Well 2 weeks have passed for me at my school, and I must say it's been fun, interesting, chaotic, confusing, stressful...and am having a blast! It's been a challenge juggling rotating classes., endless revolving-door students, and inconsistent standards, but it's been really really fun testing myself.
First I was told I would have one one-hour class on Wednesdays, who were nmy Counterpart, Mr. Ben's students. Then I was told I would have another one on Fridays. Then the French teacher said his students would see me on Thursdays. See, at my school computer class is basically an optional course, not required for graduation and such. People just show up when they feel like it. Which kinda takes pressure off of me, as I now have the freedom to prepare class materials the way I want, teach them how I wish, and basically make class as fun as possible!
Class has been interesting and challenging to prepare for. Most classes here (English, Math, etc.) involve alot of lecturing on the part of teachers with students taking notes, then they take tests, etc. I want to break away from that and make computer class fun, interactive, and less formal. I already play music on the computer speakers when they enter the room, and have allowed students to see and touch real computer equipment and other "types" of computers (ie the tablet I brought from the States, my no-longer-working smart phone, my mp3 player. etc.). It's been challenging as on the first day of class, four of the workstations wouldn't boot up, my intro presentation froze, the projector wouldn't work properly, and the students came in a half-hour late to class (which in retrospect was good because the material that I thought would take an hour only took 20+ minutes ;p.
My Wednesday class is made up of Year-8 Anglophones (English-speakers), Thursday is a mix of Year-7 & 8 Anglophone and Francophones, and Friday are Year-8 Francophones. Interestngly, I found the Francophone students to be more mature than the Anglophones, behavior-wise. Dunno why *shrug*
The teachers here are great (mostly), and some are really dedicated to the task. I'm fortunate in that my Counterpart is very very enthusiastic about IT and is willing to learn whatever he can. He's even taking IT courses at the University of South Pacific. I told him after 2016 there may not be any more IT Peace Corps volunteers in Vanuatu due to budget reasons, so I hope that lights a fire under the school's ass to get him to a full-time position as strictly IT. Currently he teaches Math, English, and Science, and is coach of the girl's soccer team. This keeps him very busy, and as an IT teacher, when he's not teaching, he will also be the IT maintenance guy. Hell, I probably spend 1/4 of my time installing GAMES onto teacher laptops. I also hope to spend some time getting to know the IT setup here better. It's been a bit hard since I just inherited it from my predecessor, but I'm slowly but surely making it my own.
We have a new Headmaster at our school, a young guy from Eton, another village, while our good-for-nothing headmaster moved over to Eton. Basically a Headmaster-swap. Speaking to the PCV in Eton, he says that yeah the new Headmaster sucks, he's never at the school, always drinking, etc. Thankfully our new Headmaster is very good, he's there everyday, and seems pretty hands-on. Sucks for Eton though.
Looks like the Community in Erakor is interested in having adult workshops sometime during Spell time in May. So we'll see how that goes, I knda wanted to spend the free time travelling to the other islands where the other PCVs are, but oh well. There's also a "World ICt Day" in May so we'll see if I can get Erakor to participate in that somehow.
Oh they started giving out school lunches at our school. VT 50 and I can get a big plate of rice, Island Cabbage, etc. Not bad. Oh and for another 50 I can get an ice cream cone ;p
Oh yeah and there was this huuuuge celebration in our village for the recent election of one of our ministers, and the big-ass fancy bus he managed to get donated to the school. It was donated by the Chinese governent, and has AC, a TV monitor, etc. I should move outta my house and in there lol Honestly I have no idea what they're gonna use it for though, all the kids who attend the school come from the surrounding village which is in walking distance. We don't even have a proper parking space! I guess they could use it for fieldtrips?
Personally I think they should just sell the monster, and use the money to upgrade our IT equipment.
