Many wonderful connections

Dear Family & Friends,

Now 'tis Monday evening of the first day of our last seminar, and feeling tired but very positive. There were times today when we facilitators thought our teacher participants had not remembered as much as we had hoped from 2010, or certainly that they had not spent much time practicing the classroom/lesson plan preparations or computer skills.  But the overall participation within the sessions, interactive discussions between teachers during activities, and teacher-facilitator interactions were very reinforcing.  All facilitators were directly leading or involved in the sessions: a student-centered model lesson, review and application of the resource book, computers for EXCEL, an overview of what the subject area syllabi contain, reviewing the first component of sheltered instruction and expanding the applications to Tanzanian secondary classrooms, and finally, from 7-8 PM, teachers beginning their lesson plans.  OK, now we remember why we are tired.

But this letter is about being blessed by visitors and visiting, while still working together in our expanded team to prepare last week for this week's seminar.  As most of our visitors will probably attest, finding time with us depends very much on finding time outside our work -- and our housemates would probably tell you we never stop talking about Mwangaza's efforts to assist teachers in their growth.  We are not complaining, just sharing our passion.

Mama Marieth and family invited us into their family in 2001 and we always feel at home each year/time we walk to Enaboishu.  Last week Mama texted us from a bus on the road from Dar, where she had attended a wedding.  With her was her firstborn, Inse (in - say) who has lived in Senegal for more than 20 years.  Since that means he has always been on the other side of Africa when we were in Tanzania, this was our first opportunity to meet and share with him.  Prisca, the 4th daughter, escorted him to our house at Mwangaza after our day's meetings/work had ended, and they shared tea and conversation with us.  Inse is an artist/painter, with many insights into the human condition, especially as political life changes in the countries of western and northern Africa.  His thoughts, concerns, and perspectives reflect also the strength of faith and character we see in his Mama.  Walking challenging paths to get to us, they left about 5:30 so they could arrive home before darkness fell -- and it does FALL here.  

 

Then we awaited our next guests, Nese (left) & Kellen (right, wrapped in the blanket) Msseemmaa, ladies who are becoming well-known as individuals, but are also known as the sister and wife of David Msseemmaa, and also the daughter and daughter-in-law of Pat & Martin Msseemmaa.

There is no way to tell everything about their reasons for being in Tanzania at this time, but Nese is seeing many people and places for the first time, including Kellen's home in Uganda and the summit of Kilimanjaro.  She is traveling with Kellen most times, but Kellen is also the contact person for a chocolate bar manufacturer in Missouri who buys cocoa beans from southern Tanzania, so she has been on the road to there.

We had a wonderful evening of sharing, introducing them also to Pastor Merlyn and Carolyn (our newest teammate) Seitz, then stepping away for some special alone time at the local lodge restaurant.  As you can see, our ladies were smiling and looking beautiful as always.  They even chose to stay overnight and share breakfast with us, but then needed to leave early Tuesday morning to catch a bus to Engaruka, the parish/village in companionship  with St. Pauls in Sterling.  There are also students there who St. Pauls are supporting with scholarships to attend high school at Enaboishu.  

Story of a changing world: After Inse and Prisca left, we began looking for the arrival of Kellen and Nese, having received a Sunday email from David (their long-range travel agent) that they would probably arrive about 5 PM.  Of course 5 had come and gone before Inse and Prisca left, but no one here expects folks to arrive "on time".  However, as time was approaching 7 PM, a bit of anxiety was setting in -- but then the phone rang.  Certainly we were amazed when the caller wasn't Kellen or Nese, but David, who was calling from Missouri in the USA.  His very important reason for this emergency call? -- to tell us that Kellen and Nese were in a taxi, about 3 kilometers from us, but had lost our phone #.  So, while less than 2 miles from us, they had called across Africa, the Atlantic, and halfway across the States to reach David , who in turned called back to TZ to notify us they were OK, just down the road a piece, and would be arriving momentarily.  Isn't communication technology wonderful?!!

