My Wonderful Students

Today was another lovely day at Brookhouse. I got to work with the sweetest boy in year 8 Maths. He tries so so hard, and he has a heart of gold which of course gets him teased by the other kids, and he really struggles with school especially Maths. He is so respectful - he actually thanked me profusely for keeping him in at lunch to do Math! I hope I can of a little bit of use to him, but he really needs someone who can work with him everyday for the full year, not just a few weeks. He said he had been praying for someone to help him with Maths - I wish so much that I could stay, if not for the beautiful country that Kenya is, for this wonderful student.

I also got to spend a good portion of the day with my adorable year 1's and reception (kindergarten) kids. They were so funny. I tried to explain that I am not an octapus - I only have two hands to hold, but that didn't convince them. Whenever we walked anywhere, we were a giant moving blob of kids hanging off my every appendage, lol. They all want so much to learn and to impress "miss aneeka" (they pronounce my name very sweetly). I have a wonderful boy with Autism who I'm focusing on in year 1. He got the entire group of students attached to me to jump over the lines in the field on our way to lunch together - it was very cute. He's always wiggling or moving, and he's really quite bright.

I also discovered how drawing students can be applied to the little ones for classroom management! I lack the loud authoritative voice to get the kids to do their work - especially here where the teachers are much stronger authority figures than in Canada. But I discovered, that if I start drawing a student who is sitting still and doing his/her work, all the other kids get very excited and say "Draw me, Miss! Draw me!" At which point I explain to them that I can only draw students who are sitting very very still and working hard - it's impossible for me to draw someone who is running around the room. It works wonders! I had my most high energy kids sitting in their chairs reading in one class and drawing in my art class :) Of course, whenever I finished a drawing the whole class got excited wanting to see, but they calmed right back down again as soon as I said that I was looking for the next student to draw.

After school, we finalized the bookings for my two excursions to the Mara and the coast for the last week that I'm here. Nairobi and Savage Wilderness are both so beautiful - but Irene tells me that the Mara and Mombasa are even more amazing. I am so excited to see both!