Friday, July 31, 2015

Nan Madol


On Sunday, July 19th my Pancake family took Marisa, a fellow PCT, and I to explore Nan Madol. 


The front of the ruins


Pancake girls




Marisa and I ran into PCTs Jasmin and Dana 

And joined them for some cliff jumping!




Monday, July 20, 2015

Model School Week 1

We finished our first week of Model School and I am exhausted, but oh so satisfied. 

After only 3 weeks of TESL training I thought that, for sure, Model School was going to be a train wreck: I barely knew how to lesson plan, I didn’t know what classroom management strategies I was going to implement, I didn’t even know if my HCT (Host Country Teacher, aka, my co-teacher) was going to show up. If all else failed I at least had my previous teaching and tutoring experiences to draw from, but even then, how was I suppose to walk into the classroom feeling confident and ready to teach? There was just so much that could go wrong.

But nothing went horribly wrong. It went really well for our first week.

In Model School, my HCT and I (Team A) are paired up with another PCT and her HCT (Team B) to teach 6th grade. We alternate teaching, so one day Team A teaches and Team B observes, and the next day it switches. It is the Peace Corps’ hope that by observing each other we’re able to improve as teachers. Along with team observations, Peace Corps staff will also conduct formal observations starting week 2 of model school.

The school day is broken up into 3 periods and 2 breaks:

Period 1- 8:30am to 9:15am (Language Arts)
Break- 9:15am to 9:25am
Period 2- 9:25am to 10:10am (Language Arts or Literature)
Break- 10:10am to 10:20am
Period 3- 10:20am- 11:05am (Math or Science)
Student Dismissal

After we dismiss our class, we have until noon to lesson plan with our HCT (Which yes, is nothing. Don’t ask me how I plan for three 45-minute periods in that time.) The PCTs then head back to PATS for lunch from 12pm-1pm, followed by language class until 5pm. The days are long, and we’re all drained by the end of 3rd period, but it’s been a really rewarding experience so far. Not to mention I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much in just one week. 

Model School is held at Madenolhimw High School, but is for students in grades 4-8.  The students are from schools around the area. And while they may be enrolled in a certain grade level, they are typically reading and writing 2 to 3 grades lower than that. My 6th graders, for example, are at about a 3rd to 4th grade level. This makes it extremely challenging to teach the national benchmarks and standards, but I’ll save that discussion (okay, more like rant) for another time.

Some of the students are extremely shy, especially when speaking English, while others are outgoing and eager to practice their English. The majority of them, however, will never tell you if they don’t understand the material being presented. We’ve established a thumbs up (no questions, they understand everything)/to the side (questions, they need clarification)/down (no idea what the teacher is saying, the teacher is speaking too fast) comprehension check in our classroom, but even then the students will always give us a thumbs up. They’re not blunt like American students who will tell the teacher if they’re lost. I try to refrain from labeling it as a cultural difference, but honestly that’s what it is. Micronesian culture is non-confrontational, so it’s something we’re adapting to in the classroom. And that’s fine. We’ll just have to get creative.

We have, however, tapped into our students’ strength to make our lessons flow and be more engaging. And you know what their strength is?

Dancing.

It’s fate. I adore dancing. I dance in my underwear in my room. I dance in my living room with my host sisters. I dance during Mortlockese class breaks. I dance in the rain with my fellow PCTs. I dance anywhere and everywhere. It’s fate.

In the first few minutes of class, we have our students stretch, warm up their bodies (because it’s not hot enough in Micronesia already, duh), and then either dance or do a class-related activity that involves moving around the room. It’s like magic. The shy students start smiling and talking, the outgoing students get to express themselves, and everyone remembers the material better because of TPR (Total Physical Response).

We’ve tried to incorporate as much movement as possible into the lessons this past week of Model School. We’re lucky to have a small class of 12 students so we have lots of space both inside and outside of the classroom. We’ve taken our students outside for a blind-fold game, we’ve taught them the Cha-Cha Slide, we’ve held relay races, and much more.

It’s draining. We’re running out of ideas. We have very limited resources. But we’re dancing and moving every day. And our students are learning, leaving the classroom happy, and are coming back each day ready and excited. That’s all I can really ask and could have hoped for.

As I was saying goodbye to our Temporary Country Director, Michael Ketover, last week, he gave me a big hug and said, “Keep dancing, Rachel.” Although I only knew Michael for a few weeks, what he said really hit me hard. I may have no idea how to make the best lesson plans, I may not know what classroom management strategies I’m going to use, and I may not even know if my co-teacher will show up. But that won’t stop me. I’ll keep dancing.

