Journal 1 - 22 October 2011 Farida El Bashari Fakroon Nursery
The second I entered the vicinity of this nursery I was not sure that this would work out. Seeing the kids going crazy and running around truthfully I thought they would go out of control in the classroom and I would not be able to stop them as I have never taught before. I wasn't sure about their ability to learn either, or what level they were at so that also made me rather nervous. As soon as we walked into the school we had two available classrooms with chalk boards in each one so we began to feel more confident. We started off as one whole class and started to recite the alphabet. As we went over it on and on for about 10 times, we asked each student individually to say it and if they were very able they would be in the high group and if they struggled they would be in the low group. We then divided the classes into two, and us as for girls were also divided. Me and Nancy went to teach the high group. We wondered what levels they were really at so we went through the entire alphabet and for each letter the students had to say a word that starts with that letter. We had surprising results as some students said words such as; 'University'. It was a very productive first day and I am looking forward to the rest.
Journal 2 - 19 November 2011 Farida El Bashari Fakroon Nursery
Today we finally began to be more confident with the children's english as they were excelling in every single class. They turned out to be very good learner as they are eager and ambitious people. They learned new words, and new sentences, and months of the year, and days of the week, etc. Now it was time to focus more on their mathematical skills. Most classes at the end we would go over some mathematical equations quickly before we leave and they would get most of them right. We started off by writing more simple equations on the board, and we did this as a whole class. Each student had a paper and would write the equation and the answer that they got on that paper. A small problem during this lesson was that we saw some students aiding others with the problems and we wanted to evaluate them on their INDIVIDUAL work, so that was a bit of an issue for us. However we tried to make it clear for them that they needed to work alone and that helped for the most part. We began to make the equations more challenging, to the extent that we had to use out calculators to compute, yet there was a group of a few boys who got most answers correct. They were probably the brightest boys in the class both in English and Math. I had my first proud teacher moment then :) I felt like I had accomplished a very important goal.
Journal 3 - 14 January 2012 Farida El Bashari Fakroon Nursery
The supplies in the Fakroon Nursery were very limited when we first came. Very limited books, barely any paper, and pencils. So the first time we went we decided that we should all pitch in and surprise the kids and the school with many supplies. Each time we came, we provided books to help us teach and the kids learn. They were very excited about it and all wanted to see the books and work in the books. Also we would come with tons of paper. Surprisingly the children got very excited with all the paper that we provided they kept wanting to use more and more paper. Every time we would ask them if they needed more they would all raise their hands even though they had ample space left in their old sheets. Since they weren't as privileged as we were a lot of paper was not something they had therefore they wanted to use more and more. Also they were excited with the countless different colored pencils that we also provided for them. Whenever we would ask them to draw, the girls especially would keep asking for different colors and shows a lot of talent with their coloring skills. Every time I went into the school with more supplies for the kids, I felt extremely good about it. We were making people happy, giving them stuff they had never had before. It made me want to continue giving and this is the amazing result of service learning.
Journal 4 - 12 May 2012 Farida El Bashari Fakroon Nursery
Today was officially the last day of teaching in Fakroon Nursery. It was definitely a very bittersweet day as we got to know each of the students individually. And we also got to whiteness their educational growth through this period of time. As a teacher I was very proud of each and every one of them as they were all determined to achieve their best every saturday for the few hours we were there. We would walk into the class room with the kids always ready to learn new things, and they did. Today we brought the kids some chips and chocolate and juices. They were all very excited to eat and enjoy the little party that we had prepared for them. We played very excited educational games. We made up a game that included them to get a price of sweets if they got the answers correct. Such as reciting the entire alphabet with no problem, answer questions we asked, them in English, translating words from Arabic to English and vise versa, and computing mathematical equations. They all enjoyed this last day however they were very upset that we were leaving. Who knows though maybe we will come back next year. If i do service learning I would want to go back there and continue giving these kids lessons in order for them to grow educationally.
