It’s been a disrupted week
this week with the normal program suspended while YES Tanzania (Youth
Empowerment through Sport – a Scottish NGO) ran Leadership training with 20 of
our students. This involved some theoretical work in the classroom and lots of
running around on the paddock near the centre. Some teaching staff and
outplacement students were also involved in a ‘Train the Trainer’ capacity. On
Friday the students and trainers went to a local primary school and ran a
sports carnival.
While 20 students were out
of class doing their thing, the remaining students were in a combined class
‘marking time’ – revision in English and maths are not as exciting as running
around in the paddock playing games! I was teaching the IT classes while the IT
teacher was being ‘empowered through sport’ which was a challenge – I’m useless
with Windows machines and only familiar with Office for Mac applications.
Nevertheless, with help from Mr Google, I taught the students how to put
animation into their Powerpoint presentations. There are a few students who
need to learn ‘less is more’ as they delighted in having words spinning in and
out all over the page! We had a demonstration of Skype in action and the students sang Happy Birthday to Steve on Thursday. I also made good use of the Kagera Reading Program.
On Friday, so the students
who weren’t YES men wouldn’t miss out on their dose of sport, we had an “Old
Fashioned Games” event on the paddock. Two student teams and a teacher team
competed in games such as leapfrog, tag and marbles. The students laughed when
Danielle announced I was in the teachers’ team – very rude! I’ll get some pics from Caroline next week
and add them to this blog.
We had a special afternoon
tea – Pyrou provided oranges, I brought a watermelon and some mini-muffins and
Danielle and Kaylene made a peanut butter and chocolate cake. The day finished
with “prizes”. Students were allowed one garment of their choice from the recycled
clothes cupboard. A great day was had by all!
Next week normal service
resumes and I hope to observe some classes as well as run a workshop on
planning for the remainder of the term, including provision for unexpected interruptions
such as we’ve just had!
