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Friday, April 17, 2009
Thursday, June 5, 2008
English Class Celebration
I can't believe the twenty weeks I have spent with these students is over. We had a great celebration and the students were really excited to receive their certificate. The only problem was the heat, but we persevered through the party and were able to share a wonderful time with our students.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
I love my adult classes
I'm really going to miss my students. Each class has become its "own family." My level 3 class is really fun. It took me awhile to adjust to the class because I had been so used to teaching an advanced class. They are really fun and sweet. My advanced class at Gugu is always a joy every week. They are so willing to learn and we have amazing conversations. Each student has such a unique personality. My class in Hielasher is extremely serious when it comes to academics but they can have a lot of fun too.
Level 3
Moussa- Algeria
Omar- Algeria
Adda- Algeria
Michael- Sudan
Merhawi- Eritrea
Peter- Sudan
Ochan- Sudan
Hussein- Ethiopia
Advanced
Sunday- Sudan
Kejiel- Sudan
Khalil- Sudan
Shukri- Sudan
Kiza- Burundi
Nagi- Sudan
Amirr- Sudan
Daniel- Eritrea
Jimmy- Sudan
Ahmed- Sudan
ElTaher- Sudan
Hielasher
Jalo- Sudan
Mustafa- Sudan
Magdi- Sudan
Mubarak- Sudan
I have great news about the program as well. I found someone to take over my position as coordinator of the adult school. This summer they will be offering English classes with the help of STAR, a group from the
Also, I just wanted to give you an idea of what my class does sometimes. We did an assignment with idioms and I asked them to write skits using at least 3 idioms. While it's not perfect, they really enjoyed working on this assignment together. Here's an example (copy without corrections):
Sunday: Hi Mr. Kejiel. How are you?
Kejiel: Yea I'm ok and what about you?
Sunday: little a bite i am not ok
Kejiel: What happen to you?
Sunday: Wow my cell phone was taken by gang people previous week.
Kejiel: no, I'm sorry my dear. it is ok. don't have a cow. God is great he will give you another phone. I promise
Sunday: Thank friend.
Kejiel: I think my wife is going to give birth on 25 next month acording to Doctor. I don't know what to do exactly. no money, no food no even good house. no clothes for a child when he/she is born.
Sunday: don't count your chickens before they hatch. if i were you I would have to look for another job or go to church and aske priest for praying. you should have to run everywhere. get comfortable job. you will see the changes. don't mind.
Kejiel: You are very encourageable person. Thank you for you good advice. I will do so.
Sunday: I have problem with my girlfriend. She is an American girl. I love her for queit long time. She is prety with brown eyes golden hair and every things.
Kejiel: don't run a tight ship go and beg her or talk to her in a good ways and good manner.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Expect the Unexpected...
So sometimes things take you by suprise and really make you think... I'm not talking about the big things, but those small ones that come out of no where. You learn to appreciate them for what it's worth. Here are two things (one good/ one bad) that were said to me this week:
- I received a phone call the other day from one of my students. He had to leave the class because he works at a resort in Sinai during the summer. He called me because he wanted to talk about the book I gave them in class to read. It's called "The Cage" and it's about a teenage girl named Riva who is sent to a concentration camp. When he called me, he had so much emotion regarding the events in the book. He wanted to know why Hitler would do such a thing to innocent people. He wanted to know why people do such things in the world. I wish I had an answer to those questions. He asked me why I chose such a sad book. My only response- "So people would begin asking what you are asking." I want my students to see that genocide is not just something new and it's not just something "African." Also, I want to be able to make comparisons to Darfur and the Holocaust as we read documents from the United Nations about human rights. In a country where the Holocaust is not allowed to be taught, it's important to reach out and share the truth. Injustice happens all around the world and it shouldn't be ignored because it happened to a group that you hate. There is a legitimate belief here that the Holocaust never happened or that it is Jewish propoganda. It's an uphill battle, but this phone call showed me that we are making progress.
- The other conversation that I had this week didn't give me the same hope. When you get into a taxi in Cairo, you have to expect the unexpected. You never know if the driver speaks English, and if he does, what kind of conversation he is going to try to start. When I told the driver where to go, he commented that I live in Hadayek and asked me if I like it there.
