Weekly Recap #6: July 16-July 20
Lauren Davis
This week is sports and nutrition, I wanted to focus on exposing the students to global sports. We talked about the Olympics and then watched a slideshow of major sports from across the world. It was great to see their excitement when looking at sports they had never seen, such as lacrosse and field hockey. The next day was “Sports Day” for the schools, which is similar to a giant field day competition between about 20 schools. I was fortunate enough to tag along and watch my students compete!
Lincoln Mitchell
This past week we finished the main course of my Creative Writing class with stories. The students wrote Love Letters to their first crushes and then we wrote stories to drawing’s from Brittany’s class. On Monday we did a class bonding activities and learned important life lessons. The following week will be review and presentation day.
Lindsay Pearlman
This week we wrote articles from firsthand experiences. Look for them in the upcoming 4th edition of “Write the Future!”
Brittany Robinson
This week in class we introduced oil paint. However, rather than focus on stories this week, the students were free to chose a picture from our collection of National Geographics and art books that inspired them and replicate their chosen picture. We did read the story of Pandora’s box, which many of my students had not heard before to my surprise, and some students produced some pretty convincing boxes that illustrated why Pandora was so tempted to open the box.
Bryan Epps
This week was my last at the Training and Employment Center for Disabled Persons. We worked more on some basic English skills and spent the most time with forms of the verb “to be,” which I quickly came to realize is far more irregular and complicated than it at first seems. Our final day was both exciting and sad; we were reluctant to give our goodbyes, but all the students looked forward to the three weeks of vacation they now have. I hope I’ve left some mark on them–I know they’ve certainly left one on me.
Weekly Recap #5: July 9–July 13
Brittany Robinson
This past week we introduced acrylic paint and focused on blending and working with a limited color palette. We also tried a technique called “layering” which involved everyone painting some convincing chili peppers. Finally, the students interpreted the short story “The Golden Fish” which involves a fisherman, a wish granting fish, and a persistent wife.
Lincoln Mitchell
This past week was exciting as the students at both centers developed their ability to convey their emotions and opinions through poetic language. The students worked on Autobiographical Poems as well as Criticism Poems. This upcoming week we will finish the poetry segment and hopefully learn some more technical aspects of creative writing.
Bryan Epps
This week we continued work on enunciation. We also worked on learning theater vocabulary, stage directions, and theater etiquette. At the end of the week we had a lesson on techniques in improvisation. My students seemed to enjoy their first jabs at real acting. I look forward to continuing improv work next week.
Lauren Davis
This week in sports and nutrition I wanted to introduce new games that promote exercise. The games are simple and only need a ball. On Tuesday we played a version of blindfolded picitonary and then played handball. The handball game got really competitive and fun! On Wednesday we did an exercise called the Helium Stick, which promotes teamwork and leadership and then we played Kickball. Overall, a very active week!
Lindsay Pearlman
This week in journalism class we learned how to outline an article before writing it. Next week, the students will write articles based on firsthand experiences!
Weekly Recap #4: July 2-July 6
Brittany Robinson
This week was a little wetter than the past few weeks since we started working with watercolor paints. We started out with a day just focusing on watercolor techniques. From there we used the story Aladdin as a springboard for some awesome watercolor depictions of what transpired between Aladdin, the genies, an evil magician, and the princess. My students did a great job at producing a wide variety of perspectives on the story, from a genie with a six-pack to Aladdin’s palace to the magic lamp to the princess poisoning the evil magician.
Lincoln Mitchell
This week my Naw-N-Shaw class began studying poetry as a form of self-expression, and how to craft poetic language. The students worked on autobiographical poems, color poems, and concluded the week with a “Where I’m From” poem. At Grand Gaube the students played soccer on Tuesday and then wrote stories about the match on Thursday. This next week will be a continuation of poetry at both centers.
Lauren Davis
This week in sports and nutrition we talked about mental health, relaxation, and visualization. We discussed how health does not only involve the physical self, but the mental self as well. Then on Wednesday we did a project in teamwork called the Egg Drop. Each team must create a package to hold an egg and then we dropped it from the roof of the building. I gave them toilet paper rolls, sponges, paper and tape. We have two out of six eggs survive! This week will be focused on exercise!
Bryan Epps
This week we worked on enunciation and projection. Much of class was conducted across a field back behind the center–to encourage students to strengthen their voices and because there tends to be a lot of spit involved in this week’s exercises. Overall, the week went very well. Some students I least expected are emerging as talented actors.
Lindsay Pearlman
This week we wrote editorial articles. The students learned how to properly structure and write arguments. Keep an eye out for their first articles on the ELI Africa website this week!
Weekly Recap #3: June 25-June 29
Lincoln Mitchell
This week was my first week teaching at the new Grand Gaube center. The ages of the kids at Grand Gaube range from 10 – 15 so designing a lesson plan that is both engaging and comprehensible for all age groups will be challenging; thus far, however, the kids have enjoyed the games and lessons that we have done. At the Naw-N-Shaw center, the students are learning about Details and Descriptions to include in their short stories.
