Saturday, October 13, 2007

The Greens

The afterschool mentorship program elected it's first president and chose a name this week. I'm now the advisor of The Greens. I guess the name sounds a little better in Armenian, but it's not really important when we see how excited the kids are about the project as a whole. Every Monday we meet with the club (which we downsized from 55 kids in the 6th-11th grade to 25) and review the previous week's kindergarten visit and study a new lesson. Tuesday and Wednesdays are practice days and then Thursdays we go into the kindergarten to teach the 17 6-year-olds environmental topics. The past three weeks groups of 5 or 6 students have taught trees, bushes and forests and clean air lessons. Next week is animals.

I've actually been spending a lot of time in the kindergarten lately. I have a weekly English lesson where I teach things like "hello" and "bye bye", colors and classroom objects. Last week we practiced the song If You're Happy and You Know It with the hopes that the kids will be prepared for their fall assembly.

The kindergarten closes at the beginning of November because of the cold, but if things go well during the next month we'll be able to go back in April and continue work all summer.



Learning the parts of a tree


Drawing forests

Learning the importance of water and sunlight for plants

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sarbear,
Sounds like you're starting your education all over again. We sure miss you and hope you stay warm this winter. Just think, next year at this time you can enjoy all the comforts we've been spoiled with! Love, Uncle Tom

Anonymous said...

Great job Sarah. Hmmm, sounds like you are enjoying teaching the kids English and about the environment. That's a nice long break they get from Nov. to April. Hopefully they'll be practicing their English and singing away for those cold months.
Love,
Mom

Anonymous said...

Very nice & interesting and very important for kids to have such Green awareness, to understand what's life for and to get in touch with nature. on behalf of all African children, I send you & kids in Armenia our great wishes.

Mouhcine.
,

Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah!
Your blog brings back so many memories. You are giving those kids such a wonderful gift by teaching them English. When I was 5-7 years old (1958-1960) I lived in France. Twice a week, a local woman would come into our 1st grade class, point to objects in a picture-I can still remember, a farm scene, an outdoor market, and teach us the words. To this day I still remember many of the words, as will your kindergarteners.
Loved your story of macaroni and cheese and milking the cow. Very similar to my childhood experiences, because France in the late 1950's was very "backward" compared to America. A man came around the neighborhood every other day and carved off a chunk of ice for our icebox.
Your story of the first tooth is priceless.
Keep up the blogs.
Your neighbor, Carol Little