Goree Island, Part 3

This is the final entry about Goree. Writing these is taking about as long as my trip there!
Here are a few photos from the top of the island--a pleasant walk past merchant stalls. On my way back I passed this woman who was trying to sell me some beaded necklaces which I was not interested in. They were cheap enough but I didn't want any. This woman was one of the poorer merchants as she did not have a shop, just carried her wares in her hand. I asked her if I could take a photo of her with her daughter--and gave her an amount to what she was asking for her necklace, about $2.00.

Sand paintings are sold in Dakar, but here we visited a shop and had a demonstration. All the sands are natural colors from the area or neighboring countries. On the table in front of the artist, you can see rings of the different colors. First he covered the board with a glue made from the Baobab tree--and then puts on the different sands to create a picture. I bought one of the pictures--you can see it behind the artist. It is of a woman carrying a bundle on her head and a baby on her back.




















We passed an elementary school walking back to the harbor. Last year one of the 5th grade classes spent the weekend on Goree and the children slept in the courtyard of the school. Some of the parents were reluctant to have their children stay there--they wanted them to stay in a hotel, but it worked out in the end and they had a great time. The courtyard is sort of bare, because schools have not yet opened, desks are all pushed to one side. They open in a week or two--after Ramadan and the worst of the rainy season.

The last picture walking over to the dock to get the ferry back to Dakar. There is a beach just to the left of the dock--filled with kids swimming and playing in the water.

Goree Island Part 2--Slave house Baobab Tree

The island is just for walking and what a lovely place it is. The houses were sometime built like ships as the first photo shows. The pink building is the slave house. It was built by a Dutch merchant and while some slaves were held here, it turns out that Goree Island was not really the center of the slave trade. The door way to the sea at the back of the house was not where the slave were shipped from--no ship could have docked there. Also, there is no fresh water on the island so maintaining a large number of people is unlikely. The majority of slaves left from other ports in west Africa, such as Gambia and Ghana.


Here are some of the teachers with Almamay in the courtyard of the house, and on the balcony above with our other guide Laity. The Baobab tree is common here and there are many African tales about the tree. The trunk is enormous and the fruit of the tree, called Monkey Bread in French (pain de singe) is used to make a popular drink here called bouye. If you look closely at the photo on the left you can see the large green fruit hanging from the branches. I like love the drink, along with Bissap (made from dried hibiscus flowers) and gingerbeer which my maid prepares for me on a regular basis.











The kindergarten's science curriculum includes a unit on Trees this fall. The curriculum is written for the US--beginning with "fall colors" which are none here. I have been enjoying researching trees of west Africa and look forward to learning more with the children as we explore this unit.

Goree Island, Part 1

Last Saturday I spent the day on Goree Island.
Goree Island is just a 20 minute ferry ride from Dakar--but so peaceful, no cars, no bikes, it is kept clean. About 1000 people live on the island. It was the first European settlement in Africa, started by the Portuguese, then the Dutch took over, and then the French, and the English. Goree exchanged hands between the French and English 5 times. It is most famous for being the center of the slave trade. There is a "slave house", monument about the slave trade, and in the Catholic church there is a plaque commemorating a visit by the Pope with a quote apologizing for the church's role in starting the slave trade (it was a Portuguese priest who proposed it) and condoning slavery. The slave trade continued for 300 years and the numbers of dead horrendous.

The photos show the group of teachers on ferry with our guides, and approaching the island. This trip continues in next entry, Goree Island, part 2, because of needing to load the photos in reverse order. Maybe some can explain a better way to upload photos.

What an adventure!

It is still the rainy season. It can rain several times during a day--with sunshine in between. You don't get much warning. Two weeks ago on Wednesday, we canceled outside play, all three times, before school, after snack and after lunch, but it still cleared up and sun was shining so the children had their first swimming class in the afternoon before French class.

This Wednesday, the kids were looking forward to their second swim class. The weather looked good. It did cloud up and rained briefly, cutting after lunch outside time a little short. But the sun was shiny when I checked with PE teacher, Kerri, about the class. Yes, she said, come even if it is raining lightly, if it rains harder, we'll go into the clubhouse for the class. If you check out the first photo in an earlier blog "swimming at Club Atlantic" you see the clubhouse behind the pool.