We left work a bit early Tuesday afternoon, as Pastor Seth and Fadhila had invited us to visit them in their home in Usa River.  (We are not being disrespectful to our USA, the village's name is Usa (oo - saw) River)  As it is not far beyond the Stubbs' at Makumira, we caught a ride to the front gate of the Univ and Seth met us there.  Soon we were being warmed by their great hospitality and delicious food.  Fadhila's older sister lives literally across the street from them, shared in the preparations and the afternoon sharing.  Between them, the ladies set a tantalizing table of great tastes.   Fadhila is a teacher and is also raising chickens to sell to restaurant kitchens in the area.  Right now she has 300 3-week old chicks, already eating lots and hopefully will be the right size soon, as Americans and Europeans are arriving for safaris in the Northern Hemisphere's summer months.  Seth is doing well and Joel is loving special time with his Baba.  

  

Pastor Kambeine, the Pastor of Ketumbeine when Sharon visited in 2003, visited us at Mwangaza Wednesday afternoon.  He very much honored us by bringing his oldest daughter and his fiance, Christina, a elementary teacher of English.  They are to be married August 6th.  Pastor's first wife passed away approximately 2 years ago, weeks after giving birth to their 4th child.  Pastor Kambeine is no longer at Ketumbeine.  The Bishop moved him to a parish nearer Arusha, as his home/children are in this area.  In fact, his new congregation is near Makumira and Usa River. 

 

Meanwhile, our team was working regularly and at length to wrap us the previous week's intake and exit surveys, brought Carolyn up-to-date (we, of course, were sharing much more during her first weekend than anyone could absorb while fighting jet lag), and plan for the upcoming (this) week.  Creative juices were flowing from all teammates, and if today was an indication, the facilitators and the teachers will grow this week.

     

And last, but not least, Mwangaza received a late Saturday afternoon/early evening visit from NIU professor Kurt Thurmaier from Tanzania Development Support, whose group arrived earlier at Kili earlier in the day, had picked up Pastor Seth and toured Makumira University, and made time for a quick stop at Mwangaza before continuing on to their rooms for the night.  Mwangaza folks are grateful for the visit, and email discussions are likely to follow, since Dr. Thurmaier and group are also invested in education.

                               

   

One of the impressive experiences of the week occurred during NIU's visit, as the Mwangaza's overnight guards and Andrew, our friendly fundi, anticipated my next steps and had the seminar hall, then the computer rooms open and well-lit to be shown and discussed.  Even had the very bright flashlights/torches ready for the short walk in the dark to the hostel, with a torch leading the way and another following.  Mwangaza's staff epitomizes Mwangaza, each person seeing him/her self as an integral part of the team, anticipating and finding ways to be of service to others while also sharing with others.  It is a joy to be part of the team even for our relatively short periods.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

And then it was Friday ...

Dear Family and Friends,  

With an 8 AM - 8 PM schedule Mon-Thurs, participants and facilitators are usually tired by Thursday evening.  But Friday brings renewed vigor and more options for learning.  From its inception in 1996, Mwangaza has been committed to educating Tanzanians of all ages, in particular to assist them in gaining the information and insights needed to live healthier lives in families, schools, and other "communities".  One part of that process is education in the areas of Life Skills & Decision Making, both in relation to HIV/AIDS and to other life issues.  John and Salome have developed 2 power points filled with questions which direct ones thinking to his/her individual life circumstances, past, current, and future.  The questions do not dictate values but lead each person toward considering his/her values as implied by his/her actions, then to weighing the options/methods for making different decisions and living by different standards/values.

After that morning session, the seminar heads into the meaningful activities, the fulfillment (we hope) of the week's work, by focusing on the presentations of 5 teachers.  Until this moment, each must assume s/he might be one of the teachers presenting and be, therefore, fully prepared.   The schedule on the left shows lesson plan presentations beginning just after morning chai.  In the middle, John is handing out the lottery tickets, with each handful containing one Yes for each of the content groups.  

DeoGratias is certainly hoping he will not be "lucky" enough to get the Yes, and got his wish.  However, Sharon noted how well each winners'  content mates helped set up for his/her class and were very good students during that presentation.   Zephania, a young English teacher at Enaboishu, began the presentations just as Mike had to leave to join Allen in going to Kili to greet and welcome Carolyn & Pastor Merlyn Seitz, arriving from Ohio.  Carolyn will join we other facilitators for planning and leading the next seminar, June 27 - July 1.