Love,
Rachel


Laurel and I


P.S. I would love to hear of any dance/movement activities that have worked for you inside or outside of the classroom that you think I may be able to tie into my lesson plans!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

TESL Training Reflection

**I would have posted this last week, but the internet went down at PATS.**

On Monday July 13th, we start model school. Model school is a teaching practicum for PCTs and their partner HCTs (host country teachers) that allows us to apply and perform ESL teaching methodologies and approaches that we (supposedly) gained from the first 3 weeks of our TESL technical training during PST.

These past 3 weeks we have covered topics like:
-Learning styles
-Teaching listening and listening activities
-Teaching speaking
-Teaching vocabulary
-Critical thinking
-School accreditation
-Classroom management
-Decoding: Learning to read
-Motivating students to learn
-Comprehending: Reading to learn
-Classroom assessments and tools
-Teaching young learners
-Beginning writing and paragraph writing
-Teaching grammar and functional approaches
-etc…

TESL training was nonstop for 3 weeks, yet I feel as if I didn’t learn anything new. And that really worries me. As a relatively new teacher I was hoping the sessions would provide me with useful and appropriate teaching theories and practices that I could try out during model school and then hopefully apply to my classroom on Ettal. However, much of what the training staff has “taught” us is common sense and not in the least bit enlightening.

On top of that, there were other issues that inhibited learning.

The sessions tended to be rushed and we rarely had time to debrief, discuss, or have our questions answered. I understand there was a lot to cover in the first 3 weeks, but that’s no reason to stop us in the middle of an activity or cut our lesson planning session (one of the more important sessions, in my opinion) down so we make it to lunch on time. If the sessions actually started on time and were paced appropriately (maybe have us do 1-2 group work activities per session instead of 5) I believe we would have gotten much more information from them. We would also have had opportunities to regroup and discuss any issues we struggle with or foresee struggling with in the classroom.

The presenters did not model good classroom management or teaching techniques. Many presenters had difficulty being engaging and providing us with clear directions when it came to individual or group work. It was blatantly obvious and, I’m sure, made many people think the session was a joke, which is really unfortunate.

The HCTs were and continue to be apathetic. A good number of the HCTs are required to come to the sessions and teach in model school either to earn credit for their teaching degree or because they’re getting paid to do so. To each his own, but really?! I can see the boredom on their faces, hear the sarcastic comments under their breath, and notice that they don’t have anything to contribute to lesson planning! The partnering between PCTs and HCTs was created to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experimentation in model school, and ultimately to plant the roots for sustainable development. But that’s definitely not happening when the PCTs are doing most of the work. It’s also incredibly discouraging for us to see the HCTs’ apathy.

In no way am I trying to be a Debbie Downer. I’m just trying to be as honest (yet respectful) as possible. There is very little public literature about whether or not Peace Corps trainings (Pre-Service Training, In-Service Training, and Mid-Service Training) are beneficial to Volunteers’ actual service. In theory they should be beneficial, but it’s hard to tell when Volunteers don’t actively record and reflect on it. So that’s what I’m trying to do here.

Do I feel like the 3 weeks of TESL training prepared me for Model School on Monday? Nope. But I’m predicting a lot of my Peace Corps experience will be jumping into things not really knowing what’s going on and doing my best. So I guess I need to get use to trial and error.

Did TESL training reinforce any ideas I had about teaching? Yes. Teaching is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of preparation. But when you see a light bulb go on in a student’s head, it’s all worth it.

Did I learn anything new during the TESL training? Sure. I learned some new songs and activities to refocus my student’s attention. But the most important thing I learned what the type of teacher I don’t want to be.

Do I foresee using anything from TESL training in my classroom in Ettal? It’s hard to say. Hopefully the “keep-at-it-Rachel!” reminders I tell myself when things aren’t going so smoothly (like when my HCT doesn’t say a word to me during lesson planning) will come in handy in Ettal.

I’ll let you know how Monday and the rest of Model school goes.

Stay well,
Rachel 


P.S. The TESL training content was created by the Peace Corps department in Washington D.C., so I do acknowledge that the Micronesia/Palau training staff had little say in the materials they presented. I do believe, however, that the manner in which they presented it could have been more engaging and time efficient.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

PST Pictures

I apologize for slacking on uploading pictures. I’ll admit I’m really lazy and hate waiting for them to upload on the slow wifi.

