Days 7,8 and 9 at Sheepcare Centre.

This week we have been going out to the other side of the city to the Kayole slums. Sheepcare Community Centre has classes for children ranging in ages from 3yrs in the pre-primary classes to 16 in form 1 (grade 9). When we arrived we were unsure of what they would like us to do. We had come prepared to do crafts like we did with the children from Anajali, however they didn't seem receptive to this idea at first. We had a meeting with the volunteer staff and it was decided that each day we would sit in with a particular class. If each of our team covered two classes then each class would get two visits over the week. Instead of doing crafts however we would assist the teachers in teaching the regular curriculum. This was a little scary for some of us, since half of our team are not trained teachers, but then many of the volunteer teachers aren't trained either. I chose to split my time between the form 1 class, teaching math and physics and class 6 teaching math and science.

 

Tuesday was my day to spend with the form 1 class. We covered volume in math class. I went over examples of how to compute the volume of cubes, cuboids and cylinders. I also covered how to convert cubic units, i.e. how many cubic meters are in a cubic centimetre. Then I assigned them 5 examples to work out for themselves. I marked each question as the finished them. They really like to see the check mark on their paper. I stepped aside to let the business & economics teacher do his class and then came back after lunch (12:50 to 2:00) to explain how force pumps and siphons work for their physics lesson.

 

Wednesday was my day to spend with Class 6. When I first came to their class they had a free period, so the head teacher asked if I would do a craft with them. Once she saw all the craft supplies we brought she seemed more eager for us to do crafts with the children. So I pulled out a bag of yarn and popsicle sticks and showed them how to make "God's eyes". So of my other team members have been able to fit the crafts in with the themes of their classes. I haven't managed to do that yet. After crafts it was time for math class, so the math teacher handed me the math text and said they were covering percentages. The students told me which exercise they had left off at and we started from there. I did two on the board as examples and then gave them a four part question to work on for themselves. I marked each part as the completed them because they really seemed to like seeing the check mark. Some even asked me to write "Good" next to their answer. They really seem hungry for approval. I left them with their Christen Education teacher for the next period and had some time to rest my voice before science class. The classrooms are so tightly packed and the noise level so loud it's hard to make yourself heard.

 

At lunch break I took one of the Form 1 girls aside and showed her how to make the friendship bracelet. I gave her some extra thread so she could use it to teach some others in their class. I feel bad that they don't have any free classes to do crafts so I'm trying to show a few how to make the bracelets and then I'll leave a pile of thread for the whole class to use in their spare time.

 

I tracked down the Class 6 science teacher and he gave me their text book. They were learning about food preservation and I was to cover modern techniques such as storing food at low temperatures (using evaporation to cool produce), deep freezing, and canning. When I returned to the class I gave each child a sticker to put in their note books as a reward for doing so well in their math class. Then it was time to leave.

 

The rest of the week is a bit up in the air. I may have an opportunity to return to Anajali to teach Wellington how to use his computer. I'm not sure if that'll be tomorrow or the next day. I explained to Class 6 that I would only have one more day at Sheepcare and that I would share that day between them and Form 1.