Creative Writing class has been going well this week! The students in my class are now working on writing personal essays and narratives for their final presentations this weekend.
On Sunday, we read a poem titled “My Inside-Self” by Rachel Field. The students discussed and began writing two-part essays inspired by the poem. In the first half of their essays, they wrote about how others perceive them. Many of the students wrote about what they looked like, their styles, their personalities, and other aspects of themselves that people learned within minutes of meeting them. In the second half of their essays, the students wrote about their “inside-selves,” which included their beliefs, their aspirations, their insecurities, and the people most important to them. This week, they have made huge strides in writing various personal essays and have become more comfortable sharing what they have written with their peers.
A few days ago, we did a quick review of our very first lesson, which was on writing descriptive essays. The short exercises below were written in approximately five minutes and were such an improvement from the essays they wrote during the first week of classes!
Today’s class was especially exciting because we had two new students from Century Welfare Academy, a school for children with special needs. Hillary volunteered with CWA for a few weeks this summer and arranged for seven students from the academy to come to our center today and tomorrow. The fellows and I really enjoyed playing Frisbee with them before the center opened and loved having them in our classes. Today was easily one of my favorite days at the center and I can’t thank Hillary enough for making this possible.
Yesterday, the fellows spent the day at Mon Chosir beach with about twenty-five of our teens from the center. We couldn’t think of a better way to spend our last day off in Mauritius! While, I was initially hesitant to jump into the water on a slightly chilly day, the kids were persistent and I decided to go in about a minute after they asked. We spent most of the day in the water playing various water games and singing. Our kids also helped me do something that I was beginning to think was impossible. I floated on my back for nearly ten seconds and made some progress in my quest to finally learn how to swim! Yesterday was yet another reminder that there is so much the teens have taught me over the past two months, both during our daily You Teach Us class and in everyday interactions. The nine of us are so lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with such incredible teens this summer. I hope that our last week at the center goes by slowly. I’m not looking forward to August 1st.
Grand Bay
Blue lagoon full of beautiful boats and luxurious yachts. The yellow sandy beaches welcoming the adventurous tourists to join the traditional Mauritian dance which is the sega, accompanied by musicians with their ravanne, maravane, and triangle and the gorgeously dressed dancers with colored dresses and flower in their hair and brilliant make-up.
-Virginie
Pamplemousses
I live in Pamplemousses. It is very big and beautiful place. In Pamplemousses, there is also a very large garden. The garden has deer, fish, and all the plants are beautiful. Most people play sports such as football and running.
-Suraj
Blue Bay
It’s so blue, that it can make someone feel as if she is swimming in the sky. It’s full of life, especially full with marine life. It’s a place which is well known and visited by tourists. It’s bright colour describes is name. It’s a place which makes you feel united with nature.
-Audrey
Port-Louis (Caudan Waterfront)
Many people go there after tuition every Sunday. They go there to have fun with their friends. We also make new friends there. The place is mostly surrounded by sea. There are many hotels and restaurants there. There are many places where they can play games, have fun, like casinos, kiddy lane, there are also cinemas.
-Megan
Photo credit goes to one of our students, Jean Luc