My response: "I do most of the time. Do you like it?"
Taxi driver: "No. There's too many black men on the street."
This hit me hard. Those "black men" are my friends, my students, my kids' parents. They are the reason I came to Cairo. I could have responded to the comment angrily, but I let it go. If only he knew what I did everyday. I wasn't as shocked by the racism in the comment because I have witnessed that on so many occassions here, but I realized how you really have to be careful about what you say to who you say- you never know who they are, what they do, or where they come from. As small as this moment was, it was a life lesson.
As I finish up my stay here in Cairo, I want to be able to remember moments like this. I want to remember those times where I became a better person. This post is more of a personal reflection for me and I don't think I could express how they made me feel here. I hope you take something away from them as well.
- I received a phone call the other day from one of my students. He had to leave the class because he works at a resort in Sinai during the summer. He called me because he wanted to talk about the book I gave them in class to read. It's called "The Cage" and it's about a teenage girl named Riva who is sent to a concentration camp. When he called me, he had so much emotion regarding the events in the book. He wanted to know why Hitler would do such a thing to innocent people. He wanted to know why people do such things in the world. I wish I had an answer to those questions. He asked me why I chose such a sad book. My only response- "So people would begin asking what you are asking." I want my students to see that genocide is not just something new and it's not just something "African." Also, I want to be able to make comparisons to Darfur and the Holocaust as we read documents from the United Nations about human rights. In a country where the Holocaust is not allowed to be taught, it's important to reach out and share the truth. Injustice happens all around the world and it shouldn't be ignored because it happened to a group that you hate. There is a legitimate belief here that the Holocaust never happened or that it is Jewish propoganda. It's an uphill battle, but this phone call showed me that we are making progress.
- The other conversation that I had this week didn't give me the same hope. When you get into a taxi in Cairo, you have to expect the unexpected. You never know if the driver speaks English, and if he does, what kind of conversation he is going to try to start. When I told the driver where to go, he commented that I live in Hadayek and asked me if I like it there.
My response: "I do most of the time. Do you like it?"
Taxi driver: "No. There's too many black men on the street."
This hit me hard. Those "black men" are my friends, my students, my kids' parents. They are the reason I came to Cairo. I could have responded to the comment angrily, but I let it go. If only he knew what I did everyday. I wasn't as shocked by the racism in the comment because I have witnessed that on so many occassions here, but I realized how you really have to be careful about what you say to who you say- you never know who they are, what they do, or where they come from. As small as this moment was, it was a life lesson.
As I finish up my stay here in Cairo, I want to be able to remember moments like this. I want to remember those times where I became a better person. This post is more of a personal reflection for me and I don't think I could express how they made me feel here. I hope you take something away from them as well.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Only a month left...
It's amazing how quickly my time in Cairo has gone by. I bought my plane tickets so I will be flying home on June 12th. I had originally planned on going to law school this fall, but I am now heavily considering Drew's Masters in Teaching program. I have to make a decision soon. The one good thing about this decision is that it has helped me keep my mind off leaving. It will certainly be a bittersweet ending. Here's a small update as to what has been going on since my last post:
- The kids here at Gugu are now in their exam phase of the school year. The structure is set up as if they were in high school where they have their final exam for one subject, a few days off, and then another exam. I don't necessarily agree with this method- you can't expect a 6 year old to do well on a final exam which determines his final grade. To get around this method slightly, I broke down my final into parts: reading, writing, recognition, drawing, and classwork, each with their own respective point values. The words included sunny, rainy, apple, banana, watermelon, scissors, glue, run, dance, and some others totalling 15 words. The kids have done pretty well overall. Our last day of school here in on June 5th and our celebration is on June 7th.
- I finished my National Honor Society video for the presentation tonight. I'm not the most computer savvy, so I had a hard time converting to the correct format. I hope it goes well and they like it. When I get home and have some quality internet, I will try to post the video here so you can have a look at the kids as well.
