Marching on

I teach Art to all the 8th graders. There are four classes with an average of 40 learners per class.The project

for this term has been to choreograph and perform a traditional song. In the first period each class

self-divided into 4 groups, chose a group name that had to include the name of a food and an animal

(ie, Corndogs, AppleCheetahs, KaasMuis (CheeseMouse ), and had to pick a song. The next period was to

choreograph and practice their song and to ‘translate’ their song. They don’t have to translate word for

word, just describe the language and the meaning of the song. The third and fourth periods were the

performances. Each art class meets once a cycle, which is about every 10 days with our 7-day cycle, so this

has been a long process. The learners have had fun with this project and so have I!

Another highlight of the week was meeting our new Peace Corps Country Director, Dennis McMahon. He

was in town for a Peace Corps HIV/AIDS workshop and wanted to visit the volunteers who live here while

he was in town. We met for coffee and I dragged PCV Alex along, since she was staying with me this

weekend. The meeting was very casual and fun, but I was nervous about the next part.

When we were arranging the time and place to meet, I mentioned that I was proctoring the Write-On

competition that morning. This is an international, Peace Corps sponsored, writing competition for learners

in 6th grade thru university. My responsibility was to advertise a time and place and be there to proctor the

event. I advertised at my school and at the last minute, at the primary school. I did not require any one to

sign up, I just told them to come and be prepared to write for an hour. However, now that I had an

audience, I was worried that no one would show up! Fortunately, three learners participated, all from my

school. I was hoping for more, but extremely grateful there were three.

I was provided 2 prompts (statements) for each grade and the learner must choose 1 to write about. As an

example, one 11th grade prompt was, “When I snap my fingers, I am in a different place”. They write for

no more than an hour. I submit the entries and they are graded within Namibia and the winners’ entries are

combined and graded with other country winners for the grand winners. Eventually, entries are posted on a

website and compiled into a book.

The contest was in my classroom, so Dennis got to see my school, my classroom and a few learners. He

suggested we have the learners read their entries aloud to us. They agreed and were so proud to share their

stories. We were very impressed with their level of creativity and writing skills. There is a reason my

school is so highly ranked, we have some amazing learners.

While I was nervous that I did not have enough participants or that I may not be involved enough in camps

or other Peace Corps initiatives, Dennis made me feel good about my service. He asked lots of questions

while learning how I spend my time. He complimented me on my one-on-one, low key approach to service

and gave me some ideas for future activities or ideas to share with my assumed replacement. I look forward

to future discussions with Dennis, without the nervous butterflies preceding the meeting.

All for now with all my love,

Ellen

PS Happy birthday, Sherry! Thinking of you on your special day

Art class dancing

My WriteOn competitors