Letters from America

My Classes 4 and 5 students wrote letters to America before the first term was over.  They panicked about writing letters but eventually enjoyed it and wanted to write more letters.  I have had students from other classes ask when they can write letters to America.  I think I’m going to incorporate it into my lesson plans when I work with Classes 6, 7, and 8 on their composition skills.

We received letters from a 6th grade class in Missouri and a 4th grade class in Michigan.  I’m so glad that we received them before schools in the States let out for the summer.  My students’ eyes lit up when they realized some of the children who wrote letters had sent pictures of themselves as well.

In the past my students would just look at the letters looking to see if there are drawn pictures or they will look at the signature and ask if it’s a boy or girl.  The last time I shared letters with them I made lists summarizing all the letters (e.g. “I like to eat…….,”  ”I like to play….”) that way my students could start picking out some key words.

I wasn’t sure how this round was going to go because I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare an actual lesson with the letters but I knew my students would flip over the pictures (they’re very visual).

I wrote some of the questions from the students’ letters on the blackboard and had them sign each word in English order (for vocabulary purposes) before repeating it again in KSL.  One question was “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I was trying to throw out ideas like “teacher,” etc.  I would say that less than half of my students knew what I meant (I tried wording it in different ways as well like “What do you want to do when you finish secondary school?” and “What do you want to do when you get a job?”  Only a couple of students truly seemed to know what I was trying to ask and the rest of the students just copied their answer.  The only answers I got was to be a bus driver or a motorcycle driver.  That is a very common answer at my school along with being a hairdresser especially since my school is in a village (and they’re good jobs within a village).  At some point I’m hoping to collect enough magazines to cut out pictures of different Africans (I only say this because if they see pictures of only “white Americans” then they will assume that Africans don’t do the same thing which is entirely wrong) working (e.g. nurse, driver, teacher, writer, typist, etc.) because again my students are very visual.  Then I want to make a fun activity to just plant the seed that “Hey, you can do whatever you want to do when you’re done with school” and “Whoa, yeah it’s important to stay in school.”

Anyways, today was AWESOME to see.  My students really struggle to read but they were trying so hard to read the letters and they were doing it with smiles on their faces.  They all were trying to get my attention at the same time either asking what things like “pizza” or “spelling” meant or they would point out words that they recognized (e.g. “cat,” “soccer/football,” etc.).  It was wonderful to see their confidence grow a bit.

Granted, we have long ways to go but I love when my students have so much fun learning that they don’t realize they’re learning.

Staff Meeting

We had assembly this morning with around 50 students (out of around 90).  Quite a few more students arrived this afternoon though so we may be up to around 60 now.

I ended up only getting to teach one of my four classes today.  We had a staff meeting which “started” at around 11 am.  We drank tea and chatted for an hour before the meeting started.  We discussed the results of last year’s national test (my school dropped a lot in ranking compared with the 2010 results) and where our school ranks among the other 36 schools for the deaf in Kenya.  We also went over the exam score for every single subject for the last 5 years.  We also went over the number of books that the school has for every single subject in every single class and how many more we need to order.

We then took a break for lunch, in which I was reminded why I generally avoid meat in Kenya except in places like Nairobi.  I thought I was going to throw-up (it felt like it took 5 minutes to chew one little piece and to try to swallow it without choking) and I love meat back in the States (oftentimes PCVs go “vegetarian” temporary during the times they live in their villages for that very reason).  I did finally eat ugali without any problems whatsoever (although I can’t eat as much or as fast as a Kenyan can)…woot….progress!!

Kenyans generally do not eat or drink during meetings….

After lunch we discussed what we wanted to be our school’s motto, vision, and mission.

I was also asked to help Class 8 with their English Composition skills when I have free time.  Then the next thing I know, they want to combine Classes 6,7, and 8 instead of just Class 8.  I am looking forward to it even though it will be challenging (I like challenges), but I do want to set an actual time in the evening schedule or weekend schedule otherwise it will never happen.

Staff Meeting–Round #1

Last Friday we were asked to sign a piece of paper written by the headmaster stating that we were aware of a staff meeting at 11 am on Monday….I was surprised that the meeting was scheduled that far in advance….

I was actually impressed because that’s not typical of Kenya.  Kenyan culture basically believes that there is time for everything and there’s no reason to rush.  That means meetings can take hours to start.

I was all geared up and ready to start right at 11 am.

I should have known better…..

I ended up drinking tea and storying with the other teachers for an hour and half before we all decided that the meeting wasn’t going to happen this morning because the headmaster hadn’t arrived yet…….