The children are in their bathing suits, with their dry clothes and towels in swim bag to change after the swim and we walk across the field. We are about half way to the pool, when it starts to rain lightly. We go through the gate and Kerri suggests that we put the bags under the roof, next to the cafe, (you can see this in the second photo in earlier blog, "swimming at Club Atlantic") so their things won't get wet. Just then, we hear a little thunder in the distance but no lighting. Kerri said, let's just wait a minute--and I stopped a few kids who were about to take off their shirts.

Suddenly the cloud burst--torrents of rain, high winds, and more thunder. A wall of water made it impossible to move across to the club house where we would have been more protected. One child climbed onto my lap, then another, both saying they wanted their mommies. While we huddled together, Kerri kept the other kids busy with songs and simon says. The wind was so strong the rain was falling sideways. There were some other adults under the roof with umbrellas and they opened them to create a "wall" on the side where the rain was blowing. Then to our amazement, a large bird, some type of vulture, landed in the pool--swam around a little--and then climbed out and walked across the deck.

We had two mother volunteers, our classroom maid, myself, Kerri and her assistant swim instructor trapped under the roof. No hope of the rain stopping before the children had to go to French class, we decided that we would move everyone over to classrooms area, and get them into their somewhat dry clothes before taking them to the French classrooms. The group is divided into 4 classrooms depending on their level of proficiency. The staff at the club, came with big umbrellas, like the kind inserted in center of tables, and helped us walk over to the wing of the building with the French classrooms. The path was so flooded that we walked on the grassy playing field, at one point I picked up a child who just had on flip-flops and carried her over the worst of the mud. Dry shirts and socks had hastily been thrown into bags to try to keep them dry. We could not find one of the shirts. (It turned up later). Of course, the sun was shining by the end of French class and the children were departing. No indication of what had happened earlier--except for the missing shirt!

The next day, instead of starting the day with Journal Writing, the children dictated a story about the events of the day before. Several children have drawn pictures to illustrate the story and I plan to spend sometime this weekend "publishing" the story and printing copies for each family. I'll post it on the blog when it is done.

Classroom arrangement

I had been concerned that there was no water or sand in the classroom. There is lots of sand outside, and two water tables which we can set up outside. Right now the weather is extremely hot and humid, but sometime in October it will dry out and cool off, at that point we can spend more time outside.

The classroom is set up with left half of the room as a meeting area and construction zone, dramatic play area, and art table and easel at the back near the sink. On the right side of the classroom are the children's cubbies, a math/manipulative table, a science/manipulative table, my desk with computer next to the writing area. There is a room that connects the two kindergarten classroom which has been set up as a book area--also puppets. The other classroom rarely uses it--their classroom is larger and they have a fairly large book area in the classroom. I still have the classroom rather bare, as we are introducing different materials and adding slowly.

I dislike those ECE rugs with all the patterns and colors, but it is the only rug I could get. The room is all hard surfaces and the noise level is high. Sometimes, I think the decibel level is so high we'll all get hearing damage--but I look around the classroom--during choice time--and all the children are busy and productive, everyone engaged and happy.

In the photos you see the children at snack time, on the rug building with small colored blocks, and some center activities, water colors at art table, geo boards, and a sorting button activity at the math table. I had read the story of "The Lost Button" in Frog and Toad Are Friends before we introduced this activity in small group. Two weeks later when I read "Corduroy"--the teddy bear who was missing a button on his overalls--the children commented on the relationship of how Corduroy was like Toad--missing a button. And we had a good discussion about they the dealt with the problem differently!

from coaching teachers to teaching children

For the past many years I have been teaching teachers--wow, is it easy to think of how a teacher might have handled a situation differently when you are just sitting and observing. Now, teaching a group of kindergartners, after 30 years away from direct teaching, it can be challenging to switch gears, respond to the unexpected, and read the needs of the children. I have such admiration for all the teachers I have seen making it look almost effortless.

Last week, I biked to school in the sunshine, within 20 minutes it was pouring! The kids could not play outside before school and came straight into the classroom. During snack time it was clear that they could not go outside. Walking the group back to the classroom after Library time for lunch, the sun is shining and we pass the elementary principal, who tells us "regular recess after lunch". You guessed it, by the time we finished lunch--it was pouring again. Half way through the day I was exhausted, mostly due to mental activity--I had to reach back into that memory bag of tricks to keep the kids engaged, allow some active, gross motor movement, and also help them calm down, relax and take a rest. We did a number of whole group activities when they could not go outside, like freeze dancing and songs with lots of motions. Before rest time, we did some gentle stretches and relaxation breathing.

