Graduation and Farewells

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

We finished our last  pieces of teaching and asked our teachers to fill out an evaluation form on the course. They also wrote for us what they had learned in the NTT training of 2014. We decided to do this in class rather than give it as homework. If they took it home we would get all the key concepts etc right out of their binders. This way our teachers had to write in their own words what they had learned. We're looking forward to reading their comments-- it will give us a good indication of how much they were able to learn or understand. It also gives us an assessment of how well we taught:)

Our closing ceremony was supposed to start at 2 pm right after lunch-- that is-- 2pm our North American time:)-- Ethiopian time is whenever everyone eventually gets in-- people strolled in 30-45 min later--:) no one is bothered-- it is just what it is! We were finally told to just start so we did:)

Our teachers performed a wonderful dramatic reading and song on loving children-- they even had 3 different languages-- Amharic, Ugandan, and South Sudanese--  interspersed throughout the presentation. Ike composed his own song as a farewell to the teachers called, " Father help us teach" and Jake gave a few inspirational thoughts  on  our theme in Romans of "being transformed by the renewal of your mind-"-  Our CH co-ordinator, Mitiku, prepared a slide show of Jake's photos -- the background song was " Ten Thousand Reasons"-- we were almost in tears seeing the photos of our teachers--  busy in class, at the market, in worship at church, the hike they did with Jake, the meals we ate together--- they are family to us!

For refreshments we had the traditional coffee ceremony, popcorn, sodas, and a type of bread-- made in a very huge pan-- with the colours of the Ethiopian flag and the words written on it --We love you!  

We said our farewells tearfully and joyfully at the same time! We returned home to pack our bags--- needless to say-- we were tired--  but it was a good and thankful kind of tiredness!---

The traditional coffee ceremony with the Ethiopian coloured bread and popcorn.

Our driver, cook, housekeeper,  tea break lady and our classroom cleaner---- all wearing an Edu-Deo t-shirt.

Definitely one of the tallest ladies I know:)

NTT trainers 2014--Praise God for their hope, joy, and keenness to make education better in SS!

Wrapping Up with Wooden Triangles, Maps and Storybook Bibles

Our day started with Jake and Ike teaching more about integrated curriculum and observing model lesson plans by various teachers. We have four more lessons to observe and then every teacher will have done a model lesson for the group. The teachers also enjoyed the discussion on community building in the classroom. We're slowly wrapping up the loose ends and are getting ready for tomorrow's graduation ceremonies.

After tea break in the afternoon we handed out our Jesus Storybook Bibles to each teacher. The look on their faces was priceless! Then our laminated maps were distributed and again their faces showed such delight! We brought assorted items like playing cards, children's picture books, a knitted scarf from my Mom, crayons etc. ankle socks, stickers etc. Each teacher had a number and could choose 2 items. It felt like Christmas:)!

Jake introduced the wooden triangle with pegs as a challenge to the teachers to try to solve the puzzle of having only one peg left. He asked a woodworker at CH if each teacher could have one of their own. After the Bibles and the maps, each teacher was given his/her own to take home! We were so blessed that CH made them and they looked beautiful! Now the challenge will be for our teachers to find or make pegs-it will be interesting to see how ingenious they will be!

Taban joyfully displaying his world map.

You can see the wooden triangle in Lomude's hand.

Good news indeed!!!

Our prayer is that the Good News will bring hope and peace in South Sudan!

Continuing to Learn

We're continuing to grow, learn, develop, and inspire each other in our class presentations and discussions. Ike touched briefly on the whole idea of formative and summative assessment versus evaluation only based on one test at the end of a unit. Our teachers agreed that they will have to start in very small steps due to the huge class sizes!

We were spoiled at break time with mini chocolate donuts!!! We felt like we were at Tim's:) Sarah brought out a bag of mini mars bars after supper tonight and it was so--ooo good:) You become so thankful for such a small treat:)--Our cooks have been fabulous-- but everything is fried-- cabbage, potatoes, beets, rice patties, fish and chicken are breaded and then fried. The coffee is great-- and I drink it with lots of hot milk-- fresh from the cow:)

I'm doing Superspeed 1000 with our Ethiopian teacher.

The first page of The Big Story Booklet done by one of our teachers.

Rose came to class today in this beautiful dress-- don't you just love the headscarf too!

Full House

Jada playing Pictionary so his team can guess which through line he is illustrating.

Jake often talks to this group of kids on his walk home. They love having their picture taken.

We had a full house today at the CH centre. Judy was training pastors and lay church leaders in Sunday school curriculum. She had 65 trainees with her translator as an assistant.

It was fun at break time to mingle together with both groups. The only problem was the bathroom-- too many people and too few toilets :)-We were fortunate to be able to go back to the guest house at lunch time:)

Ike did some teaching on assessment and evaluation followed by a lively discussion on how many students failed in SS classes and why? The teaching of Math is a huge problem for our teachers. So many students do very poorly in Math and we discussed reasons why and possible solutions. I followed up with several dice games involving addition, multiplication etc. They loved doing the games-- I'll give them all my dice to take home but in classes of 100-150- you need a lot of dice:)

Jada taught us a new song " For whatever you do to the least of my children, you do it unto me"--our teachers asked to sing it several times. He tied it into his presentation of all of us being image reflectors of God. Very moving!

