First day with the kiddies

(June 20) Yesterday was the first day of class! (ps determined scrambled eggs and toast are the best things for breakfast) Anna and I prepared our lesson plan the night before. We gave the students name tags to stick to their shirts and a pen. We had also made them notebooks by folding five sheets of paper in half and covering them with a folded piece of construction paper with three hole punches in all and held together by yarn (and believe me, our hands were tired after 210 old school hole punches). We told them to bring the notebooks and pens every day, and they did! Our lesson was about the world. We brought a map and posted it to the board, explaining the seven continents and the major oceans. We also discussed their country and ours and how we had got to Malawi, the transportation methods and such. The world was a tough concept, but they did very well. After this, we allowed them to sing and dance a bit. After this break, we had prepared a list of about 15 vocabulary words (something we are hoping to do every day) and had the students say them and then place them on either their respective objects or the wall under the title “English Words.” Many of the words were simple this go around because we needed to get a gauge on their abilities. We also had them to write sentences with the words. Sentence structure and creativity need some work. Since this was our first day, we had misjudged the time allowed by a little, but not much. To fill the 45 minutes remaining, I taught mathematics, while Anna took individual pictures of each student for a project later on. My biggest challenge was trying to have them get the concept. I wanted them to know WHY we teach them to add and subtract..why we want them to be able to make sentences, not just have the skill. The reason behind is so much more important. These are skills that will help them immensely.

Following class and a peanut butter sandwich, we walked over to the Demonstration School (where NC A&T teaches) to get on the bus and head to the market. There, we got some necessities (water), the Internet cards for cheaper than at Annie’s, some school supplies, and fabric. I also grabbed dinner in town at Tasty Bites (2 beef samoosas and rice) and then walked back up with a few people. When back, I went immediately went to a neighbor’s house to be measured and have clothes made. I decided to have a one-shoulder top, a pencil skirt, and a bag made. We’ll see how it turns out. Overall, a really great day

Katlin Wohlford