Yep, I came half way across the world to catch a cold. BLEH. In reality, this is not unexpected. I think every other student here is sick with something, and sanitation isn't really up to North American standards. I've been washing my hands constantly, but I tend to catch everything anyway, so here I am with a cold.
Today my grade one teacher wasn't here. There's no substitute teachers here, so when I teacher can't make it they take all the students and shuffle them into the other classes. When you consider how over-full these classes are to begin with this can be an... interesting proposition.
I spent the day with the grade 5's and got to see another side of education here. The grade 5 class reminded me strongly of school 100 years ago. This teacher had full control of her 38 students. When work wasn't complete or correct, she had a stick to strike the palms. When disappointed in something she had the student stand while she read the work out loud and classmates laughed. Students who had failed to complete their homework were made to write "I will always complete my work" 50 times during break only to see their writing torn up in when then were finished. I may sound like I'm judging here, and I'm trying hard not to. To me it seems harsh and old fashioned. (And I cannot imagine hitting a child!) But I don't want to be that person who shakes their head in condemnation because things aren't the way I think they should be.
Anyway, I apologize for the short post. As I said, I'm not really 100% at the moment.
For no other reason than that I think they're pretty, here's a few pictures of the beach that is a short 5 minute walk from the flat I'm living in. Agatha Christie used to come here to enjoy herself. It's too cold for swimming right now, but there are still surfers out there, enjoying the waves on a good day.
Today my grade one teacher wasn't here. There's no substitute teachers here, so when I teacher can't make it they take all the students and shuffle them into the other classes. When you consider how over-full these classes are to begin with this can be an... interesting proposition.
I spent the day with the grade 5's and got to see another side of education here. The grade 5 class reminded me strongly of school 100 years ago. This teacher had full control of her 38 students. When work wasn't complete or correct, she had a stick to strike the palms. When disappointed in something she had the student stand while she read the work out loud and classmates laughed. Students who had failed to complete their homework were made to write "I will always complete my work" 50 times during break only to see their writing torn up in when then were finished. I may sound like I'm judging here, and I'm trying hard not to. To me it seems harsh and old fashioned. (And I cannot imagine hitting a child!) But I don't want to be that person who shakes their head in condemnation because things aren't the way I think they should be.
Anyway, I apologize for the short post. As I said, I'm not really 100% at the moment.
For no other reason than that I think they're pretty, here's a few pictures of the beach that is a short 5 minute walk from the flat I'm living in. Agatha Christie used to come here to enjoy herself. It's too cold for swimming right now, but there are still surfers out there, enjoying the waves on a good day.