Was very nice to end our day/week with all gathering on Mwangaza's front steps for a picture.  We heard a few days ago that Chiti, the young man in center front, met with his Headmaster after returning to his school in northeast TZ, telling him that he learned a lot and would be happy to show other teachers what he had learned.  He's one of the men who had never worked on a computer before and spent extra hours with Mike to learn more about Googling to find resources, evaluating them, and choosing & saving the ones which would help to teach his curriculum.  Looking forward to staying connected to him when we return home.

Some other friends stopped by in recent days, so will send stories and pix soon.  Will be attending a First Communion of Salome's daughter tomorrow early afternoon, then returning to welcome the seminar participants as they arrive early evening and get settled in for the week.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Renewed computer lab

Dear Family and Friends,  

That was Then, This is Now, a book title which reflects the "compare and contrast" of Mwangaza's computer lab last year (first picture) and this year (rest of pix).  In retrospect, the services and experiences provided by the previous computers, and the numbers of teachers who learned on them, are actually amazing, especially considering the ages of the machines and the distances travelled, just to get here.  Was quite a sight several years ago, to see the majority of seminar participants in each of 3 consecutive week's seminars, put a sticky tab in the "Have never turned on or used a computer" on the first day of their seminar.  Then, 5 days later, nearly 100% putting a new tab in the "Comfortable with using a computer for typing and email".  

With revitalized internet reception and more compact computers using flat screens, teachers working together 2 to a computer is much easier to manage.  With Carolyn Seitz, from Ohio, having joined our team for our second seminar, we will be able to split the participants into 2 groups so that each can be working individually on a computer with 2-3 facilitators assisting/advising, while the other two facilitators lead the other group in searching the Mwangaza library for references to their content areas, becoming better acquainted with the contents and resources of the government syllabi, etc.  

Many of you provided these computers with your contributions this spring.  A Scandinavian NGO (non-governmental organization) refurbishes the computers and sends them to ViaAfrica, another NGO based in Tanzania and 2 other African countries.  Mwangaza's management team negotiated with them for 20 computers, 15 here on campus (10 in one room and 5 in the library) and the other 5 given one each to the 5 Pilot Schools.  With increased memory over the older models, and using open-source software, they are easy to use and have little need for taking up memory with protection against viruses.  

The hard drive, which works with a with some similarities to Macs, and the software, which has programs resembling Office, are easy to use and mostly transferable/readable with either macs or PCs.  For very reasonable prices, less than $5,000 for the 15 computers on campus, including delivery and set-up, Mwangaza has already hosted 3 groups of students and/or teachers with focus on computer skills before last week's teachers' seminar.  

In the photos, the teachers are learning Excel (spreadsheet) from Salome and John, and practicing with a meaningful application of organizing a roster of students and their test scores.  Then S & J teach them how to find the averages, grades for the term, insert comments, and finally give the recommendation for advancement or not.  It is not unusual for teachers to have more than 60 in a class, and several classes, so this is a great way to keep track of, and keep up with, the progress and grading of several hundred students.   In the center picture, these are 2 men who had never touched a computer before last week.  Along with another novice who joined them, they cooperatively rotated in and out of the one chair to be certain each tasted of every step in the experience.  Before the end of the week, each was capable of setting up a spreadsheet, inputting the information, and organizing it as needed using the EXCEL options.  Very Cool!!!

 

Along with discovering Excel, the teachers discovered that folks who can type can work much faster on a computer than those who do not. One computer session was devoted to getting acquainted with the typing program and skills, with our teammates providing a graphic organizer showing each finger's "duties".  The program is very reinforcing, giving visual clues, not allowing any mistakes to be typed in the beginning stages, and working from index fingers out with lots of repetition.   Never enough time to reach competency in one week, but hopefully enough taste to be motivated to practice more. 

Will follow with the other uses of the "new" computers and another technology tool new to Mwangaza this year.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Grasping the Sheltered Instruction Framework

Dear Family and Friends,

Since we are beginning another seminar in 3 days, trying to wrap up the previous one.  Also know that we will have some last minute shopping and sharing with guests/friends, plus wrap-up reports and discussions filling the few days from the end of the seminar (July 1) until our plane leaves (July 6), so not likely to write much then.

Have also some stories to tell, and of course pix to share, about special sharing with friends and family here -- coming soon.

