Projects Galore!

So, for BIS and Arts this term Daisy and I decided that we would do some (reasonably big) projects. This would mean that we wouldn't have to do lesson plans constantly (although we haven't been asked for any so far, so I get the feeling they're not really going to be an issue) and we also thought it would be a bit of fun for the kids - especially since their lessons literally just consist of copying down stuff from the board.

So first of all we looked at the syllabus's. BIS said that this term we had to concentrate solely on writing and speaking. So I came up with the idea of getting the learners to all write their own story (one page long if they're in Grade 5, one and a half pages if they're in Grade 6, and two pages long for the Grade sevens). We gave them all exactly two weeks to write their stories - this way they can't use the excuse of 'I didn't have enough time to do it' if they don't hand it in time for the deadline.

When we have the stories Daisy and I will mark them, and so the learners will get one score for 'writing'. We're then going to give the stories back to the learners. They then will have to stand up in front of the rest of the class and read their story aloud (although I think if they're really shy/nervous we'll give them the option of just reading  it to the two of us) and thus they get a mark for their speaking. We're going to record the reading on my camcorder I think, so that all the children can watch themselves - they LOVE photos and videos!

And then once everybody has done their reading project we're going to decide on prizes. We haven't made up our minds completely about what the prizes are going to be for, but at the moment we've thought of: best story, best main character, neatest handwriting, best male speaker, best female speaker, best overall individual (lots of prizes for lots of encouragement - basically bribes). And despite the desperate pleas of the children, Daisy and I have made it clear that the prizes will not consist of either money or our hair (what is it with these kids and hair????) I think food is probably going to be the best (and cheapest) option!


We were, admittedly, quite pleased with this project. It seemed like a fun, and simple task. But no, once again Namibia has proved that everything has to be more complicated than it needs to be. Despite explaining to the children numerous times that they must write their own story, and that it must come out of their own heads (explaining the concept of 'imagination' proved too difficult) many of them simply do not seem to understand. One lesson was spent making the children write the following in their books:

I must not copy a story from a book
I must not copy a story from a film
I must not copy a story from the TV
I must not write down a story someone else has told me
I must not write down a Namibian story \
I must make up my own story

Yet still children continue to hand in stories with titles such as  'Cinderella', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', or 'the secret garden'. Again and again we read stories only to realise that they must be traditionally Namibian stories. Sometimes it's simply so obvious, children who can barely speak English giving in a story which includes a description of the beautiful tapestries that hung above the four poster bed, or the girl who managed to survive the Cholera and was whisked away to live in a lavish house nestled in the countryside.... And yet they still try to convince us that they made the story up, despite the fact that when we ask them to explain to us what a tapestry or Cholera is they are unable to do so. But a few of the children have finally handed in some original (if not a little confusing) stories - it seems there is still hope!


Showing the kids some Charlie Chaplin!


Arts has been....equally interesting. For some reason I cannot explain I decided to pick 'mime' as the topic (it was on the syllabus and I naively thought that if it didn't involve speaking it might make the lesson easier!) Once we had finally managed to explain what mime is (we showed them videos to help), we introduced the classes to their project. Splitting the classes up into small groups we instructed them to come up with a short mime. Thankfully some of them understood and began straight away - some of the classes have even begun to show their performances to the rest of the class. Yet as always, there is still a few learners who refuse to listen and insist they have no idea what is going on!

But oh well, recording the performances and the promises of prizes is once again motivating the majority of the children, and Daisy and I are left with the knowledge that we still have at least another week before we have to come up with the next idea for our lessons - if we manage to last that long!


1 laptop, 35 kids!!!