Back to work

Today we are back at work teaching in the school. Today and the next 2 days, we are being observed teaching by potential candidates for the job of superintendent which becomes vacant at the end of April. (Ruth and I are considering whether we should apply!)

This morning we taught the youngest children and used playdough, sang, did drawings and ended the session with a game of skittles. After the morning break, we split and took the 2 other groups. Ruth's group did writing patterns, number recognition and number sequencing to 5 and ended the morning with a music session. Stephanie's group (the most able group), read together a reading book we have made using the childrens photos and then did some simple subtraction work. The session finished with simple geography - looking at maps and then using video taken of the animals we have seen whilst we've been here. The children really enjoyed it and were impressed by the technology.

Let's introduce another 2 of the pupils. Prisca is 24 and has been in a wheeelchair for many years. She lives in the hostel for Kukura children. without any special aids being available for her, her spine has twisted badly and she is unable to sit up straight. She attempts speech and makes her needs known. One of her hands works fairly well so she uses a pencil. She loves to sing and joins in clapping when we have a worship session. She's always happy and smiling.

Ishe-unopa is a small bright eyed lovable child. He too lives in the hostel. He can't walk on his feet because they are malformed, but this doesn't stop him getting around using a crutch. Amazingly he loves to dance and has a good go at kicking a ball. He speaks in Shona - if only we did too! This morning he enjoyed using the playdough and spent time cutting up little bits with a knife.