books! Books!! BOOKS!!!

Reading a book to 5-8th grade students

I have to tell you something.  I feel like we’re all friends here, so I can say this without being embarrassed… I am a geek for reading.  I love books!  I’m not talking about those things you read on a screen and that run off a battery.  I’m talking about those old fashioned things that are made from paper and open and close where the reader can actually turn the pages.  Whether you are an e-reader enthusiast, a paper book die-hard, or somewhere in between, if you’ve ever read a good story, you’ll be able to relate to my following post.  Even if you’re illiterate, I encourage you to find someone to read my words of wisdom out loud for your listening pleasure.

 

Have you ever read a book that was so good, you literally couldn’t put it down?  Have you ever been so engrossed in a story that you stopped reading a few chapters from the end, holding out on reading the rest for as long as possible because you just didn’t want it to end?  Have you ever read something that transported you to another place or time?  Have you ever fallen in love with a character who just seemed so perfect?  Have you ever thrown a book across the room because of an unsettling ending? Have you ever been surprised by a plot twist or unexpected ending?  Have you ever read a book that made you think about the world a little bit differently?  Have you ever read a book that made you question yourself, your beliefs, or your integrity?  If you answered “no” to all of the above questions, you have been reading the wrong kinds of books- probably something in the Nicolas Sparks genre- I implore you to branch out!  Just kidding, I have nothing against Nicholas Sparks (except that all his books take place in North Carolina and feature characters named Landon and Juliet), that was just a little joke for my mom.  Hi Mom!

Seriously though, this is the power of reading.  It allows you to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while, to see the world through someone else’s eyes.  Books can show you the world (just like Aladdin did for Jasmine).  You can travel to India, Kenya, or Brazil without leaving your couch.  You can visualize life in another time through a writer’s vivid descriptions.  You can ask yourself what choices you might make if faced with the same decisions of the characters.  

Books give the reader the power to explore and to create, and I am certainly no expert, but I believe that this power is immeasurably important, especially for children.  Most of you reading this blog probably remember being read to as a child.  If not, hopefully you have had the chance to read to a child whether that be your own child, a niece or nephew, a grandchild, a babysitting charge, or a student in a classroom.  I can still remember the life lessons I learned as a child from the Berenstain Bears, hating that selfish kid who took everything from his friend- The Giving Tree, enjoying the wacky adventures of Amelia Bedelia, and the wisdom of Dr. Seuss.  

School library

I was fortunate enough to develop a love of reading at an early age.  I remember having loads of books at home and making frequent trips to the local library.  Most kids in Ethiopia are not so fortunate.  It would be extremely rare to find any books of fiction in most homes.  Libraries are not much better.  My school library is in a pretty nice building, and even better it’s open during the school day and students actually do go there.  There are several shelves of textbooks, dictionaries, and other study materials.  There are no stories in fiction to foster reading for enjoyment.  There are no books that would appeal to most children.

Grade 6 students with their book reports. These books have already been generously donated.

So this brings me to my current project—get some books to Ethiopia!  How can you help?  Oh well, I’m so glad you asked…  Below I have posted a list of children’s books that I would like to have for the students in my school.  By logging on to betterworldbooks.com you can purchase these books and others.  This website sells new and used books, some for as little as $5, and the best part is, the shipping is FREE!  So every purchase you make will be sent directly to me at no extra cost other than the price of the book.  If you want to buy a few books, great!  If you want to send one book, awesome!  Whatever you can do will be much appreciated!  On a side note, Better World Books is a buy 1, give 1 company, so for every book that is bought off their website, another book is donated to a organization in need somewhere in the world.  Keep that in mind for your future book-buying needs.  How is this going to work, exactly…

1.       Read my list of suggested books and check out the website for prices.

2.       Once you decide which book(s) you would like to send, email me with your choice. (aliciainafrica@gmail.com)  Please do this before purchasing so that I can inform you if someone else has already bought that book.  Hopefully this will cut down on duplicates.

3.       When I have confirmed your book choice, go online and purchase the book(s) using your credit/debit card.

4.       Enter my address into the shipping information so the books come directly to me. (P.O. Box 406 Ambo, Ethiopia).

5.       Pat yourself on the back for your good deed and a job well done!

6.        Once you book arrives in Ethiopia, I will make an inscription in the book that says who it was donated by, and I will send you a confirmation and thank you email for your donation.

The list below is just a starting point for books.  If you have a favorite book from your childhood or a book that your kids love, and you don’t see it on the list, please email me about it- if it’s that great I’d love to add it my school library.  Also, I am hoping that from the generosity of family and friends I am able to get more books than are on this list.  I’m also interested in books that feature non-white characters and books that would appeal to older students (just remember these kids are learning English as their third language, so text should be fairly simple). 