First, another creative idea from Mr. John, who decided to demonstrate "kinesthetic" learning by giving some of the participants a "temporary name", each receiving the name of 1 of the 8 Sheltered Instruction components.  They were most cooperative, standing in front, showing their ID cards, and stating their names.  However, when John asked "Were you all born in the same month?", they quickly caught on to being out of order/sequence, and hurriedly reorganized.  

We especially liked it that Mr. Samson, who at the last second was asked to substitute for a lady who had taken ill, quickly huddled with his table group and was ready with "My name is Strategies" long before his substitute sign was finished and given to him.  Love it when they are "thinking about thinking"!!

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Projector and Computers: New Windows to the Worlds of Life, Communication, and Content

Dear Family and Friends,

Sharon keeps reminding Mike that "a picture is worth a thousand words" -- obviously, Mike is slow to take a hint, including both the pix and the words.  But this time will be different ...

b/c will mostly tell you what you are seeing and let the pix speak for themselves.  Fairly obvious that Mwangaza now has a projector, and has extended internet access to the seminar hall.  John is actually teaching about Life Skills and Decision Making in the first photo, using thought-provoking questions in a power point format he and Salome developed.  They then tapped into the internet, using Google to search for subject area information, also learning some of the selection skills once 2,582,456 choices are listed.

Mike came into the picture (pun intended -- we do miss those supplied by Bil J and others from Red Eye) to show how to find, save and show subject area power points.  More than 50 power points in 7 different subject areas have been gathered, categorized, and saved on each of fifteen 512 mb flash drives.  The last 3 pictures show teachers accessing the files, then checking out "addition of intergers" (Mike's favorite).  These flash drives were donated by NIU's tech department last year, and will be traveling to the 17 schools represented at the 2 seminars, to be installed on the desktops of their computer(s).  We hope these will be good resources for teachers to review content for their own academic growth and lesson planning.  Another goal for the months to come will be finding more information/power points, attempting to attach and send to the teachers at their schools, and assisting them in planning and organizing how to get students in front of the computers.

Using Google and searching the internet for more power points, some teachers were also competent enough with their new skills to find additional power points related to content they will be teaching when return schools resume in July.  This gentleman, a teacher of 35 years, found a well-done presentation for Biology.

Since Mike has saved so many words this time, he will close with a story -- an example of why we return home each year knowing that we learned more than we taught, that we received more than we gave.  Mr. Joshua, a biology teacher from Enaboishu, has been teaching for 42 years.  He and Mike have spirited discussions about U.S. politics, particularly foreign policy and education, as he is very well read -- and he also leans a bit farther to the right on most issues.  On Thursday evening, at almost 8 PM, he was still working hard on his lesson plan and asked for help in accessing a power point to include as a reference.  Kinda tired, and thinking it would not actually influence his lesson plan at this stage, Mike was less than excited. But as one old man to another, agreed, especially since Mr. Joshua has few computer skills.

Narrowing Biology to match his LP focus, we Googled "Ecology power points" and quickly found one which looked likely to work.  In fact, the opening slide title "ECOLOGY" was soon joined in smaller print/different fonts by "Populations"; "City"; "Biosphere"; "Family"; "Nation"; "Organism"; "Community"; "Continent";  and maybe another now forgotten, scattered across the screen.  Never one to miss a chance for putting things in order, Mike suggested that a good opening discussion with students watching this powerpoint might be based on organizing the categories from largest to smallest.  Mr. Joshua thought only a second and said "Community".   Thinking he must have misunderstood and started with the smallest,  but had missed "Organism" & "Family", Mike asked again about starting with the largest group.  

Mr. Joshua said "Well of course I did, Mr. Mike, for all God's creations, all His people and animals and plants, are in the same Community.  Each of these is a Community."  And to think Mike was once an "A" student in Biology, but may have not done so well on the Tanzania test in Faith and Relationships.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Learning about and through group configurations

Dear Family & Friends,

Today will share several pix of our participants last week, 30 teachers from 8 schools, many of whom had attended one or more Mwangaza seminars over the years since 1996.  

Our 30 teachers were asked to begin the seminar seated so that each table of three represented 3 different schools and 3 different content areas.  With a key part of Mwangaza's focus over the years being students' learning, practice, and application within the interaction of group configurations, we then proceeded to guide them into 3 other groupings: double tables, subject area groups, and school groups.  In every session we modeled using a minimum of 2 different groups, often focusing first on discussions in table groupings to find different/common perspectives and experiences across schools and content, or within their subject areas so they can discuss with a common focus, then moving to the school groups so that same school colleagues could discover/discuss issues across content areas.

