Thursday 28 May 2009

What a load of rubbish

Back in the UK prior to my departure I tried to recycle as much as possible.  Paper, Cans, Glass and Plastic all found their way to the local bank.  Unfortunately there is no such system in place here.  Let alone recycling there is a distinct lack of care for the environment.  I regularly witness paper simply discarded in the street.  Teachers on our training at the weekend throw their biscuit wrappers onto their school playground.  The grounds surrounding houses are littered with bags of rubbish.  Paper is sometimes burnt, plastic bottles are often reused by people, particularly by shoe cleaners and for transporting oil and kerosene.  However cans, glass, plastic bags and anything not wanted is always thrown.  Thankfully, a new teacher to the college has started a petition to collect money to tidy up the place.



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Tuesday 26 May 2009

Eggs, oil and salt

I may have lost a certain amount of weight, however, I think my increased intake of eggs, palm oil and salt should counteract any benefit I may have achieved.  Bacon sandwiches, sausages and a rare steak will be first things ordered from the menu when I return.



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Monday 25 May 2009

Summer Plans

For those not already aware, my brother and fiancé shall be visiting over the summer.   The college dean has approved me spending the holidays touring Ethiopia.  The basic plan is to take in 10 sites in 5 weeks starting from July 21.  Part of the trip is to the Omo Valley where Lou shall be joining us before she returns to the UK.  I've opted for flying as I've had enough of buses as day journeys really are not that much fun anymore.  Hopefully I will have a vast amount of photos, videos and memories to share.



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Thursday 21 May 2009

Mosquitoes

The mozzies are back and this time they mean business.  Until now they have remained a lonely breed.  A quick spray of KillerÔ or hand splat put paid to them.  However now, each morning when I open the curtains I am greeted with a swarm of buzzing irritants.  Unfortunately they also seem to have developed an immune system to even the most vile blend of chemicals known to man.  



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Tuesday 19 May 2009

Patience

From the title, you may expect an entry about my increased tolerance or difficulties being faced.  In fact, I wish to share with you my exuberance at finishing Mahjong Titans – a game included with Windows Vista.  I am sure my mother and I are not the only people addicted to the occasional marathon session of Solitaire on the computer.  I imagine that "Just one more game" or "Until I get them out" have been spoken many an evening.  After setting myself that very same challenge I was treated with the immense sight as shown below.  Needless to say I halted the celebrations and clicked "New Game" straight away.



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Sentence Construction

Following on from the language week we had, I decided to share some translation with you.  I thought about this issue during the Research Conference when presenters talked about translating instructions from English to Tigrinya and then translating student responses back to English.  It occurred to me that this may cause some irregularities, particularly as I am aware of the different sentence structure between the two languages.   Therefore, I decided to put it to the test.  I am interested to know if other foreign language specialists believe this to be the case with teaching other European languages.  The result is close enough to understand having seen the original sentence.  However, I believe it shows that children not just learning English, but learning in English must think and create sentences in a very different way to that of their native language.

 

Step 1 was to write a sentence in English.  For step 2 it was translated into Tigrinya, then step 3 was to write the literal translation of each word back to English.



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Saturday 16 May 2009

Power Off

I know I have mentioned the power many times before but still.....let me put it simply.   For the last two weeks we have had no power every two days from 6am-10pm.  Only half of them were scheduled!



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Friday 15 May 2009

Fund for Furniture

The fund for furniture, of which the t-shirt lottery was part of, provided its first classroom this week with new tables and chairs. 

You can see a video of the class singing here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM3056FJnuE



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Draughts

To my knowledge, unlike here, draughts is not a big game in the UK.  While I am familiar with the rules, I've never considered it particularly skilful.  Recently I have been watching them play the game in the lounge.    Although some of the rules, not surprisingly, are different; they are able to play very fast and beat me every time.  Someone has tried to explain to me how to make better moves but I am still completely lost.



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Tuesday 12 May 2009

Sharing skills again

I'm not sure it's what VSO had in mind when they said "sharing skills, changing lives" but I spent this evening introducing some of my colleagues to a true American burger.  They wanted, I quote, "to get fat" as they had read about burgers.  So they enjoyed their first freshly baked rolls filled with a cheese burger, topped with crispy lettuce, freshly squashed tomato ketchup, mayo and fried onion – with a side order of Cajun fries.  That was a tasty burger!



