Library Day

January 25, 2011

So today was my first library day at the school.  For upper primary (grades 4-6), I brought out the boxes of books and put them in different stacks based on reading level and also if it was an African author or a foreign author.  I explained the rules of library: no ripping pages, no fighting over books, you must return the books to the stacks you got them from, you must bring the books back to me each Tuesday on library day, and you must sign the book out with me.  And then there was a mad rush of 32 kids attacking the books.  The headmaster went and got the switch and started whacking kids to get order.  We then decided that starting next week I will take each class individually for a half hour :)  Some of the kids picked their books and started reading and others just ran around…to be expected.  I showed them where to find the title and author and then just left them to read or whatever while I tried to look through their school books to decide what reading levels they are being taught.

After the lunch break I went back to the do the lower primary (grades 1-3).  Class 1’s teacher was missing, so I just went in and read a small book to them and showed them the pictures.  We tried to identify colors and establish that grasshoppers hop.  They had no idea what I was talking about, but were well behaved.  Class 2, I read a small book to them, too. They had no idea what I was talking about, either.  This was established as I tried to ask questions about the book…and then their teacher had to ask them in Ewe…they said the book was about a snake and a cat.  It was actually about a rabbit, duck, frog, and rat.  They did however establish that one animal was cooking…that was true…the rat.  So I talked to the teacher and said that they don’t understand me…I’m trying to talk really slow..,but…she said to keep coming back anyway. I didn’t make it to class 3 because I ran out of time.

So that was my day at school.  Tomorrow I have my Culture Club and we are going to practice writing.

j