Second Day Of Teaching

Wednesday, July 17^th. SECOND DAY

Off again by 8 and arrived at the school shortly after. I set up the data projectors in both Irnice's room and ours. This morning our group had a really good devotional lead by a woman with singing, chanting and storytelling. Immediately after the man who tried to lead it yesterday came in. I said to him “You missed it!” But he made a religious speech after about how Jesus led him into the path of religion. Then he told me that he is a better speaker than singer. Jimmy came around with a nicely laid out schedule of rotation that he taped on every door. Unfortunately he had not listened when we asked for one on the first day and since then we had set up our own which all the participants understood and were happy with. So I went around to all three groups and told them to ignore the new schedule. Mavis led the workshop today on Early Interventions in Early Childhood Education. It outlined the basic stages of development of children up to age three and what to look for to indicate developmental delays, how to identify them and what to do about them. She showed a great video of a cougar stalking or bullying a bear cub and a couple more about child development. I added my two cents when appropriate and Wendy ran the slideshow for Mavis. I also went around and took a few photos for CTF of George and Irnice working. The workshops created lively discussions among all three groups as we made our rotations. This is perhaps the best result of these workshops, in that teachers from different areas and schools on the island can talk to and learn from each other.

George's assistant Simonique followed through with her threat of not coming in today, in fact she may have pulled out entirely. She is frustrated by the state of the lab and her role. She told me she felt unneeded.

After the workshops we had lunch and debriefed as usual, and as usual Jimmy did not participate. On the way home we were going to go to the grocery store but the ATM was down. I checked the local Pizza Hut for us. They deliver a 10 slice $35 supreme pizza for about $4. Maybe we'll do that one night.

Back at the house Irnice went for a nap, George worked on the blog he has created with the students and I read about the role tea played in the fall of China, the American War of Independence and the rise of Britain. George also made a KD mac and cheese with a cut up hot dog in it and corned beef. Then when Irnice woke up she locked herself out of her room. So I had to go and get Ken. When I went down to get him his wife answered the door and after seeing me she said “Good night.” I was a little taken aback but realized she was not saying goodbye rather Good Evening. We had a chuckle about that. Ken explained to me that's the island greeting. He got into the room from our balcony and opening a screen. Irnice went through the window and I had to lower her in by her ankles! Then Ken stayed around for a beer with us before he had to go home for dinner. He told us about a funeral for a locally famous musician named Patrick Eugene Prescod, tomorrow and invited us to come along as there would be musical tributes to the man and Ken was going to play a couple of songs as well on the pan. A bit sad, but a cultural experience nonetheless. We all retired shortly thereafter.