Lauren Davis
This week in sports and nutrition we did another activity involving communication. Blindfolded partners had to find each other across a field. This was meant encourage finding unique ways to communicate with each other. Then we played a football game and it was great to see everyone getting involved! The next day I taught a short lesson on the basic muscle groups. We also worked on hand-eye coordination as we juggled and played games involving throwing and catching tennis balls.
Brittany Robinson
Unfortunately at the beginning of the week I was sick, but Stephanie and Lauren were amazing and stepped in on Monday and Tuesday to teach my class. This week we introduced oil pastel and the stories Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. The students had unique takes on each story and I was so excited to see the work that everyone produced. We also had a sursprise visit from Vedant and some of the news cast from Le’Express. Be sure to look out for the story on July 10th!
Bryan Epps
This week was my first at the center in Grand Gaube. My students have responded unbelievably well to the initial exercises in breaking down physical barriers, and they absolutely have the energy necessary for an exciting class. I look forward to beginning work on enunciation and projection this coming week. I hope to have some of the quieter students screaming at the top of their lungs by the end.
Lindsay Pearlman
We wrote our first articles in journalism class this week! Look for the first edition of our newspaper this week on the ELI Africa website. For the rest of the summer session, we will be publishing a newspaper every week. Up next–editorials!
Weekly Recap #2: June 18-June 22
Lincoln Mitchell
On Monday this week, due to the religious holiday, only Nawfal was able to attend class. With the small class size, we just played soccer in the classroom which got a little too rambunctious at times but was overall a blast! Wednesday and Friday we watched Kung Fu Panda to analyze setting, theme, plot, protagonists, and antagonists. Hopefully next week we will start producing work to be published on the blog. I also am looking forward to teaching at my new center next week.
Bryan Epps
This week we focussed on setting up my course at a new center in Grand Gaube. We met with parents of children from the village, and they all seemed excited for the program. I look forward to starting this Monday. In the meantime, I continued attending Brittany’s class. She’s made incredible progress with her students, and it’s been a blast touring her classes.
Brittany Robinson
This week in class we introduced chalk pastel to the students, along with the children’s story Little Red Riding Hood. After the initial day of introduction to chalk pastel, which included blending and shading techniques, we broke Little Red Riding Hood into two parts. My students were very creative in their interpretations of the story with chalk pastel and I was so proud of what they accomplished in their sketchpads. I can’t wait to see how they take to oil pastel and next week’s story!
Lauren Davis
This week in sports and nutrition, I wanted to do an activity involving communication. On Tuesday we had them split into pairs and one person was blindfolded. Half of the students became the obstacles in a “minefield.” The partner had to lead the blindfolded person through the minefield, avoiding the obstacles, without touching them. This caused the students to figure out how to be very descriptive and vocal with their partner. We then went inside and talked about the new “food plate” and the different aspects of nutrition. Sadly, class was cancelled for Wednesday as the school had a holiday, however, we are planning a football game for this week and they seem really excited!!
Lindsay Pearlman
During our first week of journalism class, we learned about informative and argumentative articles and how to use the Five W’s + H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) to write. The students then interviewed and wrote articles about each other. Next week, we will write news articles and publish the first edition of our newspaper!
Weekly Recap #1: June 11-June 15
Welcome to our first edition of the Weekly Recap! We apologize that the posts have been a day late. Please bear with us as we improve our sporadic internet connection.
Brittany Robinson
This week at the center we introduced color pencils as the first medium that the students were to work with. The first art project that the students completed was a name plate project in which they had the freedom to decorate the first page of their art journal with their name and any drawings that represented them. Throughout the rest of the week we brushed upon topics such as shading, perspective, griding, balance, and creating a light source. On the last day we moved into using the imagery from a story (Total Eclipse by Annie Dillard) to create art pieces.
Lauren Davis
This week in sports and nutrition we started out by listing some sports and defining nutrition. Then we did the human knot to encourage teamwork and communication. The next day we did the Grid which involves memory, communication and teamwork. Then we also did fitness testing which involved pushups, long jump, vertical jump and the plank. We will test again at the end to hopefully see improvement!
Bryan Epps
This week was focused on matching my program to an appropriately aged group of students. I worked in a center on Monday and Tuesday, but they were a bit young. I’ll be teaching older students in another center next week. I spent Thursday and Friday shadowing Brittany’s art class. It was exciting to see how talented and attentive her students are. I look forward to seeing what they’re able to accomplish in the next month. My days with Brittany have made me even more excited to start my theater course.
Lincoln Mitchell
This week I started my creative writing course with six kids from a local school. For the first few classes I just wanted to make the kids comfortable in the classroom and let them know that the classroom was an open environment for ideas and creativity. We danced to several international songs, told stories about chocolates and carrots, and played games like ninja, and telephone. The kids are around twelve years old – which is a critical age here in mauritius – so I am looking forward to the next six weeks as their creative minds and english vocabulary grow!
Lindsay Pearlman
Since my class does not start until tomorrow, I spent the past week translating in Brittany’s and Lincoln’s classes.
Check back tomorrow for our Student Showcase section, featuring photos from our students’ adventures in the classroom!