Since the students for each of our participants will be in the same school and, period by period, in the same class, those "groupings'" will not transfer. This gives us the challenge, and opportunity, to make our ideas/methods applicable & meaningful when the teachers return to their schools and environments.  So, we are modeling how groups can be used for 1. teaching and learning, 2. greatly increasing student opportunities for speaking and listening to the English language, 3. practice and application activities, and 4. checking for understanding. Then we must discuss with the teachers their school/classroom environments and how to adapt what we have modeled to the reality of their circumstances.

Since we are focused on students' language development, specifically language development in their NEW language of English, one of the very interesting experiences involves teachers in the same school but different subject areas discovering a common list of academic words that each uses in teaching their subject.  In other words (Yes, pun is intended), all subject area teachers use add & adding -- but 'tis very interesting to hear the history teacher tell the math and physics teacher why it's not the same as their word. Until, with a bit of guidance, the group members come to the conclusion that these are the same words, with basically the same meanings, but with different applications.  Now the teachers can also explain this to their students, and both the students' confidence and the use of these academic words increases.

Sharon is explaining the process, first for each teacher to individually select the words, from the list given, used in his/her subject area.  The the teachers were moved to subject area groups to see if there fellow math, etc. teachers agreed with their choices.  Heard some good teaching going on even then, as one physics teacher might tell another, "You must use this word when teaching the .....  concept".

A quick stop and switch to school groups, modeling that moving from one group configuration to another does not have to be chaotic nor excessively time consuming. Then heard wonderful discussion in school groups as the math teacher heard words shared with English and biology teachers, history with chemistry, etc.

Teachers from Bangala

The Enaboishu crew

And finally, Mama Sharon asks the groups to give her the subject area which use each word, with the results giving the teachers a list of common academic words they can share with Form 1 (freshmen) students in the first days of school, even posting them in classrooms.  The students now have both the opportunity and inclination to increase vocabulary knowing there will be meaningful applications in several of their courses.

Back soon with technology !!

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Using resources

Dear Family & Friends,

Our teachers definitely get their "money's worth" in quantity of time while attending a Mwangaza seminar, as we meet again each day after the evening meal for an hour of working together on developing lesson plans with the Mwangaza student-centered focus.  We hope they also find they receive the quality needed for growth in skills to address the challenges they face in their classrooms and school communities.

Bringing Monday evening's expectations/experiences to this Tuesday journal, you can see (and maybe read) that Monday night was focused on writing the content objectives, chosen from their subject area syllabi, first in the technical language of the syllabi, then in student-friendly language.  For Form I (freshmen) students learning in their second language, being able to see and read the objectives, what they are expected to learn during the day's lesson, is a step toward actual learning and ultimate academic success.  Our teachers quickly identified this as one important difference between Mwangaza's expectations and the government's lesson planning expectations.  

We used the example sometimes given as a guideline for a speech or homily: Tell them what you are going to teach, teach it, then tell them what you taught.  One teacher, who knew the answer to his own question, asked "Do you mean I should be sharing my Lesson Plan with my students?"

For example: Zephania, an English teacher from Enaboishu LSS (Marieth Mlay's school) wrote these (pictured below):

Formal (from the syllabus):

1. Students Will Be Able To express kinship.  

2. SWBAT express the occupation of family members.  

Then he changed the technical content words, which were probably not known by the students, into more conversational language which the students might have heard or would more easily comprehend.

Informal (Student-friendly):

1. SWBAT talk about their family relationships.  

2. SWBAT mention the work of their family members.  "Mention" is an interesting word in education here, as includes being able to list and explain, much more than the "by the way" meaning mentioning carries for us. 

  

One of the this year's first-time experiences for Mike was watching a group of English teachers work together to select 5 objectives from the English syllabus, then continue to work together, thoroughly discussing how each of them could/should be re-written in student-friendly vocabulary.  Only after they had established their "group standard/model" did each then begin to work on his/her own objectives, using their group's standard/model to guide individual choices.  