My last request, I promise- if you think this book idea is a worthy cause, please help me get the word out.  You can use the links at the bottom of this post to email, post of facebook, tweet, etc.  If you know someone who might be interested in buying a book, please pass the word.  If you know someone who knows me but doesn’t regularly read this blog (I can’t imagine who wouldn’t be regularly hanging on my every post), please let them know to check it out.  Thank you very much! Bayyee galatooma!!

Requested Books

 

TITLE	AUTHOR
Where the Wild Things Are	Maurice Sendak
The Cat in the Hat	Dr. Seuss
Green Eggs and Ham	Dr. Seuss
Oh, the Places You’ll Go	Dr. Seuss
The Lorax	Dr. Seuss
The Very Hungry Caterpillar	Eric Carle
The Giving Tree	Shel Silverstein
Charlotte’s Web	E.B. White
The Runaway Bunny	Margaret Wise Brown
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Judy & Ron Barrett
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day	Judith Viorst
Guess How Much I Love You	Sam McBratney
Pat the Bunny	Dorothy Kunhardt
Love You Forever	Robert N. Munsch
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?	Bill Martin & Eric Carle
Harold and the Purple Crayon	Crockett Johnson
Press Here	Herve Tullet
Go, Dog. Go!	P.D. Eastman
Are You My Mother?	P.D. Eastman
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault
Fancy Nancy	Jane O’Connor
Corduroy	Don Freeman
The Little Engine That Could	Watty Piper
The Tale of Peter Rabbit	Beatrix Potter
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie	Laura Joffe Numeroff
Madeline	Ludwig Bemelmans
Make Way for Ducklings	Robert McCloskey
The Story of Ferdinand	Munro Leaf
Amazing Grace	Mary Hoffman
The Story of Barbar	Jean De Brunhoff
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears	Verna Aardema
Stone Soup	Marcia Brown
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Roald Dahl
Llama Llama Red Pajama	Anna Dewdney
Madeline	Ludwig Bemelmans
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt	Michael Rosen
Russell the Sheep	Rob Scotton
Ben’s Dream	Chris Van Allsburg
The Velveteen Rabbit	Margery Williams
All by Myself	Mercer Mayer
Clifford’s Manners	Norman Bridwell
Magic Tree House (any books from series)	Mary Pope Osborne

Motivation or Lack Thereof

First couple handprints dripped a bit, but we got the hang of it

One of the required characteristics of a PCV that is stressed during the seemingly never-ending Peace Corps application process is the ability to be self motivated.  Two years ago, when I first started the application process, I considered myself to be a self motivated individual.  I felt that I was the type of person who strives to do my best, if for no other reason than my own self satisfaction of a job well done.  Clearly, this thinking was a load of crap.  I can say that after 9 months of living in Ethiopia, I had absolutely no idea what it really meant to be self motivated.  The truth is, living and working in the United States, I had little need to be self motivated.  Working as a restaurant manager, I was motivated to make money- first for the company, then (hopefully) in turn that would mean more money for me.  I was motivated to work hard and to do well in order to grow my career.  I was surrounded by a team whose goals were mostly the same.  There was accountability to this team, and if a team member did not have the same motivations, they were probably not a part of the team for very long.  I may have thought that I was self motivated, but looking back I can see that I was more motivated by tangible goals.

So, what does it mean to be self motivated?  In my experience over the past several months, it means that first, there is no team.  There are a handful of teachers at my school who support my projects and who are interested in what I’m doing, but overall there is very little support from the staff or administrators at my school.  I have invited the school directors (principals) to come see my model classroom and to observe an English Club meeting.  They have yet to take me up on my offer.  I think it’s pretty safe to say that they don’t know or care about what I’m doing.  

Secondly, the goals are less tangible.  I’m not bringing any more money to anybody.  I’m not expanding schools, building new classrooms or buying computers.  Maybe, just maybe, by the time my service is finished a few people will have improved their English.  Although in order for this improvement to happen, people actually have to participate in my programs.  Huh! What a novel idea!  I have so many teachers and administrators tell me that they want to improve English, that they want to be a member of my English Club.  I always invite them to attend my weekly Teachers’ English Club.  Last week I had one teacher attend my club.  It is incredibly frustrating to work on a project that I think is important and very practical and necessary for English teachers, who can barely speak English, but they are unmotivated to attend.  Their lack of motivation seriously hampers my motivation.

Finally, there is very little supervision or accountability.  Aside from the reporting forms that I fill out for Peace Corps every few months and the numbers I report to my local education office, there isn’t anybody holding me accountable on a daily basis.  I can basically make my own schedule, go to school whenever I feel like it.  This factor is the very tricky part for me.  This is when I have to dig deep and summon all the self motivation possible to get my butt out of bed every morning.  It is so easy to feel that since nobody at my school seems to care what I’m doing, why should I care?  Why should I try to help people improve their English when they don’t want to put the work in to improve?  I have found that this is what self motivation is all about- not letting the negativity over-take my overall goals. 