Two days of the week, in the afternoon, the class is divided into two groups that switch lessons between math and reading, one lead by me and one by Sedi. On this rainy day, we had already done a number of whole group activities. So, I just gave the children an additional choice time, instead of another teacher directed lesson. They were all so engaged in what they were doing, exploring materials in creative ways, and talking with one another about how to build together. One child in the writing area, started a "dictionary"--she would draw a picture and then write the word. She was using the rhyming words we had just used during song time. Sometimes, more is not better and less directions from the teacher, helps the children become more self-directed. I could finally breath a sigh of relief.

OMG, did I just say that!

Mid week I had a really bad day at school. The night before I had little sleep, the power was off and it was so hot and humid, I just lay on the bed dripping sweat, fanning myself with the air conditioning instruction booklet. I took 3 cold showers trying to cool off. The power did come on for a couple of hours during the night (1 to 4 am) but I felt exhausted in the morning. All day I felt out of sorts and annoyed with the kids. I was so cranky with them. I said all those things that I would cringe when I heard teachers fussing at kids. I had no patience. To add to my stress, I had playground duty that day, so the day felt non stop, no breaks. And my knee was hurting.

Biking home that day, I was thinking, maybe I just can not do this. It has been too long since I was in the classroom, I'm too old, too out of shape. If I was a kindergartner, I would not want me for a teacher!

The next day, one of the girls arrived in tears. She had shown signs of separation anxiety but had been holding it in. A few days before, I had talked with her about her asking to go to the bathroom all the time. I said, "sometimes, if you just want to be by yourself, you can ask to go to the quiet room, you don't have to go to the bathroom all the time. " It didn't surprise me that she finally was letting it out, but my first reaction was--no wonder she doesn't want to come to school with such an ill tempered teacher!

I spent extra time with her, sat on my lap, I talked about how sad she was feeling and how much she missed her mommy. I said, "you know, when you are really, really missing your mommy, it makes your tummy hurt." When other children came over to ask why she was crying, we talked about when they missed their mommies. By mid-morning she got involved in playing--and it was one of her best days. She ate all her snack, did a block building with one of the active boys that she normally avoided, and wanted to read a book to me. When I commented that she seemed to be having fun in school, she said smilingly, "I still miss my mommy." On the playground, she connected with a friend who is in the other kindergarten class. I asked her if she misses her mommy sometimes. "No, never," she replied, "but I know some kids do."

Classically, she got busy drawing a picture and totally ignored her mother when she arrived to pick her up. It felt good to connect with a child--and somewhat amazed at the reaction of the other children. A few other children started sharing about how they missed their mother also.
And then one of the most self-possessed, self-assured, competent girls in the class, begins clinging to me and saying how much she misses her mom. By the next, she was back to her old self again. I thinking making this emotional connection with the children was very therapeutic for me. Friday was a great day, and I felt renewed to forge on.

My Assistant Teacher--Sedi

Not only have I been assigned the best group of children, I am fortunate to have an outstanding assistant. She has been at the school for 10 years. Her mother works in the school office. The only downside of having Sedi for my assistant is that she is pregnant! She is due in October--I have told her to take as much time as possible and not return to work until after the winter vacation.

Last year, Sedi assisted the French teachers, and has already been asked to substitute for an absent French teacher. She worked in the kindergarten once before, and also other elementary grades. She knows the ropes, reminds me of all the routines (like making sure the children empty their shoes of sand when they return from the playground).

She gets things done that I didn't even know need to be done! And she has lots of good advice about how to do things. For example, next week the children start swimming lessons in PE. They need to get changed into suits, get to the pool, and after swimming, get dressed and off to their last period of French lessons. I sort of shuddered at the thought of doing all this in 40 minutes! No problem, Sedi has a game plan. Get the girls into their suits first, before music, then get the boys ready by having them leave music a little early. She said I need to recruit two parents to help at the end of swimming to get them dressed and off to French. Voila! problem solved.