Monday, May 26, 2014

Presbyterian school

What a perfect assignment!

I am at aPresbyterian run school for ages 3-6 on the church property. We start with staff devotions. The pastor speaks Swahili, but of course if he says John 3:16, I know what he is talking about! The words to the songs are printed. But since they were not written down until the English did, they are completely phonetic making them a snap to sing. One was Jesus Loves Me but to...apparently...an alternative tune.

Then we have devotions with the kids who do praise, worship and prayer. The kids sing with enthusiasm.  Amazing wear-you-out excitement about Jesus. It was energizing to be a part. In the little purple uniforms they sat at desks, even the 3 year olds. No free play and discovery. Call and repeat, numbers 1-100, letters and words. Then the Big Stick came out and teeny little children went up to the board and, hardly able to reach the board, pointed to the numbers and letters. And the class repeated, with decreasing enthusiasm and increasing wiggling. But still. It is just a different way of learning more based on oral work than written.

Because there was virtually no paper, very few and uninspired signs, none of the learning equipment I used to teach 3-6 in the library. Not even power point! They each had one Blue Book type notebook, no work sheets and if there we're color pages, there were no crayons. But the kids were clean and attentive and completely adorable.

Tomorrow I am up to teach English - the letter D. Dr. Seuss said, "Big D, little D, David Dunkin DOO dreamed a donut and a duck dog, too!" That won't translate well.
 

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