Here are a few pictures from the first 4 weeks of PST:




My host sister Emmy and my host nephew Estion (wearing my Chacos)

My host niece Natrine looking at some of the awesome notes my friends and family wrote me (she loved the design of yours, Pam!!)

Emmy, Estion, and I hanging out in my room after church

The itsy bitsy gato I found on our front porch when I came home from PST one day!

Swollen hands 


Some M81s and I at Cocos before 4th of July celebrations in Kolonia. From L to R: Laurel, Dana, Lorena, Marisa, me, and Sana.

Puppy Pancake and I!

Dana and I during our Water Safety Day
I was a prune by the end of the day, but loved every second of it!

Some M81s and I at the waterfall by PATS during our first weekend of PSTs

Slip. Laugh. Get naked.

One of the things I am most proud of is my ability to laugh at myself even when things aren’t going so well.

Take this past Wednesday morning for example.

I woke up in a pretty bad mood. I had gotten little sleep due to a bug bite on my palm that was exceptionally itchy and at times painful. When I looked at my hand the next morning, I found the bug bite had caused my hand to swell and become a worrisome red. Cool. The swelling would go down eventually and for the meantime I’d just have to deal. I laughed and congratulated myself on my first Peace Corps medical issue, and what a lame one it was at that.

I then decided not to wash my hair or shave my armpits because my hand was so uncomfortable (and honestly because I just wasn’t in the mood) and I laughed that I was no longer the Rachel back home who could not leave the house without her hair washed or her armpits shaved. It helps not having mirrors around.

After my short body shower and dressing myself, I walked into the living room and sat down to flies swarming my breakfast. I laughed a few minutes later when I realized I didn’t even hesitate to eat the food. Sanitary, I know.

Walking to school I got caught in the rain and slipped twice on the wet ground. I did that awkward catch-myself-then-look-around-to-see-if-anyone-saw movement and had to laugh when I realized people definitely saw me. I’m making such a great impression here.

And when I was maybe 3 yards away from our training classroom, I stepped into a giant puddle of mud. I was SO CLOSE to making it all the way, free from dirt and mud! I laughed that I’ll know when I’m completely assimilated when I can walk anywhere in sandals and keep my feet perfectly clean, just like the locals do.

While any of those things could have ruined my day, I tried not to take them too seriously. That may be because I subconsciously know this lifestyle is only temporary. It may be because I’ve stopped caring. But I prefer to think it’s because I’ve come to the realization that there are far worse things to fret over than dirty feet. Then again, that could just be the optimistic PCT side talking.

Whatever the reason may be, I’m glad I’m laughing and not freaking out (for the most part).

Laughter and making light of situations is something that I’m not only using as a coping mechanism, but that other PCTs are using as well.

During our language session that same Wednesday afternoon, one of my fellow PCTs told us about an awkward interaction she had had with her host family the night before.

Hoping to practice her Mortlockese, she used the Mortlockese word for “thank you”, killisou (key-lee-so), when her host dad gave her some bottled water. The host dad became very quiet and looked at her questioningly. She noticed the rest of her host family had fallen silent and she wondered what she had done wrong. Apparently she had mispronounced killisou and ended up saying kilisou, which is a Pohnpeian word for “naked.” Her host family is Pohnpeian, so they didn’t know she was trying to say “thank you” in Mortlockese at first. Talk about awkward. She said the whole family was still laughing and joking about the incident the next morning at breakfast.

Rather than getting upset or frustrated with her pronunciation mistake, she laughed about it and recounted the story to us so we could all laugh with her. I think I speak for the rest of the PCTs when I say laughter is a great coping mechanism.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries, I have yet to reach the most challenging parts of my service, but I hope I can keep laughing at myself even when those times come.

Enjoy your clean feet,
Rachel

P.S. My hand continued swelling throughout Wednesday and Thursday, causing me to contact the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer). I took ibuprofen and used a hot compress to help reduce the swelling, but it took a few days for my hand to return to its normal color and size. Still not sure what caused it—I don’t think a bug bite would continue spreading like that after the first day…

P.S.S. If you’ve stayed updated with me though Facebook, you probably know that my permanent site will be on Ettal Atoll in the Mortlocks of Chuuk, so I’m also learning Mortlockese along with the PCT I mentioned! There are 6 of us going to the Mortlocks, 2 going to Chuuk Lagoon, 3 going to Yap main island, 3 going to Kosrae, and 4 staying on Pohnpei. Since the languages are different in every state, and sometimes even from island to island, we’ve been separated into groups for our language classes. We move to our permanent sites and in with our permanent host families mid August of this year.