The Statue of Liberty--Senegalese style

Currently under construction on a high hill right on the edge of the Atlantic, the North Koreans are building a gigantic statue of a man emerging from the depths of a volcano with his wife and child. It is supposed to represent the African Renaissance (the African people rising up and forging the way towards development). It looks a little absurd as the man's head is missing, the final piece to be put in place. Is that a metaphor for the whole idea of the statue? What were they thinking? I see it every day along the Cornishe--and often use it to orient myself when travelling around the city.

I understand that the president (of Senegal) says he wishes it to be a landmark that distinguishes Dakar from the rest, like the Statue of Liberty in New York, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I am told that it is rather controversial with the people here. With all of the real-life, pressing problems facing Senegal, does Dakar really need a bronze statue taller than the Statue of Liberty? North Korea's gift to Senegal seems to have some quid pro quo for something that Senegal allowed North Korea to do.

Flowers in my neighborhood

Sunday, I took my camera with me when I took Parami out for our morning walk.

The flowers and trees are so beautiful--which you can see here. What you don't see is all the trash, next to and all along the edges. Always the contrasts here. I don't know the names of any of them--maybe Jane can identify them in a comment, like Aki filling in details about the Cornishe.

First Week of School--Curricula

The first week of school and we introduce the routines and procedures of moving through the day.

We begin each day with journal writing. On this day, (top two photos) the children drew self-portraits to put on the cover of the folders they made to keep their journal entries in.

One of the new materials included in this years shipment was a bucket of gears. There are no unit blocks, just some giant legos which are not very flexible for building, and some small colored wooden blocks. Oh, how I miss those unit blocks. The gears have been most intriging with the boys however. By the end of week, the two boys on the left--who had continuous conflicts from day one--were working together to build a complicated gear structure and then take turns operating it (with a little support from me, of course.)

About the curricula--how I miss all the planning already prepared in OWL--now I am trying to put together all the pieces in an OWL like fashion to integrate the day in a way that makes sense to me and the children.

Everyday Math--seems similar to Building Blocks, but it has a "math" workbook for each child with worksheets, and a "homework" workbook to send home with each child. It also has an interesting collections of games. Good "Math Minute" activities to use at transitions.
Many of the lessons I will use during small group time.

A Phonic program by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas--most of the activities I can do during my SWPL time.

There is a science curriculm FOSS--of which the kindergarten only does two units--Trees and Wood & Paper--the materials look good--lots of hands-on experiments (the other two units designed for Kdg are done in Preschool) The two FOSS units will be two of my themes during the year. I'll be looking for some good story books to use during the units. Please let know if you have any suggestions.

The social studies we are told is just "Sense of Self and Others" and a week on Senegalese awareness. The other kindergarten teacher and I have plans to expand this and include more about Senegal. The "others" will be those in the community and community jobs. We have brainstormed a list crafts people to invite to the classroom. And during the unit on Wood and Paper we will have a field trip to visit wood carvers in Dakar.

The school has just invested a ton of money on buying level readers from Scholastic, for every grade level, Kdg to 5th grade.. There are six copies of each title, ten titles in each box--and I received at least ten boxes. This program was designed by Gay Su Pinnell. I haven't had time to even look at them. The boxes were delivered to the classroom the day before we started.

The writing curriculum is "Six Traits"--I have some ideas about how to integrate in my Journal Writing. The materials include a book to read which illustrates each of the traits. Haven't begun this at all. One of the books is "No David" which I consider one of the worst books to read--I immediately removed it from the set and stuck it in the back of the closet.

There is nothing about reading aloud to the children! Luckily, the kindergarten has a number of books, from which I have found a few good titles for my story time, to tie into themes. And the librarian at the school is great.

Specialists--I wasn't really expecting so much specialists time, but Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I don't have the kids at all in the afternoon, as the last three periods after lunch are spent with specialists. The children have Music & PE 2x a week, art & computers once a week, French every day is their last activity. The children have French with the other kindergarten class and the 2 first grade classes--they are divided into four groups depending on level of proficiency.

I have scheduled one of the 4th grade classes to come once a week for a half hour for Reading Buddies. The children met each other Friday. One of my children, Peter, has an older brother in the 4th grade class and they worked together--Peter seemed to love having a big brother in the class. The children also go to Library once a week, when they are read to and they can check out a book to take home each week.

The school policy is not to assign homework in kdg, but some parents are already asking for it! I have said that I will not be giving homework but I am asking parents to read every day to their child, and as children want to take home beginning readers, they can read to their parents. We do have many games which I can send home for parents to play with their children. The Everyday Math kits has lots of games which can be sent home as well.

First Day of School

Monday, August 24th is the first day of school. There are 15 children on my class list, only 13 showed today--2 from USA. The rest are all over, one each from Guinee, Germany, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Netherlands, and two from UK, India, and two with dual citizenship, USA/Sierra Leone and Mali/Australian. I have been practicing saying their names--the teacher next door in prek 4 class has been coaching me.