After selecting 5 content objectives and writing them in informal language Monday night, the teachers were to select the one objective around which they would  prepare a lesson plan for presentation to the rest of the teachers/us on Friday.  Then, starting Tuesday morning, as we continued to present the components of Sheltered Instruction, teachers were to follow-up by writing the related parts of their lesson plans.  

John and Salome started Tuesday by leading the participants on a tour of Mwangaza's Sheltered Instruction Resource Book, helping them become better acquainted with the contents and organization.  Then they turned abstract to concrete, presenting 4 written "classroom scenarios", each of which described circumstances where less than the best teaching/learning was happening.  In small groups, the teachers worked to identify the issues which needed improvement, then went to the Resource Book to find "best practices" solutions.  The discussions which followed with groups sharing their ideas made us optimistic for reaching high expectations by the end of the week.

Notes on the board helped the teachers look at the scenarios in relationship to 1. Preparing to learn; 2. Learning new content; and/or 3. Checking for understanding.    Below, a teacher is reading one of the scenarios before beginning to discuss with her table group.

 

      

Later in the day, we presented/modeled methods and strategies to link new learning with previous learning, beginning with vocabulary which would be used in the new lesson.  Teachers struggled somewhat with the differentiation of words into ordinary, technical, or process.  These struggles seem to reflect similar challenges in re-writing Formal (technical language) objectives as Informal (ordinary language) objectives.  Connecting vocabulary with which they are familiar to the new meanings/uses can help the students feel that they already know some important information needed for the lesson.  Showing them how to address new vocabulary through roots, context, etc teaches both the vocabulary and learning strategies they can use again and again.  Discussing and defining the process words, sometimes referred to as "command terms" or "performance words", helps the students learn what actions and understanding is required -- for this lesson and when the terms are used again in other lessons.

By connecting the focus of the lesson with the vocabulary of the lesson, teachers began to see what language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) they will have the students learn/practice/apply during the course of the lesson.  From there we helped them set Language Objectives for their lessons -- like the content objectives, these are expected to be shared with the students so they will know the expectations.

          

Teachers are beginning to connect the ideas/methods/strategies in the Resource Book with those in the Sheltered Instruction text.  

           

the teacher is competing a Graphic Organizer which Salome used to demonstrate a strategy for helping students organize and recall information, at the same time she was checking for the teachers' understanding of our previous presentation.

These 2 teachers had brought together several resources: notes from our presentations; the Resource Book; the Sh. In. text; and the government's syllabus for teaching English language. 

From 7 - 8 pm Tuesday evening after dinner, the seminar hall was very active, each teacher was working hard, and consulting with facilitators, to complete these early stages of his/her lesson plan.

You are probably tired from reading so much detail, and we certainly remember being tired by the end of that evening also.  But will return soon, refreshed and with more words and pix from the rest of the week.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Day 1 of Seminar 1 at Mwangaza

WOW !! Mwangaza's campus does come alive when 30 teachers arrive for a week's seminar, including room and board.  All of Mwangaza staff, and a couple of volunteers, find themselves with responsibilities from before to after daylight each day, providing security, housekeeping, meals, and our course, seminar sessions.

And now that the week has ended, and we've had Saturday to slow down a bit, will spend some time today looking back through those days and sharing some thoughts and pix with you.  Since have already gathered several sets of pix, will begin with Monday and continue writing some notes through today and ... until have reviewed the whole week.

1. Each seminar day begins with sala, a devotion based on a Scripture reading.  Our teammate John led us on Monday, then participants were invited to volunteer for the other days.  Hearing the harmony of 30+ voices singing hymns and listening to the Word of God is a great way to start each day.  We especially appreciate that we can join in singing the hymns, even though printed and sung in Swahili, as every vowel is pronounced -- even recognized many of the melodies, so can translate while singing.  Knowing that the teachers are using their 3rd language, we are also grateful for their extra effort to present all salas in English.

2.  Introductions follow on Monday, with the facilitators and teachers getting to connect each others faces and names.  Certainly students are appreciative and feel the teachers' investment if their teachers can call them by name -- and these teachers usually have 40-100 per period and several different groups throughout a week.  It was very reinforcing to hear both young and older teachers share some of their techniques for learning names of their students.

