የውጭ ዜጎች ስለ ይርጋዓለም ከተማ እና ነዋሪዎቿ ምን ኣሉ
Back to Yirgalem!
ካላ James Elford እንደጻፉት
I have spent the last two weeks back in Yirgalem, working with Stride Athletics Club. As Finote Selam Teacher’s College has been on a semester break, I have had the opportunity to return and do some more English teaching. I stayed with Mary, a VSO doctor, who is placed at the local hospital.
Each day, I taught the children in two groups. As the majority of them only attend school for half days, they were able to come to my classes during the opposite shift. The main focus of my work was developing their speaking and listening, but I also spent some time improving their reading skills.
We started each session with a conversation on a specific topic. Then we carried out some group reading. The club have been donated a number of new books from a charity in Ireland, so it was good to have the opportunity to use them. Most children have very limited access to books (apart from their school textbooks), therefore their reading ages tend to be very low. Finally, we finished our sessions by playing different language games. The children really enjoyed these activities.
Whilst I was in Yirgalem, I also had the task of appointing a new English teacher for the club. Stride Athletics employs a local teacher to teach English to its members for three and a half hours each week. The board in Ireland asked me if I would select a new teacher (following the resignation of the previous post holder), as this task would have been very difficult for them to do from so far away. I interviewed and observed three candidates and appointed Derese (who is a young and enthusiastic high school teacher). After his appointment, he came along to several of my sessions and we worked together. I am confident that he will be a good teacher.
When it was time to leave, the members organised a farewell event for me. This included a coffee ceremony, some Sidamic dancing, a number of short plays and some goodbye speeches. It was really nice to feel so appreciated.
During my two weeks in Yirgalem, as well as working with Stride, I also had some meals out with Mary (who I was staying with) and Lacey (a peace corp volunteer). Mary and I also spent a relaxing day by the pool at the Haile Resort in Hawassa. Overall, it was a very enjoyable fortnight!
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