at Black Mountain Presbyterian Weekday School so far. Trying to pick up pointers and tips on what to do with kids that age at school. They run a great program—centers, group time, centers, snack, more centers, playground time, and group gathering before heading home. So many options for the kids to choose from—flubber, drawing, painting, sand station, legos, home station/restaurant station, blocks, computer, matching, people dominoes (dominoes shaped like people to line up and knock down), books. Lots of good ideas though I don’t know what kind of supplies and resources I’ll have in Nkhoma but very creative and helpful. One of the best things I think I learned was that if you need their attention you sing whatever you want to say…calms them down and they listen. You can make up the tune and it doesn’t matter a bit but it seemed to work every time.
so much more to do!!!
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nothing like starting sooner than you had originally expected to get you moving, huh? i wonder how much of what our kids do in school will translate, culturally, to what the kids in malawi do in school. and whether or not tactics like singing to get their attention will be received in the same way. such fun stuff to explore! :)
ReplyDeleteagreed! i have no idea if what i'm picking up here will be useful. and then there is the language thing--english is used in schools but they're in kindergarten...who knows what they already know or don't
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