3. Sharon then led everyone through the objective's for the week's seminar -- which made it very clear immediately that there were high expectations for participants and facilitators.  These 10 objectives were posted on the hall wall and frequently referred to during the week.  Plus, during closing on Friday, the participants were "invited" to recall times/examples of the objectives having been addressed during the week.  The "invitation" was also their "ticket out" of the seminar, reinforcing one of the formative assessment strategies (informally measuring learning & understanding without grading their answers) we had taught/modeled during our presentations.

4. After we had gathered information regarding their schools, materials, computers, etc., John and Salome led a model lesson using the methodology we were going to teach during the week, while working in more guidance by focusing on Teaching Aids as their topic.  Seems to work well with teachers, as well as other learners, to show them the product you hope to get from them at the end of the week.  And 'tis good for our team to be creative, thinking what teaching aids, especially those that can be hands-on, are available in the school communities.

5. Mwangaza Head Cook Rachel and her proficient crew fix delicious meals for lunch and dinner, and hearty snacks to go with tea/chai for morning and late afternoon breaks. Rachel has just put more fish into the oil to deep fry before adding it to vegetables and juices for a wonderful fish stew to top the rice or ugali (corn flour mixed with water to a cold mashed potato consistency) for the evening.  

   

6. The weather is often cool, with drizzling perhaps, in the mornings, but by lunch (1 PM) we are enjoying our meal or chai at the banda or otherwise enjoying a bit of outside and sun.

      

7. One of Mike's personal favorite meals, minced (ground) beef to be picked up with the chapatti (similar to tortilla or flat bread), along with cooked cabbage and a very fresh orange.  

Now that we have lunched and supped, please allow us to send this on to you and return soon with Monday evening and beyond.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Weekend of sharing relationships

Dear Family and Friends,

What wonderful gifts of visits we received Saturday and Sunday, as Simon & Adeliade Panga from Moringe Sokoine LSS, accompanied by daughters Shuku and Barsi, joined us on Saturday afternoon for a few hours, also sampling Sharon's fried chicken, potatoes and gravy.  Was a bit of a challenge to get food ready, but Sharon coordinated well with the electricity when it was available.  Simon shared memories of spending weeks with us in our home and classrooms in 2004, also warmly remembering being present for one of First Lutheran Pie Auctions for Ketumbeine.   He also talked about the drought conditions this year and how beneficial the 8 Beans Dinner proceeds will be in buying beans to provide protein for their students.  As teachers/parents, we were touched by his choice to move from teaching math to the higher grade levels to teaching the entry levels as his daughter came into high school.  He spoke of the choice revitalizing and challenging him to be the best teacher he could be, as the best teacher is what any parent would want for their child.  Hopefully, if we return next year, we will be able to visit them in Monduli where Moringe is located.  The Headmaster and a number of staff persons there have impressed us with their dedication, manner of supporting their students, and their teaching abilities.

Then Pastor Seth came to our Tanzania/Mwangaza home, along with Fadhila, joined by son Joel and Fadhila's sister, blessing us with their presence Sunday afternoon.  Great to have special time with our "Mwanangu" again, and to have time to share with Fadhila, Joel, and his sister-in-law.  It warmed our hearts to see such great happiness in Seth's face to be with his family, and the warmth between Seth & Fadhila, and Baba and his son.  We have seen Seth writing dates and times in his notebook/calendar here, looking at his watch (yes, he is still wearing his watch -- at least sometimes) and he has spoken of trips and activities already scheduled, so we know he is very busy.  Certainly we know he intends to do research while he is here, and visit Ketumbeine, his parents, and others.  However, there is a smile that is broader and brighter than can be seen in Illinois light. Always good to be home and with family !!

We have been honored with an invitation to visit them in their home on Tuesday afternoon, the 21st.  Of course, we must get permission from our teammates at Mwangaza to leave a bit early that day, but we are confident they will agree.  It's exciting to look forward to our time with Family Sululu soon.

Today is Friday, near the end of our week's seminar, as this journal ends.  Mike rode with Allen to Kili to meet our Ohio partner, Carolyn, and her husband, who arrived about 1PM.  They also (we two last year, Seth this year) were carefully monitoring a recent volcanic eruption, but it did not interfere with their flight (from D.C. through Ethiopia). Carolyn will join John & Salome, Sharon & Mike, in planning and facilitating the next seminar.  They are moving into the guest house with us as our last LP presenter is finishing his lesson.

Hopefully we will bring a seminar report from this week to you soon.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon