My pictures came from Lindsey yesterday! Bwena asifiwe! There are so many I want to post on here...I'll figure out a way for you to see them. Right now, the easiest way is on facebook. Well, once I post them on facebook, then that will be the easiest way. I can share my photo albums with you even if you're not on facebook, just let me know your email! =)
Some of the girls helping cover the books!
Looking for a book to read.
Just wanted to read right here!
Checking out a book.
One of my favorite experiences in Kenya was putting the library together with the kids. After a few weeks of grading 6th & 7th grade compositions, it felt wrong to be marking papers when the kids hadn't had any opportunities to improve their writing skills. They could learn as many vocabulary words as possible, but without reading, how could they know how to create a sentence? Or a paragraph? Or 2 pages of an essay? I realized that I could teach them correct grammar and spelling, but if you're not reading, it's pretty hard to know how to organize a sentence or a paragraph.
The scoring is subjective, so with 2 teachers grading, it was kind of just "whatever you think." No particular marks for anything. Once, I scored the kids based on what they knew and how much each of their essays had improved (creativity, proper sentence structure, etc.), and another teacher thought my scores were too high so she went through and wrote a lower score on every essay. Without reading them. It was maddening. Especially when it came to Samuel Ndungu, the one who has MR. Since I was teaching him sight words and phonics, I KNEW where he had improved, so I didn't pay much attention to spelling. He always got the lowest scores - 8 points out of a possible 40. Oh it made me so sad. But then so mad other days.
So anyways, I knew the extra personal finances I had received were to be used at Tumaini, so I just decided to start a library. I found out that a few people had talked about it in the past, but their ideas were either too expensive or there wasn't enough space. It's just a basic little "starter" library for them...there's lots of room for growing! It took months to finally start coming together, but here it is...successful & hoppin'!
To God be the Glory!
Some of the girls helping cover the books! Looking for a book to read. Just wanted to read right here! Checking out a book.
1 comment:
This is awesome!! So proud of you, Katie! You have left lasting marks on these kids that will go so far beyond the five months you were there with them. So exciting to see what He has done through you : )
-Michelle D.
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