Farida El Bashari
Fakroon Nursery
The second I entered the vicinity of this nursery I was not sure that this would work out. Seeing the kids going crazy and running around truthfully I thought they would go out of control in the classroom and I would not be able to stop them as I have never taught before. I wasn't sure about their ability to learn either, or what level they were at so that also made me rather nervous. As soon as we walked into the school we had two available classrooms with chalk boards in each one so we began to feel more confident. We started off as one whole class and started to recite the alphabet. As we went over it on and on for about 10 times, we asked each student individually to say it and if they were very able they would be in the high group and if they struggled they would be in the low group. We then divided the classes into two, and us as for girls were also divided. Me and Nancy went to teach the high group. We wondered what levels they were really at so we went through the entire alphabet and for each letter the students had to say a word that starts with that letter. We had surprising results as some students said words such as; 'University'. It was a very productive first day and I am looking forward to the rest.
Journal 2 - 19 November 2011
Farida El Bashari
Fakroon Nursery
Today we finally began to be more confident with the children's english as they were excelling in every single class. They turned out to be very good learner as they are eager and ambitious people. They learned new words, and new sentences, and months of the year, and days of the week, etc. Now it was time to focus more on their mathematical skills. Most classes at the end we would go over some mathematical equations quickly before we leave and they would get most of them right. We started off by writing more simple equations on the board, and we did this as a whole class. Each student had a paper and would write the equation and the answer that they got on that paper. A small problem during this lesson was that we saw some students aiding others with the problems and we wanted to evaluate them on their INDIVIDUAL work, so that was a bit of an issue for us. However we tried to make it clear for them that they needed to work alone and that helped for the most part. We began to make the equations more challenging, to the extent that we had to use out calculators to compute, yet there was a group of a few boys who got most answers correct. They were probably the brightest boys in the class both in English and Math. I had my first proud teacher moment then :) I felt like I had accomplished a very important goal.
Journal 3 - 14 January 2012
Farida El Bashari
Fakroon Nursery
The supplies in the Fakroon Nursery were very limited when we first came. Very limited books, barely any paper, and pencils. So the first time we went we decided that we should all pitch in and surprise the kids and the school with many supplies. Each time we came, we provided books to help us teach and the kids learn. They were very excited about it and all wanted to see the books and work in the books. Also we would come with tons of paper. Surprisingly the children got very excited with all the paper that we provided they kept wanting to use more and more paper. Every time we would ask them if they needed more they would all raise their hands even though they had ample space left in their old sheets. Since they weren't as privileged as we were a lot of paper was not something they had therefore they wanted to use more and more. Also they were excited with the countless different colored pencils that we also provided for them. Whenever we would ask them to draw, the girls especially would keep asking for different colors and shows a lot of talent with their coloring skills. Every time I went into the school with more supplies for the kids, I felt extremely good about it. We were making people happy, giving them stuff they had never had before. It made me want to continue giving and this is the amazing result of service learning.
Journal 4 - 12 May 2012
Farida El Bashari
Fakroon Nursery
Today was officially the last day of teaching in Fakroon Nursery. It was definitely a very bittersweet day as we got to know each of the students individually. And we also got to whiteness their educational growth through this period of time. As a teacher I was very proud of each and every one of them as they were all determined to achieve their best every saturday for the few hours we were there. We would walk into the class room with the kids always ready to learn new things, and they did. Today we brought the kids some chips and chocolate and juices. They were all very excited to eat and enjoy the little party that we had prepared for them. We played very excited educational games. We made up a game that included them to get a price of sweets if they got the answers correct. Such as reciting the entire alphabet with no problem, answer questions we asked, them in English, translating words from Arabic to English and vise versa, and computing mathematical equations. They all enjoyed this last day however they were very upset that we were leaving. Who knows though maybe we will come back next year. If i do service learning I would want to go back there and continue giving these kids lessons in order for them to grow educationally.