We did get our 2nd Term school supplies though.  A box of chalk, 1 blue pen, and 1 red pen.  That’s more than what we got the first term, we only got a box of chalk.

First Day of Classes…..Sorta and Reward System

I was told that we would likely start classes today but it wasn’t a sure thing. I started my morning off with the mindset that we would start classes.

I headed out a few minutes before 8 am to be on time for assembly.  None of the students were ready for assembly, the office was closed, and none of the other teachers were around.

I just stood around trying to figure out what to do until about 8:15 when one of the teachers showed up (the on-duty teacher).  He said to go ahead and raise the flag (in Kenya, it’s the law to raise the flag on Mondays and Fridays) but that we wouldn’t have assembly.  We then sent the kids to the classrooms while combining some of the classes.  Other teachers started showing up at around 8:30.  It was good to see them and we exchanged hugs/greetings/how are yous/what did you do over break/handshakes/etc.

Only 3 of my 7 Class 4 students are here and only 4 of my 8 Class 5 students are here.  So we had classes but didn’t have classes.  Most of the teachers were just trying to catch up with each other.  I hate just sitting and staring at students so I decided to make it somewhat productive.

I bought in the giant world wall map that Dennis mailed a few months ago.  I usually have it up on my wall but decided to bring it to class.  My students LOVED looking at the map and the different flags from different countries.  They were like “oh, so that’s where America is!”  :-)

Then I decided to introduce the reward system to the students who are here because I figure they’re going to need quite a few repetitions to fully understand it so it won’t hurt to repeat when the other students arrive.  These are the same students who struggled for months to understand the concept of one of my morning exercises rules (for every minute you’re late, you have to do one push-up….so if you’re 5 minutes late then you have to do 5 push-ups).

I’m using a sticker chart.  There are three class rules that I have posted in the classroom.

1) Be ready to work (e.g. be on time, have pencils sharpened, have all your pens ready)

2) Work hard (e.g. try your best, don’t cheat)

3) Respect the teacher, yourself, and your classmates (e.g. no fighting)

At the end of each class, I will review each students’ behavior with them and explain why or why they didn’t get a sticker.  If they follow all 3 rules then they get a sticker, if they do not follow the rules then they don’t get a sticker.

The students were extremely excited about the stickers.  They loved the Lisa Frank stickers that my parents sent!

Every time the class earns 100 stickers as a class then they get something called a “Free Day.”  This is kind of where I lost all of the students.  Some of them kind of understood the concept between following class rules and getting stickers while others didn’t.  They all were lost when I was trying to explain “Free Day” but I’m sure with time and once they experience it that it will click.  Basically “Free Day” will be a fun class period instead of having to do Math or Science work.  I will bring in my camera (they love pictures), movies, games, art, books, etc.

I’m not sure how well this will go but I think it’ll eventually work.  I will probably have to fine-tune some of the smaller details the second time we do this.

Well, I better get ready for our staff meeting!

100 Days of Aural Rehab: Days 1-11

I was going to make a weekly aural rehab update post but I was pretty bummed out by my performance on the closed set aural rehab test that I took on Day #7 and wasn’t in the mood to update.

Learning how to “hear” is a practiced skill.  It is something that one must keep up.  It is not something that comes naturally.  It has its ups and downs.  I remember reading a blog post before I got my first CI about how someone decided to stop wearing her CIs because she didn’t realize that she would be constantly having to do aural rehab for the rest of her life and she didn’t realize that it would always require a lot of energy and focus.

One of the things that I struggle with the most with aural rehab (other than background noises) is focusing on something that doesn’t make sense to my brain.  I’m a multi-tasker and I love doing more than one thing at once.  Well, that doesn’t fly well with aural rehab.  I’m constantly having to tell myself to focus whenever I find myself trying to do something else or I find my brain wandering off.

Day #7 test results were reflective of one of those days.

Test results using a computer program with closed sets of words (choosing one word out of four words).

Day #1: 60%

Day #7:  48% (I really struggled to focus on this particular day since students were moving into their dorms which is in the same compound as my room).  Needless to say I was bummed out about this so I decided to give it a try again the next day.

Day #8:  68%

Yeah…..roller coaster…..  Sometimes it’s hard to accept that I will always have bad days but it’s something that I have to accept if I want to move forward with this…..as long as I make it a point to “make up” for it.  :-)

There are also 10 levels with this computer program (e.g. different syllables, different constants, initial manner, final voice, final place, etc.).  I decided to start with one of the levels that give me trouble which is the final place level.

