What have I been doing all year? I teach grades 3-8 health education in a public school that is governed by a Department of Education and the Orthodox church has a major input into the curriculum for health. Mainly about the reproductive health and self esteem. So after 32 weeks of classes with no book for reference and teaching in Romanian I did not want to do a test. The kids treat test like worksheet and the teachers give them answers too, so it really doesn't test their knowledge. I talked my partners into the idea of the kids doing a learning session for their parents and the community. We grouped the kids so each team had some of the less involved students with the achievers. Everyone had to participate in a game to question the public's knowledge, information on the subject and a demonstration on how it affects lives. The achievers took to it immediately but when they had to present to my partner and I, I rearranged the participants and had the achievers bring the less active up to speed so all participated equally. It worked pretty well except for the 2 boys that held the poster in one of the groups, they didn't talk... See photo below.
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| Dental care because they really don't know. |
We had few parents come but I had called some of the community members I knew and a retired teacher and they came. Small crowd and it did not happen like I anticipated... I thought each group would take 10 minutes... The parent plays the game the answers would be the information and the demonstration would last 3 minutes max. NO, Moldovan children are taught how to preform from 1st grade and they love the venue to do this. The 6,7,8 grade lasted for 2 hours and 1/2 and the 4&5 grade for 2 hour. They did a good job and were very proud and I was happy that I didn't have to grade papers and try and figure out what the kids had written for answers.... I think back to my 7&8 grades and remember having to write "I WILL NOT TALK" 1000 times more then once... and it was in my science class. Did I learn anything that year? Actually I did and I remember the names of clouds, how to tell the weather, continental plates and more if I really thought about it longer. So I am going with the thought that the kids are learning even if I can not really quantify results at present.
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| Tom answering questions about smoking |
Being a teacher is hard. If I have not prepared with new material and information the kids are disruptive and throwing stuff around the class while yelling at each other.... Some days are not fun. My partners have big voices and get them all back on track and it can be enjoyable... The language is going slow. I can tell what they are saying most of the time (when they speak Romanian, but the village is heavily influenced by Russian and the words are often a mix of the languages) but I don't have all the words to respond... Little by little it comes.
and then it goes.... We have 2 days of class left and then vacation. We will do a summer school in June and I will post more pictures of that. These are the kids we are involved with and see as the future for Moldova! Please continue to pray for them and us as we go forward. Love from Moldova,.
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| POLLUTION |
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| SMOKING |
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| MICROBES |
