I've been keeping busy at West II elementary with various projects lately. I don't have pictures of the co-teaching, but I think it's going pretty well. (When it goes.) A couple times a week I teach fourth grade English to two classes. The students seem to enjoy my part of the lessons, and I try to make it fun so maybe they will learn something. It isn't easy.Last month was Filipino month, so we had a big program at the end of the month, celebrating Filipino culture. Here is one girl in the 'Traditional Costume' competition, Angelina. And three fifth grade students, Michael, Pearl Ann, and Ervino, doing a kind of dramatic reading about a lawyer, a judge, and a farmer. The lawyer and farmer are in some kind of dispute. I actually didn't know what was going on most of the time, because the program was in Filipino, not Ilonggo. But I wasn't alone, many of the kids, especially younger ones, don't understand Filipino. The MC asked everyone to
stand for the National Anthem, and then she had to repeat it in Ilonggo for the large majority of us who just sat there.The world map is going along great! We are almost done! I have a handful of fifth graders who come in everyday to help paint, and we are about to start labeling countries. This is Elaine and Noredel, standing in front of their work. Isn't it beautiful!?
And finally, I've been giving a computer lesson to a teacher everyday after school. This is a picture of me and Mrs. Cada (my host mom.) She is learning how to use the mouse. It can be hard to
teach this, because using a mouse is just second nature for me! But she has a good sense of humor about it, and laughs most of the time when she can't get the mouse to go where she wants it to. I think next week we'll start basic Word. Some of the other teachers are a little more advanced, so we've been working on how to use Excel (which I barely know how to use myself) and little things like keeping folders organized.So my work is going well, which always makes me feel good about my time here.
