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!
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