Some examples of the final place level sets of words.

–loop, loot, cat, cap

–comb, cone, sane, same

–beat, bake, bait, beak

–hot, hop, ripe, write

For the most part when I chose the wrong word it was usually the word closest to the correct word.  For example if the given words are loop, loot, cat, and cap….and I choose “loot” but the word that was spoken was “loop.”

My results so far for this particular level.

Day #2:  25% (ehhh…yeah…I was guessing on most of them)

Day #3:  45%

Day #4:  30% (see, roller coaster)

Day #5:  40%

Day #6:  30%

Day #9: 40%

Day #10:  80% (woot….talk about a roller coaster!  Am curious to see how I do on this tomorrow in terms of it was just a fluke).

Sometimes I forget aural rehab isn’t about just hearing words/things….it’s so much more than that.  It’s about patience, focusing, listening, trying, trying, and trying.

The odd thing is that I find myself doing much better if I do not look at the list of words that I have to choose from before hearing the spoken word.  This forces me to listen and try to pick out what letters I recognize.  I can sometimes recognize the middle-vowel, s/z/f/v, p/b, and t/d (for example, I cannot tell the difference between p and b but I can tell that it’s one of those two).  Then I look at the words that are available to choose from and I repeat in my mind what I heard and which word comes the closest to the random sounds I was able to pick out.

If I look at the words as the word is spoken then I find myself automatically trying to make what I heard match with the first word I read which is almost always the wrong word.

I’m just a visual person and I rely on my eyes to tell me what I’m hearing.  I have to shut out everything visually and focus on what I’m hearing to have a successful aural rehab session.

Term 2–Week #1

As American schoolchildren are gearing up for a summer full of pool fun, Kenyan schoolchildren are gearing up for their second term.

When I first learned about how the Kenya school calendar works I thought it was odd that the school year started in January and not in August/September. Now it makes perfect sense and I think it’s odd that schools in America start a new school year halfway through the year…..why is that?

More or less, the Kenya school calendar is the same for all schools nationwide with headmasters having some flexibility. School opened for the 2nd term last Monday but our school did not open until Wednesday because very few of our students show up on the first day of school. So on Monday I forgot the hearing primary school would be opening up so I got a few stares by children on their way to the school while I was running outside.

We were hoping to start classes on Friday but we still did not have enough students to start classes and not all the teachers were at the school yet. I think we have around 40-45 kids (out of around 90) so we may start classes tomorrow. The last headcount I did was that barely less than half of the students that I teach are here. Soooooo, I need to figure out how to make time in the classroom productive without setting up the late arrival students up for just falling further and further behind.

I will be introducing a new rewards system tomorrow that I hope will work and hopefully the students will enjoy it (more on that later)! We also have our staff meeting tomorrow which will likely last a couple of hours. Our staff meetings are during the schooldays (no in-service days like in America) so not all classes will be taught tomorrow if we do start classes tomorrow because of our meeting.

While we’ve been waiting for classes to start up, I’ve been hanging out with the students. It’s been nice to get some time with them in smaller groups.

Facebook Status Updates

Had a great time kicking around a soccer ball with some deaf Kenyan children on a nice sunny Sunday morning with cows grazing and a beautiful landscape in the background. Thanks Mom for all you have done to help open doors of opportunities like these for me and for your support regardless of which doors I chose to go through….. Happy Mother’s Day!

Just had a bunch of kids try to braid my hair and to their surprise the braids wouldn’t stay without hairbands at the end…..so they ended up trying to figure out how to put my hair back into a ponytail which they struggled to do….so they ended up just petting my hair……I’m just glad I still have a head full of hair left….

I love watching a group of 3-7 year old deaf children signing to each other….they have the best facial expressions!

*Background info* I was in charge of morning running and exercises for the kids 6 times a week at 6 am for the first term. They do not have sports second or third terms.
Class 7 Girl: “Looks like it’s going to rain.”
Me: “Yeah, I think it’s going to storm pretty hard.”
Class 7 Girl: “Maybe it won’t rain, after all the clouds are here but no rain….*laughs*”
Me: *laughs* “Maybe! We’ll see.”
Class 7 Girl: “I’m done running. I’m not running anymore!!!”
Me: *laughs* “Don’t worry, you’re done running…we’re finished with that.”
Class 7 Girl: *smiles* “Are you sure because I’m not running!”

