News, News

This is my second week teaching at Ruharo on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the middle class, which has 34 four year olds, and top class, which has 47 five - seven year olds. Each day it gets a little easier, a little better, and a little more manageable. The children are beginning to understand me more clearly, and they are learning some of my behavior expectations. It has been great to introduce many new ideas, activities, and methods of teaching and learning into the classroom. It's helping to keep the students engaged and on-task as well as modeling different and effective teaching practices for the teachers I'm working with.


top classroom

It has been interesting to see how the teachers perceive their students' abilities and what skills they have actually mastered. It's common here for teachers to say that the children know how to read. What I've found, though, is that the children have memorized a list of words that are written and repeated over and over (mat, sun, van, etc.). These words have become sight words to the children, but they don't have any concept of letter sounds, therefore, "sounding out a word" is a totally foreign concept to them. Literally. 

In middle class, I've decided to bring it back to the basics and emphasize letter-sound correspondence in my literacy lessons. After just two weeks, I can already see improvements in many of the children. I hear them humming the songs I've taught them as they do their work, and their memory from week to week is serving them well! I'm hoping that by the end of the term in December we will be able to sound out some simple words.

Literature is never utilized in early childhood and primary education here, so it has been my joy to introduce some stories to the classes. A humorous, completely cross-cultural, and staple book in early childhood education is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Not only do the children get to practice upper- and lower-case letters and their sounds in this story, they also enjoy chanting the refrain "Chicka chicka boom boom!" throughout the story.

In middle class, we're also working on recognizing numerals, understanding one-to-one correspondence, and counting backward from 10. One of my college professors donated a large bag of Wikisticks, reuseable and pliable wax sticks, and they were perfect for practicing numbers! The children loved using this new material, and I'm excited to use them for more lessons. 

Each morning these classes starting with sharing "news." I haven't figured out the purpose or benefit of this daily routine, but it goes like this: A child or teacher come up to the front of the room and says, "News, news." The class responds, "Tell us (insert name)." "On my way to school today, I saw a big, big (fill in the blank)." Sometimes variety is added by saying "a good, good..." or "a beautiful, beautiful..." Then the class repeats what that person said.

I'm not a fan of this daily routine, but let me borrow from the format and tell you the good, good things I saw on my way home from school this afternoon.

On my way home from school this afternoon, I saw a small group of children collecting termites from the road. I stopped to watch and asked them what they were going to do with them. "Eat them!" they responded enthusiastically. It was lunch time after all!

On my way home from school this afternoon, I saw a small toddler playing a wonderful game with a large calf. The calf was tied in a field to graze. The child walked just within reach of the cow's head, the cow would gently butt the child, and the child would fall over. This process was repeated over and over. Satisfying!

Please continue to pray for wisdom as I plan lessons for these classes and build relationships with the teachers and children. Pray that above all else, Christ will be glorified and His kingdom will be furthered at Ruharo Infant School, in Mbarara, and in all of Uganda.