I have been studying all the new curricula I will be using, and trying to integrate them into themes, reinforcing concepts, vocabulary and adding read aloud story time which isn't part of any of the curricula.

The day just flew by--The children had a full afternoon with 3 specialist--Music and then Art next door in the preK-4 classroom, the 4's are only half day, and then on to French for last period of the day. The children have French every day. Tomorrow they computers, then PE, and then French.

My assistant teacher, Sedi, is terrific and I would never have managed to get the classroom ready without her. She is expecting a child in October and will probably be out until after the Christmas break. I am so grateful to have her assistance in getting starting the year.

I will post some photos of the classroom soon.

Cycling to school

I bought a bike from a teacher who was leaving Dakar. It was in my apartment when I arrive, but the front tire had a flat. I borrowed a pump, but discovered the tire had a slow leak, so every day, both going and coming, I had to add air. When my shipment arrived, with extra bike tubes, I finally had it fixed. The ride is not very long, but I have to get off and on the bike several times, all those handicapped curb cuts in USA are very handy. The ride is along the cornish--the most modern, best paved road I've seen here. It was built for some special occasion, but I forget what it was.
Top right photo includes the sidewalk I ride on. Blank walls invite graffiti any where in the world. I do not know the reason for the barbed wire on the fence. Almost all the fences had some type of menacing material at the top. In the photo, top right, you can see how lovely this ride is. In the photo on the left, you'll see the top of Mosquee de Ouakam, which is where I begin my ride along the Cornish--after weaving through some back streets and cutting across a walking area. A few other staff ride, but most comment on how brave I am.

Before I was using my bike, I walked this route to the school--takes about 1/2 hour--and I would be dripping with sweat when I arrived. My first weekend in Dakar, as I was walking to the school, there was an incredible motorcade on the road. Must have been some very high offical--there was an escort of motorcycle police, big SUVs with lights flashing and sirens blarring, and then finally an extra long stretch limo with black glass, followed by more escorts.

Getting to know the local ways

I need some additional furniture--so my maid, Martine went shopping for me. She found a desk which we put in the kitchen for more counter top space as well as having six drawers. I also got a table for my desk top computer. When I asked her how we would get it home, she went a hired a horse and cart which was tied up just down the street from the shop. It is a neighborhood shopping street--no tourist here. You walk past goats and chickens, stands where people roast and sell bags of peanuts. The photo is the cart arriving at my apartment, which is on the second floor. Martine told me not to come with her when she hired the cart--without me she could negotiate a better price.


I finally got the internet hooked up in my
apartment. This is what the cord situation is like.
I had to run extention cords from the outlet that works on one side of the room, over to the phone connection that works to hook up the router. I had to borrow a phone from my neighbor to use to make the connection. You have to have a land line phone connection in order to get on to the internet. On the other side of the room, there is an electrical outlet that works--and a telephone jack that does not work. Such is life here. I have lost electricity several times--and the back up generator does not work properly. I am told it will get fixed--some day. I have been told we only need air conditioner for about two more months--and then the dry season arrives with cooler temperatures--some consider it down right cold!

swimming at Club Atlantic

The pool at the Club Atlantique is next door to the school. It is 25 yards long and feels like a heated pool. I had planned to swim after school, but by the afternoon it is so warm that I can't swim very many laps. If I swim earlier in the day, it feels a little less like swimming in the bath tub. I was told that the pool close for several months in the winter because the water gets too cold to swim. The new director of the club says they bought a pool cover to keep the heat in, during the night and they think that will help. Maybe I will switch to swimming after school when the water warms up!

The snack bar next to the pool has wonderful food. The chef is Lebanese and make great hummus and other specialities. Many teacher come over here to buy lunch--they even have a window on the school side to order.

First Week

It has been a very busy first week: learning about the school, cleaning out the classroom, finding your way around, being introduced to many new people and orientation to many new systems. My shipment arrived yesterday, and I'm feeling more at home surrounded with my stuff.

The new hires are being warned that we are in the honeymoon period and sometime in a few months the honeymoon will be over--and culture shock hits you.

I can use my bike to get to and from school, except I need to add air to the front tire for each trip. I do have extra tubes, and just need to recruit someone to help me repair the one with the slow leak.

I'm posting from photos of a restaurant on the ocean and the dinner for the new hires at the director's house, it is always about food.

Coming up--more about my life in Dakar and the classroom this weekend. I'm still not connected to the internet at the apartment and just steal some time and school to do this.

Karen

Arrived in Dakar

Arrived last night in Dakar. The scene at the airport reminded me of India and Sri Lanka. My apartment is sparsely furnished and huge. I have 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, kitchen, and living/dining room that is bigger than either of my kids places in NYC. and hallway like a bowling alley.

I worried most about how my little dog would manage, and he did fine. He just didn't like it!

I just realized how long it has been since I last posted on the blog. I was so busy with finishing work, dealing with downsizing and moving that I couldn't deal with any thing more.

I got to see my new classroom, it is not the same one as I had photos of. I'll bring my camera next time to take before and after photos. The other kindergarten teacher, who had been teaching in Korea is here, but I have not met her yet.