I ended up on a bus with a chicken that I was convinced spent the whole trip trying to figure out how to attack me with its feet tied together, smelly dead fishes, and three men in handcuffs escorted by a police officer. No marriage proposals, no slaps in the face, and a care package (LOVE IT, THANK YOU) made for a successful trip to town for once (even though I’m still hunting down numerous packages and letters that seem to have disappeared off the face of Earth)!

My kids may drive me bonkers at times and I have no privacy when they’re around since they have to know every single thing I do (including how often I go to the choo, what I eat, where I’m going, what I’m writing, what I bought from the market, etc.) but nothing beats seeing their smiling faces after a month long break!

Day #3 of the second term and the school finally opens. Five teachers (out of 12) and about 10 students (out of 90) are here so far. No clue when the staff meeting is and no clue when classes start but hey I have all my SOWs done…woot!

It’s back to wearing skirts and living in a fishbowl!

Sounds like the weather in Kansas got pretty wild…..glad none of those funnel clouds actually touched down long enough to do major damage.

Harry Potter + a Jodi Picoult book + National Geographic magazines with articles about genetics = pure reading bliss…..

As I was making rice, green grams, and sossi mixed with pilau malasa seasoning for dinner I was thinking about how I miss sandwiches (not a PBJ sandwich, believe me I get my fill of those) which then lead to me deciding to make a rice/green grams/sossi sandwich.

Started my morning with a Super Moon and seeing a fog roll into the valley below my school campus. Now to get motivated to write some SOWs (Scheme of Works) before school starts up again this week for Term 2. On one hand I’m ready for some human interaction but on the other hand having privacy for once has been bliss!

Sometimes when I sit outside I feel like I’m looking at a painting. I want to reach out and touch the landscape to make sure it’s real……

8 flashlights and I still manage to never be near one whenever the stima (electricity) goes out. I need to come up with a better strategy for positioning flashlights throughout the house.

I have a love-hate relationship with working out. I HATE working out but I LOVE how much better I feel afterwards. P90X we meet once again after a month hiatus after all I do have a 16,355 feet mountain calling my name and I would really like to make it to the top.

Even though I’ve been on a 2 month mission to hunt down packages and letters that seem to have disappeared somewhere on its way to my site I did get a Christmas package while I was in Nairobi (it was mailed there instead of to my site). In that package was some Christmas lights. Who cares if it’s May, they’re going up in my room….makes things a bit more homey and cozy.

Herdsman: “Hello, I am here now.” *Cows are out of their pen and roaming the school yards.*
Me: “Hi!”
*awkward silence*
Me: “I see the cows.” (Yeah, I suck at making small talk…..)
*awkward silence*
Me: “Soooo….where’s the calf?”
Herdsman: “He died while you were away. I had to bury him. All the cows were dried up so no milk for the school or the calf. But now we have had a lot of rain and now we have a lot of grass which means cows are starting to produce milk again. Now teachers will have delicious tea when school starts up.”  Awie!

Nap, chocolate chip cookies, music, and a Kenya sunset with a nice evening breeze makes everything better!

Today has been one of those days with one thing after the other (no sleep, bucket issue, corruption, restaurant was out of food, no mail because the post office decided to be closed, getting yet another marriage proposal). The two gems of today: 1) Having a 15 minute conversation with a tout who was obviously on something and was making nonsense yet in-depth conversation with me through gestures only…something about a bus, motorcycle, 7, 2, and going around in a circle. 2) I was sitting in the front seat of a matatu and I saw a very drunk woman headed my way so I ignored her which she apparently didn’t like so she slapped my face. Kenya, you make me want to bang my head against the wall numerous of times a day but there is something about you that I love….what it is, I don’t know but one day I will figure it out.

Bucket got put to use again…..I highly dislike the bucket (even though I’m grateful for it at that particular moment)……especially when I have to carry it across the campus while saying hi to people on my way to the choo to empty it. Talk about A.W.K.W.A.R.D.N.E.S.S.

It’s May, what?! Where did you come from? Shouldn’t it still be March?

What does one does when they’re on break somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Kenya and bored out of their mind at 9pm? Why of course make a mini basketball goal out of an empty jam jar and paper. Yes, pathetic I know……

One of the vendors’ child likes to wave whenever he sees me (he’s somewhere around 15-18 months old). Today he decided to run up to me and give me a high-five….c.u.t.e.s.t. thing ever!

Don’t get me wrong it’s nice being on break but….I’m reaching the “omg, I’m so antsy and bored…what shall I do to waste all this time I have” breaking point….