Things have been moving pretty quickly at the elementary school. (More pictures here…it won’t let me upload again in this post…technology…) The kitchen was built in about two weeks and is almost finished. The walls are up, and the rooftop is on. We have a locking door, and a small wall, forming a bit of a courtyard where the women will be able to prepare meals with minimal disturbances from passing goats, donkeys, and cows. It looks great, and everyone is excited to start using it. The hole has been dug for the staff latrine, and as soon as the harvest is in, gardening season will start, so we’ll be able to plant our garden. The school got a new headmaster over the summer- with the Burkinabe system of assigning and reassigning civil servants such as teachers, it’s common for a person (like our former headmaster) to get moved around every few years- and he is thrilled to have such a positive project going. Everyone expresses their thanks to our gracious donors.
As I mentioned, school has been going well. I’m’ trying to do a lot more interesting activities this year, especially in 6th and 7th grades where I’m familiar with the curriculum. I’ve been doing lots of word problems in math class- this not only helps with students’ math skills, but also works on logic, critical thinking, and, most importantly, French comprehension. On that note, I even had my 7th graders write me a letter the first day of school telling me about their summer. I’ve also started giving a “study tip of the day” at the end of class. Things like making an outline, redoing homework problems, summarizing what they’ve learned in their own words…I’ve found that simple activities like these really go a long way in helping them out.
That’s pretty much it from me. November is typically the mini-hot season here, but this year hasn’t been too bad. A couple of evenings ago I noticed a cool nip in the air on my way home from school. Sure enough, I checked, and the thermometer had hit 85. Mornings are typically a chill 75 degrees; the cold season is just around the corner!