Pen Pal display inside my model classroom- by far the biggest attraction in the room!

Some days are easier than others to find my motivation.  Recently I’ve been in a bit of a rut.  I feel my morale getting low and my pessimistic thinking affecting my motivation.  What’s the solution to this rut?  Well that’s what I’m trying to figure out now.  I’m going to focus on the part of my job that I really enjoy- working with students.  The main area of my job is supposed to be working with teachers to improve their English proficiency, as well as, their teaching methodologies, but I find that trying to help teachers is where I feel least supported and most negative.  I’ve started a weekly Creative Writing Club for grade 6-8 students in my school.  This club has been very successful so far.  The students are excited to come and participate.  I wanted to keep the club to a manageable number of students, so I limited it to 30 kids, and since the beginning of this club I have had many other students come and ask when I would have another club that they could come to.  I am in the process now of beginning a second weekly student club. 

Jen painting the kids' hands for classroom border

 

The Creative Writing Club is my favorite activity that I’ve done so far.  Almost all teaching here is based on memorization.  Students are not taught critical thinking skills, problem solving, or imaginative thinking.  My biggest goal in this club is to bring out creativity in the students while practicing their English.  So far, in the first 3 weeks of the club, most kids are still thinking very literally.  They are writing essays based in facts rather than imaginative stories, but there are a few students who are starting to “get it”.  As I’m at the front of the class jumping around and gesturing wildly trying to explain something, the students are all looking at me like I’m crazy, but I have faith that by the end of the semester, they will all be able to get a little crazy and realize that they can have fun while learning.  These kids, who are so eager to learn are what will keep me motivated.  

Alphabet wall
 

 

 

 

 

 

Wh-question words

Lots of fun making Valentine's Day cards

Big thanks to my parents for the art supplies. I'll be sweeping up glitter forever!

Timkat

Mimi and me

Fountain of holy water

This weekend the Ethiopian Orthodox holiday called Timkat or Epiphany was celebrated.  This holiday is the celebration of Jesus’ baptism.  For the occasion, the normally dry water fountain in Ambo was filled with holy water, and priests from the local Orthodox churches were on hand to provide blessings.  People were crowded around the fountain to be splashed by the water.  Some people had even brought containers to fill with holy water and take home.  The day before Timkat, the church’s Tabot (a replica of the Ark of the Covenant) is brought to a new location where it will stay overnight with the priests and some congregants.  In Ambo, the location was a tent erected near the water fountain.  Around noontime on Timkat, there was a processional down the main road where a group of priests were transporting the Tabot back to the church.  This parade was very interesting to watch.  Several priests carried the Ark, which was covered by a cloth.  The priests were shaded by colorful umbrellas, and they walked on a carpet that was rolled up behind them and hurriedly unrolled in front of them.  The main road was so crowed by people joining the processional that I wasn’t able to take a good photo.  

Singing and playing drums

I found it really fascinating to observe this deeply religious celebration taking place right in the middle of town.  The main road was closed down so the processional could march along.  It struck me that I’ve never seen a large-scale public event that was so overtly religious take place in the United States.  Ethiopia is a hugely religious country.  Almost everyone associates with one religion or another.  It is almost unheard-of for someone to say that they are not religious or do not believe in God.  In fact, one of the first questions people ask me is usually, “What is your religion?”  They generally ask me my name first and sometimes where I am from, but the religion question is almost always included in the top 3 questions.  When I first moved into my house, before I had met my next-door neighbor, my landlord informed me that my neighbor was a doctor and he was Muslim.  Well, what else do you need to know about a person?  

On Sunday, the day after Timkat, some celebrations were still going on.  Thousands of people attended a service at one of the local Orthodox churches.  In the evening there was a horse racing/jousting competition held on the outskirts of town.  Of course no set time or location for this event was known in advance, but people seemed to figure it out anyway.  We just followed the crowds.  It’s unclear to me what the point of this event was, or how winners were determined, but it was fun to watch anyway.  The horses were elaborately decorated, and some of the riders were really decked out too.  In most cases, two riders set out from the starting point, and the rider in the back would try to get close enough to the first rider to throw his wooden spear and hopefully hit the first rider.  In other cases, multiple riders would set out at the same time, and it was difficult to see who was trying to get whom.  This event is quite dangerous for the participants.  The riders carry shields and spears, but I saw many people get hit by the spears and one rider fall from his horse.  I don’t think the spears were very sharp, but still getting hit by a long wooden stick is sure to leave a mark.

Jen receiving her blessing from the priest

It was definitely an interesting and fun weekend.  I think it may have been the fullest weekend I’ve had in Ambo yet.  I left my house before noon each day and didn’t return until after dark.  That is certainly not the norm in my very simple life here.  It was really nice to hang out with friends and take part in these cultural celebrations over the weekend.