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Monday 11 May 2009

Annual Research Conference

This weekend saw the college's 5th Annual National Research Conference.  The two days compromises a number of selected research papers on educational matters such as "ICT in Language" and "Entrance Assessment criteria" that are delivered to invited guests.  It is compulsory for all teachers to prepare an annual research paper, even if the research is filed away in a store and fails to bring about change.  I supported a few colleagues with their papers and presentations on IT and statistics.  Each presenter has 20 minutes to share their research which is often backed up by a presentation consisting of every page from the printed version read out.  I plan to work with my counterpart next year on a paper about "Using ICT to enhance the curriculum".



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Sunday 10 May 2009

Mariam Gnbot

Yesterday we celebrated Mariam "Mary" Gnbot , which is always the first day of Gnbot .  Actually it is more of a party than remembering St. Mary.  Traditionally it is a celebration shared with friends as opposed to family.  Although I was fashionably late after returning from training with a flat tyre, I was quickly in the middle of an auction, bidding for a chicken and eggs.  Traditional food was once again very much firmly on the menu, except this time the meat was ox rather than goat.  A few glasses of whiskey and everything was in full swing.  The party finished later on as the men sat down to watch Liverpool v West Ham as the women cleaned up,  Some things never change eh!

 

P.S. Thought it was time for another photo.  Still working hard.



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Friday 8 May 2009

Abi Adi Champions League Final

Having developed my style of play since primary school playground, I found it difficult to match the skill of my fellow teammates today.  My second turnout of the season saw my position switching from left back to right back, although there was just as many potholes on the other side.  Our opposition, from the local high school, were once again organised and showed no sign of fear before the game; as we practised with 8 players and no ball.   Quickly grabbing 3 students we lined up and went through the obligatory waving to the crowd and team photos.  With a trigger-happy Norwegian referee the game ended being fairly irritating for both teams.

 

We went into the second half trailing by a goal to nil after a cross field free-kick saw a high school teacher head in at the far post.  A quick turn around was required with light failing, so after essential fluid was taken on board and a few comments by me regarding overuse of the long ball game we started the second half.  Eager to take the game by the scruff of the neck we equalised after a teacher booted the ball, no.. lobbed the keeper from 50 yards.  Twenty minutes later our winner came from a free kick inside our own half, which was received and slotted home by our PE teacher.  I guess that's the last time I give team talks.



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Thursday 7 May 2009

VSO Meeting

My initial "after 3 months to see how I am settling in"  meeting took place this week after 7 months.  My programme manager arrived from Addis to discuss progress, problems and "potentials" for next year.  He was pleased with the work I have done and is happy for me to continue for next year.  The three major tasks I have been working on are: networking the computer lab, updating all the computers and training in Office.  There was a possibility that I would move over the summer to a different placement but as I am happy here and there is potentially work to do, I have declined.  Unfortunately, due to delays with the World Bank money aka GEQIP, most of the purchasing development has had to wait until next year.  Also, with the staff turnover so high, I'll have just as many new recruits for training next year.  Still I have learnt loads more technical stuff for myself.



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Wednesday 6 May 2009

SuperBug

No not Swine flu.   "I have been bugged" was the email subject heading.  Normally I would immediately send this to junk.  However, after a quick check of the website, I realised it was based in Sheffield.  So with no sender attached, I have my suspicions who may have sent it but I am not 100% sure.  So here is the bug with a quick resume.  Any information to the usual.

 

"The sprackybob's body is hairy for warmth and has stripes for warning off predators.  It can sting more than once.  It has large furry antennae for detecting mates and does not need to eat.  It also has long legs adapted for jumping.  Grooves on the legs allow it to communicate with others.  The sprackybob has super strength for fighting, lifting and carrying food or nest material.  It also can spin a web to catch prey and can travel using silk strands."



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Friday 1 May 2009

Lottery

Thanks to my mother sending out a pair of Manchester United T-shirts, I have decided to hold a lottery with one as a prize.  The proceeds will go towards another project which is purchasing tables for a local kindergarten.  At the moment, children aged 4 are sitting in U.S. university-style adult chairs with a small shelf on the right hand arm to write on.  You might expect tables and chairs made locally in a workshop to be quite cheap, it is going to cost about £300 to kit out one.  classroom.  Although not impossible, colleagues back home will agree that it is far from ideal; limiting group work, active play and it is nice for your feet to touch the ground!  Thankfully everyone here supports one of the big four (no offence - Everton and Villa fans) so even the students should be able to afford a 1 Birr ticket. 



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