My Name
July 01 2010
Addressed to the School Principal
Sponsored by UNRWA, USAID, and my employer.
English Lesson 6E
8:00-9:30am
I received my lesson books, workbooks, and audio cassettes a day before the summer camp began. This left me with limited time to plan for our lessons on this first day at Jalazon Refugee Camp. But I have come to realize that there was no planning that could predict the climate of this school.
The absolute enthusiasm of my students was outstanding at 8:00am, so much so my sleep deprived soul was awakened. I found the students approachable and enthusiastic. There was not a single student during our introduction that refused to speak. Rather I had more of an issue of giving each student enough time to speak. They had so much to say about themselves, when I was merely a stranger to them.
We talked about the World Cup and our predictions. Got to know one another and moved into the first lesson in the book, "Famous People." We began at a local level and they listed only political figures. Some particular students listed only figures from a particular political party, and the students told me it was pretty obvious where that student was from. I was pleased that they were able to speak about such things in peace and comfort with one another. When we moved to talking about famous people in the Arab world, most of those they listed were singers or presidents/kings of various nations. I then asked them about famous Europeans, and they listed more political figures or soccer players. We then moved to America, and the first names they listed were Bush, Rice, Obama, Mitchell: people they were exposed to. I expected them to talk about singers or actors, but no one listed any. All famous figures were political, if not soccer players. One student suggested our next lesson be strictly about political figures and what they have done to their homeland.
The lesson went smoothly. I appreciated my volunteer's enthusiasm and her ability to jump into an exercise when I invited her to participate and lead. For the most part the student's have a very strong command of vocabulary but do not respond in English as much as they could. I say "could" because they openly stated they feared to slur or mispronounce words while saying incoherent sentences. I found it interesting the text's passages referred to the Muppets and Sesame Street, things that are culturally irrelevant to the students, making the passages harder to understand. But they enjoyed learning about Kermit and what American kids are exposed to, I suppose.
I mean, this program is in part a way to expose them to American way of life, teach them English, and encourage them to attend American institutions of learning.
---------All the while a settlement is literally in their backyard.
Overall I have a better idea of where to head with our English lessons. I need to focus on more grammar, but I must say their skills surpass most of my adult students.
Art Lesson 6E
9:30-11:30am
I sat in Ms. Censored and Mr. Censored art class. The first project involved geometric designs and pattern making. The youth enjoyed this because they were free to create their own stencils from which their pattern would be derived. The second project involved them tracing their hands. On their left hand they had to write things they disliked while their right hand had written on it things they enjoyed.
Many students enjoy, sports, food, and music.
"I hate Isriael."
"I hate occuppattion."
"I do not like soldiers."
Left hand.
Lunch
11:30-12:00pm
A student and I played basketball together. Before I knew it the entire class was on the court and I had students from other classrooms wanting to play. It got somewhat crowded since other boys were using the same space for a soccer game. But it was nice, especially when other teachers joined in. We decided to make it a part of camp to play a sport together during the lunch period. We will play soccer Sunday.
Drama Lesson 6E
12:00-1:30pm
We began by defining drama. The students themselves articulated that drama was not always something serious, but just entailed acting and presentation through various means. They specified that entertainment could be of various genres. After this discussion we did a bit of charades. I gave them abstract terms to present, and after much effort most of them were able to present the word to their classmates. However,their classmates mostly guessed in Arabic rather than English. After this I gave three groups of students each a scenario to expand into a story and act out.
The first group was told to be a family at the dinner table.
The second group was told to be guests at a restaurant that overcharged them.
The third group was looking for a friend's lost wallet.
The third group went first. They created guns from folded paper. Bandannas to cover their faces. One person got shot, two arrested, and two acted as cops doing the arresting. The acting was very physical and violent, and completely lost the direction of the scenario.
The second group then went up. It began rather calm, with the waiter bringing in the orders to the guests at the table. The waiter charged them four hundred dollars, and one of the guests got up from the table. He yelled at the waiter then began to beat him. The skit ended.
The first group sat at a table eating dinner. The father figure asked each of his kids questions. The father was upset with the religious performance of his son, and began to curse him. He cursed his wife and daughter. Then he beat the son. The son ran to the corner of the room crying to his mom. The dad smacked him one more time, and then skit ended.
The focus was not what I instructed. All of the skits focused on violence. That was their medium of exchange, their means of presenting: to shoot at one another, die on the classroom floor, pretend to smack each other, and curse. The first group insisted they were the best because at least they focused on religion.
Then you and my boss came into the room, handed out those colorful shirts and caps refugee children often wear for US funded corruption schemes, and that was that.
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