Lujohn did a model lesson on Domestic Animals-- incorporating the through lines and Christian worldview. We were impressed with his lesson plan and are looking forward to seeing other lessons.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table typing this in draft mode. We lost our internet at the house and the power just went out.  It is so touch and go here with the electricity. You never know when it will go out or for how long. We will probably be in bed even earlier than usual tonight:) -- which may not be a bad thing-- all of us have had a long day and a good night's sleep will be awesome!

Ethiopian Worship Service

Sunday-- a day of rest and worship and did we need it! It felt so good to have a leisurely morning breakfast because we didn't need to be ready till 10:15. Our teachers were picked up in their 14 seater van and we followed with Sarah, Judy, Jake, Mitiku and me. Ike stayed home to rest some more since he's been fighting a cold. We're so dependent on each other in our teaching team that we don't want to get sick and not do our part of our the day:) We covet your prayers for Ike to feel healthy and strong and for all of us to stay healthy and strong.

When we arrived at the church, the service was in full swing. They already had their first hour of prayers and now it was time for the worship team and choir to sing. That took at least an hour-- lots and lots of praise--all in Amharic. The children were called to the front for a blessing-- all 100 of them- and then they left for their Sunday school lesson. An offering was taken by the deacons-- all women 60 years and older.

This is the entrance to the church-- our SS teachers are walking on the rough stony pathway.

Judy presented her message with her translator, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and is now a prominent leader in this church. Our SS teachers were following her every word in English and taking lots of notes. Just before the message, Jake started feeling oozy so he left to go to the back and get some air. I had flashbacks of him fainting in Juba so Mitiku went out with him to make sure he was OK. After some time he felt a lot better and while he was standing outside, the Sunday school teachers asked him to come into their classroom and help lead the lesson:) He taught the kids" My God is so Mighty-- My God is so big-- they caught on so quickly!

Sorry the quality is so poor--this little fellow sat with me for most of the service.

The service lasted over 2 hours but we were so glad to worship with God's people in Ethiopia, Africa-God can be praised in many many languages, cultures, and formats-- we felt the communion of saints--and the love of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

The choir--lots of mikes and a good sound system ( very loud:)

Jake met this ' business man" on his walk home from church--literally a walking store:)

Sunday School Curriculum and Market Day

Lesson plans and Sunday School curriculum were given out today in class. We met from 9-12 and  Judy explained her lessons and development of her Children's Ministry curriculum-- a wonderful program in which she trains pastors and church leaders how to do ministry from ages 3 to adults. She does a lot with finger plays, music, drama, and personalization of the Bible stories. Our teachers loved it since many of them teach Bible classes at their local church or in the community as after school programs. Many elements of good teaching are the same for the classroom and the Sunday school class so her teaching dovetailed our training nicely.

After lunch, Jake, Sarah and I went for a walk to the river behind Michael's house. I'm always so amazed at how the donkeys can manoeuvre the narrow trails with huge loads on their backs! We found it very steep to go down--let alone go up again:) Today we didn't see any women washing their clothes in the water-- it did look like rain so maybe that was a deterrent. The scenery was so beautiful!

One of the beautiful sights at the river.

At 3pm we went to the market to do some shopping. I bought some Addis tea and a small coffee set ( and a KitKat chocolate bar:) Judy and Sarah bought gifts for their Compassion Child ( and chocolate bars too:)-- but the taste is not quite the same as in NA-- we probably have loads more sugar in ours:)

Jake just stood and watched all the people, animals, traffic, shoe shiners, coffee stalls, --you can't believe how much is going on anywhere on the streets let alone the market area!

At one of the little stalls jam-packed with goods!

One of the many interesting sighs that Jake saw at the market.

We look forward to a day of rest, worship, and fellowship tomorrow!

Creativity and Curriculum

We finished our week with a packed day full of content and creative activities. Ike led the teachers through some of their SS curriculum units and they worked on integrating their Christian worldview into the units that they taught. Jake did some teaching on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for students. We had a great discussion/ debate on whether every child wants to learn--stories were shared from various teachers with examples from their classes.

We did a drama called VIC-- very important creatures and I had the teachers improvise props for the owl, lion, fox, hippo, bluebird etc--loads of fun and they did an amazing performance. Their story booklets were due today so we shared them in groups and a few presented their stories to the whole class. One advantage of sharing is that they learn from each other and receive a host of new ideas!

Our teachers were all interviewed by Sarah, a young journalist from Chicago who works for CH Global. She videotaped the class first and the teachers were delighted that she was filming them!

Sarah--our videographer-

The VIC drama

The booklets were lovely-- many different versions!

Jake taught the class in devotions the song "One Thousand Reasons". We played it on the computer to have accompaniment--and he also related how our six year old grandson sang this song to us in our car while on a trip. His elementary school had this song as their theme for the year so he knew it very well:) The teachers learned the song quickly!