Things have continued to be one big adventure here in Tonga. I started volunteering at the local LDS Church high school and absolutely love it!! I work there 3 times a week working with the new PE/Health program they just started up this semester. I help Pasimati with anything she needs with the class. Last week I taught half of the class and she taught the other half of class. It worked out really well and I enjoyed teaching the students. It is a little bit challenging because even though the subject is taught in English most of the kids don’t understand or speak very much English. I gave them their first test and most of the kids didn’t do very well because I don’t think they understood all of the material. So my next goal is going to figure out a way for them to be able to understand and learn the material. Next week I will actually be taking over the class and teaching the Exercise portion of the class. I have planned the lessons and part of it is scheduled for outside play so the kids can actually participate in physical activity. I am excited though to be able to teach all the classes by myself but I am a little nervous. I love working at the school! It is so much fun to walk through the campus and hear all the students saying hi to me and wishing me a good morning or a nice day. I also get to interact with the teachers too and have learned a lot about different teaching techniques to use as well. It has been a good experience so far and I am really excited to see how the rest of it goes!
My project is also coming along. I started interviews at Saineha High School this last week with two of the teachers. They turned out really good but I realized that my questions need some work. They don’t really allow for any elaboration on the subjects but are mostly yes or no answers. So I need to work on my questions a bit before I do more interviews.
I think that might be all for now. Things really are going great and I absolutely love it here!
Sounds like you'd really like being a teacher! I think you and Barbara would have some really interesting conversations when we get back. She volunteered teaching some health/phys ed classes in an elementary and middle school in the ranchos here. Also, I'd love to talk to you about benefits and disadvantages of immersion schools for high schoolers (I'm a TESOL minor, remember?). Are they gaining or losing?
ReplyDeleteI agree that interviews are kind of challenging. Its a huge eye-opener to realize all these questions you thought were great aren't getting more than one word answers. If nothing else I learned how important it is to revise questions, oftentimes on the spot.
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