- The Adult Education Program is going really well. My advanced class, as always, has been a lot of fun. We had a political discussion last night that included questions like, "If you became president of your country, what would be the first thing you would do," and "If you could choose between Obama, Clinton, and McCain who would you pick" (suprisingly, there was atleast one vote for each candidate. I'm working on typing resumes for the students in my class who gave me their information. We learned how to fill out application as well to add a practical component to the class. The last day of classes is June 5th for Maadi and June 7th for Hielasher.
- I found out that the Books for Africa shipment will nto be coming now. The church decided to back out at the last minute, leaving us without a signatory organization after the deadline. The books will still be coming to two universities here in Egypt, so at least someone will benefit from them. I'm pretty disappointed, but I know that things always work out for the best.
- My after school program has really grown, not necessarily in size, but in quality. The kids have become more cooperative, making it easier to work with them and teach them what I would like to. One week me made cars and learned transportation words, another week we did binoculars and did verbs, and another week we made pictures using only pre-cut shapes. I've incorporated a "contest" every week in which the best project earns a soccer ball, a jersey, or art supplies. The kids have been really excited about this and it gives me a way to start getting rid of some of the things in my flat before I leave.
I will keep you posted as the days rush by. Thanks for everything you have done!
- The kids here at Gugu are now in their exam phase of the school year. The structure is set up as if they were in high school where they have their final exam for one subject, a few days off, and then another exam. I don't necessarily agree with this method- you can't expect a 6 year old to do well on a final exam which determines his final grade. To get around this method slightly, I broke down my final into parts: reading, writing, recognition, drawing, and classwork, each with their own respective point values. The words included sunny, rainy, apple, banana, watermelon, scissors, glue, run, dance, and some others totalling 15 words. The kids have done pretty well overall. Our last day of school here in on June 5th and our celebration is on June 7th.
- I finished my National Honor Society video for the presentation tonight. I'm not the most computer savvy, so I had a hard time converting to the correct format. I hope it goes well and they like it. When I get home and have some quality internet, I will try to post the video here so you can have a look at the kids as well.
- The Adult Education Program is going really well. My advanced class, as always, has been a lot of fun. We had a political discussion last night that included questions like, "If you became president of your country, what would be the first thing you would do," and "If you could choose between Obama, Clinton, and McCain who would you pick" (suprisingly, there was atleast one vote for each candidate. I'm working on typing resumes for the students in my class who gave me their information. We learned how to fill out application as well to add a practical component to the class. The last day of classes is June 5th for Maadi and June 7th for Hielasher.
- I found out that the Books for Africa shipment will nto be coming now. The church decided to back out at the last minute, leaving us without a signatory organization after the deadline. The books will still be coming to two universities here in Egypt, so at least someone will benefit from them. I'm pretty disappointed, but I know that things always work out for the best.
- My after school program has really grown, not necessarily in size, but in quality. The kids have become more cooperative, making it easier to work with them and teach them what I would like to. One week me made cars and learned transportation words, another week we did binoculars and did verbs, and another week we made pictures using only pre-cut shapes. I've incorporated a "contest" every week in which the best project earns a soccer ball, a jersey, or art supplies. The kids have been really excited about this and it gives me a way to start getting rid of some of the things in my flat before I leave.
I will keep you posted as the days rush by. Thanks for everything you have done!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
A Little Bit of Gugu for You!
The Gugu Gallery is now up on Zazzle.com . Please take a look at these products and consider supporting our school! A percentage of each purchase will go directly to Gugu. All of the products are customizable so if you see something you like, feel free to make it your own!
My personal favorite is the Gugu calendar for next year. It says the product view is unavailable below, but it is available for order. Check it out!
create & buy custom products at Zazzle
My personal favorite is the Gugu calendar for next year. It says the product view is unavailable below, but it is available for order. Check it out!
create & buy custom products at Zazzle
Monday, April 28, 2008
A small request...
I really tried to avoid posts like this, but please consider donating to Gugu to help with the costs for the remainder of the school year (teacher's salaries and rent mainly). We have a month and a half to go but there are some things that need to be paid in order to make the end of the year really successful. Please let me know if you are interested in donating asap.
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