So yeah that's how it is in my school. You know, for a long time I felt stagnant back home in Hawaii, unfulfilled, trying to figure out what I was missing...but now that I'm finally working and doing things with the freedom to explore how I want to do it, I feel totally alive and rejuvenated. It's an amazing feeling. :o)
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| My classroom! |
First I was told I would have one one-hour class on Wednesdays, who were nmy Counterpart, Mr. Ben's students. Then I was told I would have another one on Fridays. Then the French teacher said his students would see me on Thursdays. See, at my school computer class is basically an optional course, not required for graduation and such. People just show up when they feel like it. Which kinda takes pressure off of me, as I now have the freedom to prepare class materials the way I want, teach them how I wish, and basically make class as fun as possible!
Class has been interesting and challenging to prepare for. Most classes here (English, Math, etc.) involve alot of lecturing on the part of teachers with students taking notes, then they take tests, etc. I want to break away from that and make computer class fun, interactive, and less formal. I already play music on the computer speakers when they enter the room, and have allowed students to see and touch real computer equipment and other "types" of computers (ie the tablet I brought from the States, my no-longer-working smart phone, my mp3 player. etc.). It's been challenging as on the first day of class, four of the workstations wouldn't boot up, my intro presentation froze, the projector wouldn't work properly, and the students came in a half-hour late to class (which in retrospect was good because the material that I thought would take an hour only took 20+ minutes ;p.
My Wednesday class is made up of Year-8 Anglophones (English-speakers), Thursday is a mix of Year-7 & 8 Anglophone and Francophones, and Friday are Year-8 Francophones. Interestngly, I found the Francophone students to be more mature than the Anglophones, behavior-wise. Dunno why *shrug*
The teachers here are great (mostly), and some are really dedicated to the task. I'm fortunate in that my Counterpart is very very enthusiastic about IT and is willing to learn whatever he can. He's even taking IT courses at the University of South Pacific. I told him after 2016 there may not be any more IT Peace Corps volunteers in Vanuatu due to budget reasons, so I hope that lights a fire under the school's ass to get him to a full-time position as strictly IT. Currently he teaches Math, English, and Science, and is coach of the girl's soccer team. This keeps him very busy, and as an IT teacher, when he's not teaching, he will also be the IT maintenance guy. Hell, I probably spend 1/4 of my time installing GAMES onto teacher laptops. I also hope to spend some time getting to know the IT setup here better. It's been a bit hard since I just inherited it from my predecessor, but I'm slowly but surely making it my own.
We have a new Headmaster at our school, a young guy from Eton, another village, while our good-for-nothing headmaster moved over to Eton. Basically a Headmaster-swap. Speaking to the PCV in Eton, he says that yeah the new Headmaster sucks, he's never at the school, always drinking, etc. Thankfully our new Headmaster is very good, he's there everyday, and seems pretty hands-on. Sucks for Eton though.
Looks like the Community in Erakor is interested in having adult workshops sometime during Spell time in May. So we'll see how that goes, I knda wanted to spend the free time travelling to the other islands where the other PCVs are, but oh well. There's also a "World ICt Day" in May so we'll see if I can get Erakor to participate in that somehow.
Oh they started giving out school lunches at our school. VT 50 and I can get a big plate of rice, Island Cabbage, etc. Not bad. Oh and for another 50 I can get an ice cream cone ;p
Oh yeah and there was this huuuuge celebration in our village for the recent election of one of our ministers, and the big-ass fancy bus he managed to get donated to the school. It was donated by the Chinese governent, and has AC, a TV monitor, etc. I should move outta my house and in there lol Honestly I have no idea what they're gonna use it for though, all the kids who attend the school come from the surrounding village which is in walking distance. We don't even have a proper parking space! I guess they could use it for fieldtrips?
 |
| this is why you shouldn't give me the keys to the school bus lol |
Personally I think they should just sell the monster, and use the money to upgrade our IT equipment.
So yeah that's how it is in my school. You know, for a long time I felt stagnant back home in Hawaii, unfulfilled, trying to figure out what I was missing...but now that I'm finally working and doing things with the freedom to explore how I want to do it, I feel totally alive and rejuvenated. It's an amazing feeling. :o)
