Wow, what an amazing
week and weekend!
Here is my official plan
for my 9 weeks here in Ghana:
Week 1 - one-on-one
academic tutoring with nursery students
Week 2 -
one-on-one academic tutoring
Week 3 -
one-on-one academic tutoring
Week 4 - assist in
intervention classroom for students who are behind academically (not because of
mental disabilities but merely because of outside factors such as needing to
help the family at home)
Week 5 - teaching
assistant for Brendan (the UK program director)
Week 6 - teaching
assistant
Week 7 - lead teaching
Brendan's classroom
Week 8 - lead
teaching
Week 9 - lead teaching
I will also be working
one-on-one with Kirstie the educational coordinator to discuss how she created
the curriculum for the school. We will be discussing the differences between
Western/ European education and Ghanian education. I will also attend phonics
lessons with the other Ghanaian teachers.
The classroom experience
so far has been incredible. I work daily with the nursery students
teaching them letters, numbers, and word recognition. It has been
challenging to teach - both because I have never had to break addition,
subtraction, and word creation in such a simple light and because I am teaching
these kids in a language they are trying to learn (most speak Twi at home).
I'm greatly looking forward to working with a specific group of students
in a classroom at the end of my time here. It has been challenging to
have to split my time evenly among students during one-on-one time.
One aspect of education
that breaks my heart is that there is no component for special needs students.
They are merely ignored unless the student's family or school can pay
1,500cedi ($800) for a teacher or 3,000cedi ($1,600) to be sent to a
specialized school. Right now, the school coordinator (Billa) is trying
to scrounge together money to hire a teacher. I work beside a special
needs student named Jennifer and it is so difficult to watch her time being
wasted as there is no one who knows how to teach a student of her caliber here.
There is also no system set up for these students after they finish
school. If their family passes away, these children will be completely on
their own.
This past weekend I
traveled to Cape Coast with another volunteer (Hannah) and the volunteer
coordinator(Laura). We lounged by the beach, had SHOWERS, and watched the
local fishermen work on the beach. We also visited Cape Coast Castle (the
slave fort). It was disturbing to learn the horrorific events that took
place in this beautiful castle. One cellroom they would take misbehaving
slaves to. After the room was filled with 60 people, they would close off
the room until each one was dead. No food, no water, and surrounded by
others around you who are dead and rotting. Absolutely revolting. I
am so ashamed of this history.
We spent one night in
the east of Kakum National Park. It was a rural area where there were no
other tourists. We got a tour of how the village produces mass amounts of
palm nut oil and cocoa beans. Then, we followed our guide through an hour
and forty minute trek through the rainforest. We arrived just as it was
getting dark to a tree platform 20 feet above ground in the canopy where we
spent the night. Listening to the sounds of monkeys, birds, and other
critters in the darkness gave me a feeling too great for words.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
I could go on and on.
There is so much great stuff going on overseas. I believe I
captured the most important elements of my week. I hope your summers are
going splendidly and are also filled with adventures! Enjoy!
Love,
Jess
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